QUEBEC'S FAMILIAR NEW FACE.

Jean Charest, the new Quebec premier, will turn 45 on June 24, 2003 -St. Jean Baptiste Day, a celebration commemorating the patron saint of French Canadians. So just imagine: the youthful and energetic Charest, flanked by his ruling federalist Liberals, blowing out his birthday candles, with not even one whisper of the word" sovereignty" on Quebec's official holiday. For the first time in a decade, Quebec has a premier who doesn't feel he has to discuss sovereignty on every important occasion. By the time of his birthday, Charest will have been in office less than two months, but the image of him in the minds of Canadians was formed when he defeated the separatists in the Quebec election on April 14, 2003.