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Quebec Agriculture Minister Claude Bechard, shown here in an October 2009 provincial government photo, underwent surgery Saturday ...Quebec's agriculture minister is recovering from surgery Saturday to remove a cancer-related blockage in his small intestine.
Claude Bechard was first hospitalized in mid-January for what was then expected to be a 10-day stay, due to a tumour on his pancreas blocking the intestine near the bile duct.
According to a provincial government release Monday, Saturday's surgery was booked as part of Bechard's course of chemotherapy for a recurrence of pancreatic cancer.
The surgery was carried out "to the satisfaction of the medical team," the province said.
Bechard, 40, was sidelined for five months after he was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2008, while in his previous post as natural resources minister.
The province said Monday that Bechard is eager to get in touch with friends and family, colleagues and people in his riding and the province generally, pending his recovery.
Revenue Minister Robert Dutil has filled in for Bechard in the ag portfolio on an interim basis.
Bechard, the agriculture minister since June, has been the MNA for Kamouraska-Temiscouata in Quebec's Bas-St-Laurent region since 1997. His other current cabinet portfolios include Canadian intergovernmental affairs and democratic reform.
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