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Mario Dumont is Leader of the Official Opposition and of the Action Démocratique du Québec (ADQ) party. He led the ADQ to a major breakthrough in the 2007 provincial election, expanding his party's presence in the Quebec National Assembly to 41 seats from five. The ADQ received 31 percent of the popular vote, displacing the Parti Québécois as the main alternative to the Quebec Liberal Party.

Dumont helped found the ADQ after splitting with the Quebec Liberal Party (QLP) leadership over the Charlottetown Accord. He became ADQ leader in April 1994, and was subsequently elected MNA for the riding of Rivière-du-Loup that year. During the 1995 referendum campaign in Quebec, he campaigned for the "Yes" side after signing the 1995 Tripartite Agreement on Sovereignty with then-Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau and Bloc Québécois Leader Lucien Bouchard.

Dumont entered politics in 1986. He was a member of the youth commission for the Quebec Liberal Party, and in 1988 was elected to the Party's Executive of the Youth Commission. In 1991, Dumont became chair of the Youth Commission. In the 1992 referendum on the Charlottetown Accord, he campaigned against the accord as co-chair of the Network of Liberals Voting NO.

Dumont was born on May 19, 1970, in Cacouna, Quebec. In 1993, he earned a Bachelor's degree in economics from Concordia University in Montreal. He is married to Marie-Claude Barrette, and they have three children: Angela, Charles, and Juliette.