MONTREAL, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Claude Bechard, the agriculture and intergovernmental affairs minister for Quebec, died of cancer Tuesday, provincial Premier Jean Charest said.

Bechard, 41, died hours after he had announced his health had worsened and he was leaving politics, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in spring 2008 and had surgery to remove a lesion from his lower intestine and a tumor from his pancreas. The cancer was found to have returned this year.

In his farewell message, Bechard wrote he was honored to represent the people of the Kamouraska-Temiscouata the past 13 years.

"I also want to especially thank the premier, my friend, Mr. Jean Charest, who has always trusted me, and with whom it was a great honor and a pleasure to serve the people of Quebec," said Bechard, who is survived by his wife and two children.

Charest told reporters there was one thing Bechard wanted everyone to know -- "he deeply loved the people he represented."