Mayor Médéric Martin |
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32nd Mayor of Montreal | |
In office 1914–1924 |
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Preceded by | Louis-Arsène Lavallée |
Succeeded by | Charles Duquette |
Constituency | Papineau |
In office 1926–1928 |
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Preceded by | Charles Duquette |
Succeeded by | Camillien Houde |
Member of the Canada Parliament for St. Mary |
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In office 1906–1917 |
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Preceded by | Camille Piché |
Succeeded by | Hermas Deslauriers |
Member of the Legislative Council of Quebec for Alma | |
In office 1919–1946 |
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Preceded by | Trefflé Berthiaume |
Succeeded by | Joseph-Olier Renaud |
Personal details | |
Born | 22 January 1869 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Died | 12 June 1946 Laval, Quebec, Canada |
(aged 77)
Political party | Liberal Party of Canada |
Profession | industrialist |
Médéric Martin (22 January 1869 – 12 June 1946) was a Canadian politician and long-time Mayor of Montreal.
Born to Salomon Martin, a carpenter and Virginie Lafleur, Martin studied at St. Eustache College and went on to open a cigar store in Montreal's East End and soon became a populist politician, best known for stirring up suspicion against English Montreal residents.
He served as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Sainte-Marie in the city's east side from 1906 to 1917.
Better known as a city politician, he was elected to the City Council in 1906 and represented the Papineau Ward. He was re-elected in 1908 but was defeated in 1910. He was elected again in 1912.
In 1914 Martin was elected Mayor of Montreal. He was re-elected in 1916, 1918 and 1921, but lost against Charles Duquette in 1924. He was re-elected again in 1926, but was defeated by bitter rival Camillien Houde in 1928. His 12 years as mayor of Montreal made him, at the time, the city's longest-serving mayor.
Martin oversaw the city during a period when several other adjacent municipalities were merged, including Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and much of the predominantly French speaking east side. He considered Montreal's new French-demographic dominance to be justification for discontinuing the longstanding tradition of alternating mayors between English and French speakers, a practice that has never returned.
Martin was appointed to the Legislative Council of Quebec in 1919 and represented the district of Alma.