In Cabinet, he served in several posts, including Education, Tourism and Culture, Environment, Labour, Attorney General and Chair of the Management Board. He held the education portfolio for eight years. In that ministry, he was a strong supporter of the public education system, pushing for more money for schools and championing new programs. He also amalgamated the several hundred school boards into just under thirty, and introduced the first Acadian school board, precursor of the present-day Provincial Acadian School Board. The Education Act of 1981 gave legal recognition to the category of "Acadian schools" where French is taught as a first language and where French is used as a language of instruction.
