Germain Prégent

Germain Prégent is a retired politician and entrepreneur in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He represented the Saint-Henri neighbourhood on the Montreal city council from 1978 to 2001 and served on the Montreal executive committee (i.e., the municipal cabinet) during Pierre Bourque's administration.

Prégent was born and raised in Saint-Henri. He operated a grocery store until 1971, when the site was appropriated by the city. He later opened a restaurant, and he ran an upscale men's clothing store in Saint-Henri from 1981 to 1994.

Prégent was first elected to city council in the 1978 municipal election as a member of mayor Jean Drapeau's Civic Party of Montreal. He was re-elected in 1982, receiving the largest majority anywhere in the city. Drapeau's party held a majority on council in this period, and Prégent served as a pro-administration backbencher. He was appointed as a director of the municipal housing office during the 1980s and also became a board member of Habitations Jeanne Mance in 1985.

When asked to name the highlight of his career in the Drapeau administration, Prégent cited his successful battle in 1980 to keep dépanneurs out of gas stations. Some of his Civic Party colleagues later remarked that they seldom heard Prégent speak in caucus or in the council chambers.

Drapeau retired in 1986, and the Civic Party suffered an overwhelming defeat in the 1986 municipal election: Prégent was the party's only candidate returned to council. His re-election was ascribed largely to his personal popularity, and newspaper reports noted that he did not mention the Civic Party in his campaign materials. After the campaign, Prégent said that Drapeau had been largely responsible for the party's defeat and that the Civic Party would need to become more democratic.

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