Jean Drapeau

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For other people with the surname Drapeau, see
Drapeau (surname)
.

Mayor
Jean Drapeau
CC GOQ
Jean Drapeau in 1954
37th Mayor of Montreal
In office
1954–1957
Preceded byCamillien Houde
Succeeded bySarto Fournier
In office
1960–1986
Preceded bySarto Fournier
Succeeded byJean Doré
Personal details
Born18 February 1916
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Died12 August 1999(1999-08-12) (aged 83)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Political partyCivic Party of Montreal
SpouseMarie-Claire Boucher
Alma materUniversité de Montréal
ProfessionLawyer
Signature
Statue of Jean Drapeau at Place Jacques-Cartier

Jean Drapeau CC GOQ (18 February 1916 – 12 August 1999) was a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Montreal for 2 non-consecutive terms from 1954 to 1957 and from 1960 to 1986. Major accomplishments of the Drapeau Administration include the development of the Montreal Metro entirely underground mass transit subway system running on 'whisper quiet' rubber wheels, a successful international exposition Expo 67 as well as the construction of a major performing arts centre, the Place des Arts. Drapeau also secured the hosting of the 1976 Summer Olympics and was instrumental in building the Olympic Stadium and then world's tallest inclined tower. Drapeau was responsible for securing a Major League Baseball franchise, with the creation of the Montreal Expos in 1969. Drapeau's main legacy is Montreal's attainment of global status under his administration.

Early life and career

The son of Joseph-Napoléon Drapeau and Alberta (Berthe) Martineau, Jean Drapeau was born in Montreal in 1916. His father, an insurance broker, city councillor and election worker for the Union nationale, introduced him to politics. Jean Drapeau studied law at the Université de Montréal.

Drapeau was a protégé of nationalist priest Lionel Groulx in the 1930s and 1940s,[1] and was a member of André Laurendeau's anti-conscription Ligue pour la défense du Canada. In 1942, he ran as a candidate of the nationalist Bloc populaire, which opposed Canadian conscription during World War II, in a federal by-election. Drapeau lost the election. He was also a Bloc populaire candidate in the 1944 provincial election but was badly defeated in his Montreal constituency.[1]

He began his practice as a criminal lawyer in Montreal in 1944. During the

Asbestos strike of 1949, he took on the legal defence of some of the strikers.[1]

In 1945, he married Marie-Claire Boucher. They had three sons.

Mayor of Montreal

Drapeau (right) with Premier of Quebec Jean Lesage (left) in June 1964, at the ceremony to hand over the site of Expo 67

Drapeau's profile grew as the result of his role in a public inquiry led by Pacifique Plante into police corruption in the early 1950s. When Camillien Houde retired as mayor of Montreal, Drapeau was well poised to succeed him.[1]

Drapeau was elected mayor of Montreal in 1954 at the age of 37, as the candidate of the Civic Action League, on a platform of cleaning up the administration. He ran an exceptionally wide-flung campaign, uniting a large coalition of voters from English-speaking and French-speaking parts of Montreal. Drapeau's charismatic demeanor, accessible style, and his fluency in both English and French (unprecedented for a mayoral candidate) propelled him to such popularity. In 1957, he lost to Sarto Fournier who was backed by the Premier of Quebec Maurice Duplessis,[1] but Drapeau was elected again in the election of 1960 at the helm of his newly formed Civic Party. He was re-elected without interruption until he retired from political life in 1986. By the end of the decade, Montreal was a virtual one-party state, with Drapeau and his party only facing nominal opposition in City Hall.

During Drapeau's tenure as mayor, he initiated the construction of the

universal exposition of 1967.[1] To support the expenditures, Drapeau created the first public lottery in Canada in 1968, which he called simply a "voluntary tax", an idea that would later gain favour and become enlarged by the provincial government by creating Loto-Québec
corporation in 1970. The 1970s were busy times for the preparation of the 1976 Summer Olympics. Cost overruns and scandals forced the Quebec government to take over the project eight months before the Games opened.
Montreal police
over pay on 7 October 1969. Drapeau retired ahead of the 1986 elections. Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney appointed Drapeau to the position of Canadian ambassador to UNESCO in Paris.[1]

Despite the nationalism of his youth, Drapeau remained neutral during the 1980 Quebec referendum.[1]

In 1967, Drapeau was made a Companion of the Order of Canada and received the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's gold medal.[3] He was named a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 1987.

After his death in 1999 (at age 83), Drapeau was interred in the

Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery
in Montreal.

One of the biggest parks in Montreal,

Metro station
serving the park.

Drapeau was also instrumental in the demolition of the historic

Save Montreal. Journalist William Weintraub includes the house and its demolition in his 1993 documentary, The Rise and Fall of English Montreal
, identifying the significance of the building to the local Anglo community's heritage.

Quotations

Plaque honouring Drapeau in Montreal.

During a public transport strike, Drapeau said: "If bus and metro subway train drivers are not at work tomorrow morning, I will personally drive a metro train. If you want to ensure something gets done, the best way is to do it yourself."[citation needed]

Drapeau said "The Olympics can no more lose money than a man can have a baby,"

Aislin editorial cartoon of a pregnant Drapeau calling Canadian physician and abortion rights advocate Henry Morgentaler.[5]

Drapeau was on a TV show every week where Montrealers could phone and discuss live with Drapeau specific problems a particular citizen were having. Drapeau knew every lane and every street in the city by heart.[citation needed] One caller mentioned a street light not working. Drapeau, on live TV, and without any prior knowledge of the issue raised answered: "Are you talking about the street light on the west side of rue Fabre, precisely the one facing 4429 Fabre near Mont-Royal street?"[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h McKenna, Brian (12 June 2011). "Jean Drapeau". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 5 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Jean Drapeau: Hardly your average mayor". Google News Archive. The Montreal Gazette. 3 June 1980. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023.
  3. ^ "RAIC Gold Medal". Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Archived from the original on 16 June 2009. Retrieved 11 December 2009.
  4. ^ "1976: Queen opens Montreal Olympics". CBC Digital Archives. Canadian Broadcasting Company. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Aislin looks back at the 1976 Summer Olympics", Montreal Gazette, 27 July, 2016.

External links

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