Jean Drapeau, mayor of Montreal

Jean Drapeau CC , GOQ (February 18, 1916 – August 12, 1999) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as mayor of Montreal from 1954 to 1957 and 1960 to 1986. During his tenure as mayor he was responsible for the construction of the Montreal Metro system and the Place des Arts concert hall, for conceiving Expo 67, for securing the 1976 Summer Olympics, and for helping to bring Major League Baseball to Montreal with the creation of the Montreal Expos. Download high resolution version (760x756, 88 KB)Portait of Jean Drapeau, mayor of Montreal Picture taken by Harry Palmer Copyright: National Archives of Canada : PA-182371 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (760x756, 88 KB)Portait of Jean Drapeau, mayor of Montreal Picture taken by Harry Palmer Copyright: National Archives of Canada : PA-182371 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Seal of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada is Canadas highest civilian honour, with membership awarded to those who exemplify the Orders Latin motto Desiderantes meliorem patriam, which means (those) desiring a better country (Hebrews 11. ... The National Order of Quebec (French: Ordre national du Québec) is an order of merit bestowed by the government of Quebec, Canada. ... February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... A lawyer, according to Blacks Law Dictionary, is a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A politician is an individual who is a formally recognized and active member of a government, or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. ... A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning larger, greater) is the modern title of the highest ranking municipal officer. ... Nickname: Motto: Concordia Salus (well-being through harmony) Coordinates: , Country Canada Province Quebec Founded 1642 Established 1832 Government  - Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area [1][2][3]  - City 365. ... One of the entrances to the Square-Victoria metro station looks like a Paris Métro station. ... View of the Place des Arts esplanade. ... The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, or simply Expo 67 was the General Exhibition Category 1 Worlds Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from April 27 to October 29, 1967. ... The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, were held in 1976 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ... The Montreal Expos (French: Les Expos de Montréal) were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1969 until 2004. ...

Although he is remembered as a visionary, Drapeau's mishandling of the construction of the Olympic Games facilities resulted in massive cost overruns and left the city with a debt that has taken its citizens over thirty years to fully pay off. His career as an anti-Semite who opposed the allied effort in World War II has also been glossed over by most historians. Cost overrun is defined as excess of actual cost over budget. ...

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. In 1942, he ran as a candidate of the nationalist, anti-Semitic Bloc Populaire, which opposed Canadian participation in World War II, in a federal by-election. Drapeau made several speeches during the war in which he denounced Montreal's jewsih community, conscription, and the Free French resistance. Drapeau lost the election. He then practiced as a criminal lawyer in Montreal. In 1945, he was married to Marie-Claire Boucher. They had three sons. During the asbestos strike of 1949, he took on the legal defence of some of the strikers. In 1950, he helped Pacifique Plante in leading the inquiry into corruption and immorality in Montreal, thus becoming well known in the city. The Union Nationale was a political party in Quebec, Canada, that identified with conservative French-Canadian nationalism. ... The Université de Montréal (UdeM) (translated into English commonly as (the) University of Montreal) is one of six universities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ... Pacifique Plante was a crime fighting lawyer from the 1940s to the 1950s. ...

Mayor of Montreal

In the municipal election of 1954, Drapeau was elected mayor of Montreal, as the candidate of the Civic Action League, on an electoral platform of cleaning up the municipal administration. In the election of 1957, he lost to Sarto Fournier but he was elected again in the election of 1960 and from then he was re-elected without interruption until he retired from political life in 1986. His long tenure would eventually turn the Civic Party into his personal fief, with no clear heir. Sarto Fournier (February 15, 1908-July 23, 1980) served as mayor of Montreal from 1957 to 1960. ...

Drapeau on the steps of Place des Nations, during the opening of the Man and his World exhibition, on April 15, 1968.

During Jean Drapeau's tenure as mayor, Montreal saw, in the 1960s, the initial construction of its subway system, Place des Arts and Expo 67, the universal exposition of 1967. To help with the city's finances, Drapeau created in 1968 the first public lottery in Canada, which he named simply the "voluntary tax", an idea that would later be taken over and further developed by the provincial government. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... is the 105th day of the year (106th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1968 Gregorian calendar. ... The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, or simply Expo 67 was the General Exhibition Category 1 Worlds Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from April 27 to October 29, 1967. ... A lottery is a popular form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize. ...

During the municipal elections of October 1970, Drapeau cleverly used the proclamation of the War Measures Act and the October crisis to discredit and neutralize the candidates of the opposition party, some of which were imprisoned only to be released after the election was over. Military cordon in support of police taking surrender of terrorist Liberation cell, December 3, 1970 The October Crisis was a series of dramatic events triggered by two terrorist kidnappings by members of the Front de libération du Québec in the province of Quebec, Canada, in October 1970, which...

The 1970s saw the preparation of the 1976 Summer Olympics. Cost overruns and scandals forced the Quebec government to take over the project. The Summer Games was also marked by Drapeau's controversial decision to dismantle the Corridart public art display just before the Games. [1]

The end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s were marked by growing public criticism of Drapeau's municipal administration and by the creation in 1974 of a new opposition party, which gradually grew in popularity over the next decade. Drapeau did not seek re-election in the election of 1986, which was won by the opposition.

In 1967, Drapeau was made a Companion of the Order of Canada and in 1987 a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec. The National Order of Quebec (French: Ordre national du Québec) is an order of merit bestowed by the government of Quebec, Canada. ...

After his death in 1999 (at age 83), Drapeau was interred in the Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montreal. Front entrance, Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Founded in 1854, Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges is a 343-acre (1. ...

One of the biggest parks in Montreal, Parc Jean-Drapeau, composed of Île Notre-Dame and Ile Sainte-Hélène in the middle of the Saint Lawrence river, site of the universal exposition of 1967, was renamed in his honour, as was the Metro station serving the park. Showing of the Parc Jean-Drapeau, over the places of The Nations Parc Jean-Drapeau (also called Parc des ÃŽles) is situated South of Montreal in Canada, Quebec right in the middle of the St. ... ÃŽle Notre-Dame is an artificial island built from earth excavated for the Montreal metro in 1965. ... Man, a sculpture by Alexander Calder, on Saint Helens Island Saint Helens Island (French ÃŽle Sainte-Hélène [1]) (, ) is an island in the Saint Lawrence River, in the territory of the city of Montreal. ... TheSaint Lawrence River (In French: fleuve Saint-Laurent) is a large west-to-east flowing river in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. ...

Quotation

"The Olympics can no more lose money than a man can have a baby." Jean Drapeau after Montreal won the right to host the 1976 Olympics. Following the Olympics, the city was left with a debt of $1 billion.

As rival Toronto grew in size and prestige, Drapeau declared: "Let Toronto become Milan. Montreal will always be Rome."

One opponent called him "a combination of Walt Disney and Al Capone."

His critics described most of his projects as circuses. Drapeau replied: "What the masses want are monuments."

This article is about the city in Italy. ... Nickname: Motto: SPQR: Senatus Populusque Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC Government  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area  - City 1,285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban 5...

Reference

• Canadian Encyclopedia Entry