Robert Libman

Robert Libman (born November 8, 1960) is a Canadian politician and architect.

Background

Born in Montreal, Quebec, he is the son of David Libman and Goldie Aronovitch and is the oldest of four brothers. He attended Herzliah High School, Vanier College, and received a Bachelor of Architecture from McGill University in 1985. From 1985 to 1989, he practiced architecture with Jacques Beique et Associés and Tolchinsky and Goodz Architects. He rose to political prominence in the late 1980s and into the 1990s as a defender and spokesperson for the rights of Quebec's English speaking community.

Provincial politics

In 1988, he co-founded the Equality Party to protest against the Quebec Liberal Party government's decision to extend a ban on English commercial signs. In 1989, he was elected as a Member of the National Assembly in the Montreal riding of D'Arcy-McGee, winning 57.85% of the valid ballots.

Due in part to the surprise victory of the Equality Party, the Quebec government later lessened restrictions on English signs. During his term in office, Libman made headlines by using his parliamentary privilege to reveal the details of confidential, money-losing contracts signed between Hydro-Québec and some of Quebec's aluminum producers.

Libman left the Equality Party and sat as an independent shortly before the 1994 general election. His supporters attempted to make him the Quebec Liberal Party candidate in his riding. However, new Quebec Liberal Party leader Daniel Johnson refused to sign his nomination papers. Libman ran as an independent and lost to the Quebec Liberal Party candidate Lawrence Bergman.

After his election defeat, he hosted an evening talk show on Montreal radio station CJAD for three years. He also became the Quebec Regional Director of B'nai Brith Canada.

In 1997 Libman won a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada judgement in Libman v Quebec (AG). Certain sections of the Quebec Referendum Law, concerning restrictions on third party spending, were struck down. As a result of this decision, the charges against federalist groups who participated in the large Pro-Canada Rally during the 1995 referendum campaign were cancelled.

In 1995 Libman authored Riding the Rapids; The Whitewater Rise and Fall of Quebec's Anglo Protest published by Robert Davies Publishing.

Mayor of Côte Saint-Luc

In 1998, Libman was acclaimed mayor of the city of Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec. In 2001, he was elected borough mayor of Côte Saint-Luc—Hampstead—Montreal West and was a member of the Montreal City Council and its Executive Committee, after the forced mergers of the island of Montreal municipalities into the City of Montreal. He was responsible for the Urban Planning and Development portfolio and was charged with overseeing the creation of Montreal's new Urban Master Plan which was adopted by City Council in 2004.

As mayor he worked to resolve the long-standing impasse regarding the Cavendish extension, which had been opposed by his predecessor, Bernard Lang. In 2000 he met with a former National Assembly colleague, Guy Chevrette who was now the Minister of Transport proposing a route that connected the northern and southern portions of Cavendish but jogged slightly to the east to connect with Ferrier Street and Royalmount Avenue thus diminishing the impact of a direct highway running through Côte Saint-Luc. As part of the Montreal Executive Committee the City announced the creation of a project bureau to study the proposal, but with the subsequent demerger of the City, the project fell by the wayside.

Libman supported the continued merger of the borough of Côte Saint-Luc with the megacity of Montreal after the provincial government watered down their promise of allowing the former cities to return to the same status as they had before the merger.

He decided to quit politics in 2005, and not to run for mayor of the re-constituted city of Côte Saint-Luc following its demerger from the megacity of Montreal. Libman won the nomination on April 26, beating former TVA journalist, Pascale Déry. On October 19, 2015, Libman was defeated by Liberal Anthony Housefather.

In January 2021 Libman was named by the Montreal Gazette as a weekly political affairs columnist for the Saturday edition.

Electoral history

Federal

Provincial