Raymond Prefontaine

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Raymond Prefontaine

Raymond Préfontaine , PC (born September 16, 1850 in Longueuil , Province of Canada , † December 25, 1905 in Paris , France ) was a Canadian politician ( Liberal Party ). From 1898 to 1902 he was mayor of Montreal , from 1886 until his death a member of the Canadian lower house . In the federal government of Wilfrid Laurier he officiated from 1902 as Minister of Shipping and Fisheries.

biography

Préfontaine grew up on his parents' farm, which was one of the largest in the Longueuil region. After graduating from the Collège Sainte-Marie in Montreal , he studied at the Faculty of Law at McGill University . In 1873 he was admitted as a lawyer . As a candidate for the Parti libéral du Québec , he entered the election of the Legislative Assembly of Québec in 1875 and was elected in the constituency of Chambly . In 1878 he was defeated by the conservative opponent, but the ballot was declared invalid, so that in 1879 he returned to the provincial parliament in a by- election. In 1881 he lost again.

From 1879 Préfontaine officiated as mayor of Hochelaga, where he worked specifically to merge this then still independent suburb with Montreal. For this purpose he realized numerous infrastructure projects. Finally, Hochelaga was incorporated in 1883 and Préfontaine was elected to the Montreal city council. In a by-election for a vacant seat in the lower house , he ran for the Liberal Party in 1886 and prevailed with an 81 vote lead. As a result, he was re-elected six times.

Since he was part of the opposition for the first ten years, Préfontaine still had enough time for local politics, which is why he continued to serve on the city council. In 1889 he took over the chairmanship of the influential urban road construction commission. He systematically improved the streets and took numerous measures to beautify the cityscape. The previously dominant Anglophone elite accused him of the fact that his numerous job creation measures and projects only benefited the Francophones. After he was elected mayor in February 1898, numerous scandals in the city administration were exposed. According to an investigation report, these were mainly due to his limited supervisory options. As a result of the investigation, a new municipal code came into force in 1899, which fundamentally reformed the city administration.

In February 1902, Préfontaine waived re-election as mayor and increasingly turned to federal politics. Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier accepted him into his cabinet on November 11 of the same year . As Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, he implemented projects to improve river navigation on the St. Lawrence River . He also created a shipwreck investigation agency and commissioned Captain Joseph-Elzéar Bernier to research the Arctic . At the end of 1905 Préfontaine traveled to Great Britain and France for negotiations . In Paris he died of angina pectoris . After the French government organized a memorial service at La Madeleine Church , a British warship brought his remains to Canada.

The Montreal subway station Préfontaine is named after him.

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personal data
SURNAME Préfontaine, Raymond
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Longueuil
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 1905
Place of death Paris