A Royal Society of Canada scholarship led to a Master of Laws (LLM) in political economy from Oxford University (1959) and a Ford Foundation Scholarship from Harvard (1960) enabled him to earn a Masters degree in public finance and financial law. From 1960-63, Bourassa worked as an economic advisor and fiscal advisor to the Federal Ministry of Revenue and taught economics at the University of Ottawa.
Bourassa married Andrée Simard, daughter of the wealthy Simard shipbuilding family, in 1958. The marriage cemented his ties with the Liberal party and gave him crucial contacts in the business community. The Bourassa's had two children, a son and a daughter.
Bourassa served as secretary and director of research for the Quebec Royal Commission of Inquiry on Fiscal Policy from 1964-65. During this time he gained confidence and encouragement from Premier Jean Lesage and was elected as the Liberal member for the Mercier riding. He returned to Ottawa as advisor to the Ministry of Finance from 1965-66.
As a novice member of the Quebec National Assembly, Bourassa struggled in the wake of the Liberal party's 1966 electoral defeat to convince René Lévesque not to leave the party.
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