Adhémar Raynault

Adhémar Raynault (1938, in the middle with snowshoes in his hands)

Adhémar Raynault (born July 12, 1891 in Saint-Gérard-Majella , † April 11, 1984 in Saint-Bruno ) was a Canadian politician . From 1936 to 1938 and from 1940 to 1944 he served as mayor of the city of Montreal .

biography

Raynault was the second oldest of 18 children from a farming family from L'Assomption in the Lanaudière region . Since he suffered from urinary stones , which at the time were not medically treatable, he could not work on the farm. Instead, he moved to Montreal at the age of 17 to earn a living there. He worked in a cousin's shop and then opened his own tobacco shop, which he had to close again after a short time for health reasons. Raynault then became an insurance agent and trained himself further. During the First World War , he did voluntary service in a Montreal military hospital.

After the end of the war, Raynault resumed his professional activity and was very successful. He was a board member of the Catholic Association of Commercial Travelers, a member of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce and the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal, and President of the East Montreal Homeowners Association. He was also the owner of the local newspaper Le Réveil de l'Est . His political career began in 1934 with the election to the Montreal city council, in which he was opposition leader. As a candidate of the National Union of Maurice Duplessis he took in 1936 with success in the election of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec in part. For three years he represented the constituency of L'Assomption, before the subsequent election in 1939 he gave up the mandate.

Also in 1936 Raynault ran for mayor of Montreal. With 44% of the vote, he prevailed against incumbent Camillien Houde and another candidate. During his two-year term of office, the Botanical Garden and the Pont Pie-IX were opened. In 1938 he decided against re-election. so that Houde became mayor again. After his internment for resisting the introduction of conscription , Raynault ran again in 1940 for the mayoral elections and won. Due to the poor financial situation, the city was then under the fiduciary administration of the provincial government. In 1944 Raynault received the French general Charles de Gaulle . After Houde was released from prison that same year, he was defeated in the mayoral elections. In 1954 he ran for the last time for mayor, but was beaten by Jean Drapeau .

literature

• Jean-Guy Genest: Adhémar Raynault, témoin d'une époque . Editions du Jour, Montreal 1970.

Web links

• Biography on the website of the city administration (French)
• Biography on the Québec National Assembly website (French)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Genest: Adhémar Raynault, témoin d'une époque. Pp. 24-25.
2. ^ Genest: Adhémar Raynault, témoin d'une époque. Pp. 24-25.
3. ^ Genest: Adhémar Raynault, témoin d'une époque. Pp. 32-35.