Charles Duquette

Charles Duquette

Charles Duquette (born July 25, 1869 in Montreal , † December 30, 1937 ) was a Canadian manager and politician . From 1924 to 1926 he was mayor of Montreal.

biography

Duquette received his training from the Brothers of the Christian Schools and at the Collège Saint-Henri. In 1894 he began working for the Alliance Nationale insurance company . In this company he was treasurer, director, vice president and chief accountant. From 1922 he was its managing director and chairman of the board of directors. In addition, he was involved in various institutions: he was president of the cultural association Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal , honorary chairman of the Hôpital Notre-Dame and executive member and honorary president of the Canadian Athletics Association.

Duquette did not belong to any political party, but was persuaded by the conservative Ésioff-Léon Patenaude to run in the mayoral elections in 1924 against the controversial incumbent Médéric Martin . He won just under 51% of the vote. He asked the provincial government in vain to change the municipal code; he had wished for more skills in order to be able to better control municipal services and employees. His tenure was marked by a judicial investigation by the city police, who were considered corrupt. Although reforms were initiated as a result, Duquette was defeated by his predecessor Martin in the 1926 elections.

In 1930/31 Duquette was President of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce . During the Great Depression he was a member of a commission set up by the Québec National Assembly to fight unemployment.

Web links

• Biography on the website of the city administration (French)
• Further biography (French)