After additional studies and training at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, Paquette worked first for the Canadian Red Cross in the Balkans, then in the Canadian Forces as a Medical Officer.
He also served at several hospitals in Europe including in Paris and in England.
Paquette returned to Quebec in 1919 and practiced medicine in Mont-Laurier until his entry into municipal politics and his nine-year stint as mayor of that city.
Paquette was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for the district of Labelle in the 1935 general election as a member of the Conservative Party.
He was reelected, as a member of the Union Nationale, in all six subsequent elections from 1936 to 1956.
Paquette remained as the Legislative Assembly Member for Labelle until he resigned in 1958.
In 1936, he was appointed as the first Minister of Health in the Duplessis Cabinet for the newly created provincial department of health.
He served in the position from 1936 to 1939 and again from 1944 to 1958 when the Union Nationale regained power.
Establishments made during his tenure as health minister included:
parish clinics for maternal and infant health
mobile tuberculosis screening units
Dr.