Jean Drapeau

Jean Drapeau (; 18 February 1916 – 12 August 1999) was a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Montreal for 2 non-consecutive terms from 1954 to 1957 and from 1960 to 1986. Major accomplishments of the Drapeau Administration include the development of the Montreal Metro entirely underground mass transit subway system running on 'whisper quiet' rubber wheels, a successful international exposition Expo 67 as well as the construction of a major performing arts centre, the Place des Arts. Drapeau also secured the hosting of the 1976 Summer Olympics and was instrumental in building the Olympic Stadium and then world's tallest inclined tower. Drapeau was responsible for securing a Major League Baseball franchise, with the creation of the Montreal Expos in 1969. Drapeau's main legacy is Montreal's attainment of global status under his administration. He was the longest serving mayor of Montreal.

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 , introduced him to politics. Jean Drapeau studied law at the .

Drapeau was a protégé of nationalist priest Lionel Groulx in the 1930s and 1940s, and was a member of André Laurendeau's anti-conscription . In 1942, he ran as a candidate of the nationalist , which opposed Canadian conscription during World War II, in a federal by-election. Drapeau lost the election. He was also a candidate in the 1944 provincial election but was badly defeated in his Montreal constituency.

Drapeau, in a highly controversial act, ordered the dismantling of Corridart, a signature art exhibition funded by the province, in "arguably the single-largest act of arts censorship in Canadian history, a desperate effort by a mayor who had lost control of his dream." Its destruction "was an illegal act, a point that would be proven in court and result in damages paid to the artists a decade later, but not by Drapeau." He was named a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 1987.

One of the biggest parks in Montreal, Parc Jean-Drapeau, composed of Notre Dame Island and Saint Helen's Island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, site of the universal exposition of 1967, was renamed in his honour, as was the Metro station serving the park.

Drapeau was also instrumental in the demolition of the historic Van Horne Mansion on Sherbrooke street; a classic greystone house built in 1869 for John Hamilton, president of the Merchant's Bank of Montreal. The building was controversially bulldozed in the middle of the night by developer David Azrieli in 1973 under the mayoralty of Drapeau, who declared that it was impossible to preserve it for cultural reasons because it was not part of Quebec's culture - Hamilton and Van Horne being Anglophone Quebecers (Hamilton was from Ontario and Van Horne was American). It was replaced by a sixteen-storey concrete tower. The mansion's destruction sparked the creation of the heritage preservation group Save Montreal. Journalist William Weintraub includes the house and its demolition in his 1993 documentary, The Rise and Fall of English Montreal, identifying the significance of the building to the local Anglo community's heritage.

After several health concerns, Drapeau announced his retirement from politics in 1986.

Health concerns and death In July 1982, Drapeau suffered a stroke that caused paralysis to the left side of his body. In December 1985, his vertebra was fractured. After retiring in 1986, Drapeau lived a quiet life. He died in 1999 and is buried at the Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery in Montreal.