31st Montreal Mayor. He served in that position from 1912 to 1914. Born in Berthier-en-Haut, Quebec, he was educated at the prestigious Collège de Joliette in Joliette, Quebec, and at the Université Laval's Montreal campus (now the Université de Montréal) where he studied law. After graduating, he was called to the bar and commenced to practice as a lawyer in 1884. In 1892, he joined the reformist and future Mayor of Montreal Sir Hormidas Laporte to create the "Alliance Nationale" insurance company. He then decided to enter politics and ran in an unsuccessful bid to represent the St. James electoral district of Quebec in the 1896 federal election. He ran again a few years later and won an election becoming a representative for the district of Saint-Jacques from 1900 to 1904, and then a representative of the district of La Fontaine from 1904 to 1912. He became the Mayor of Montreal in 1912. During his local political career as both an alderman and Mayor, he was given the nickname of the"Father of Greater Montreal" for his helping to promote the consolidation and amalgamation of municipalities towards a larger Montreal government which also saw the annexation of smaller municipalities to catch up to larger cities such as New York. A few municipalities, like Outremont and Westmount, were opposed, while others were in favor including Saint-Henri and Sainte-Cunégonde in 1905, and starting in 1907-1908, municipalities in the northern area. In 1910, the city of Montréal annexed about ten municipalities including Saint-Louis, Côte-des-Neiges, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Côte Saint-Paul, Émard, Bordeaux, Longue-Pointe, the villages of Ahuntsic, Beaurivage, La Longue-Pointe, Tétreauville, and Rosemont. After the annexation, the population of Montréal increased to more than 500 000. He retired from the politics after he was defeated in the 1914 Mayoral race by Mederic Martin. He continued to practice law until his death in Montreal at the age of 75.