The Reformer and the Machine: Montreal Civic Politics from Raymond Préfontaine to Médéric Martin

The Reformer and the Machine: Montreal Civic Politicsfrom Raymond Prefontaine to Mederic Martin MICHEL GAUVIN Recent years have witnessed a remarkable growth of interest in the history of Canadian cities. The degree of interest has been marked by the founding of the journal, Urban History Review, and by a spate of books and articles, the extent of which can be glimpsed in the contents and bibliography of Gilbert Stelter and Alan Artibise' recent anthology, The Canadian City (Toronto, 1977). Some of this writing has shed light on the activities and ideas of municipal reform movements in Canada, but little attention has yet been paid to the politics of reform in Canada's largest city, Montreal. This paper attempts to fill part of that gap by reviewing th~ urban politics of Montreal during a period of intense reform activity, from 1894 to 1921. The study of reform politics in Montreal can help to accomplish three things. In the first place, it provides more concrete knowledge of politics and society in Quebec during a period which has hitherto been described more often than not by means of largely unsupported generalizations or by the study of figures who may have been somewhat less than representative. Important politicians like Raymond Prefontaine and Mederic Martin deserve to be much better known to historians than they now are - as does a businessman and civic leader like Hormisdas Laporte. In the second place, the study of urban political life should help to test some of the generalizations just referred to against the evidence of particular circumstances and individuals . And third, it should assist us to place the history of Quebec within a better comparative framework than has often been the case, and to view such phenomena as the urban reform move16 ment in the context of similar movements elsewhere in North America. The period which extends from the beginning of the eighteen-nineties to the beginning of the nineteen-twenties embraces, of course, the age known in American history as the Progressive era; and Progressivism was defined in large measure by critical attitudes to urbanization ·and industrialization. It would perhaps have been surprising if these ideas had not penetrated into Canada and Quebec, where cities and countryside were undergoing the same process of transformation as in other parts of the continent. The similarity of social circumstances and the power of the American press assured that reform movements and programmes in the United States would exercise a decisive influence upon similar movements in Canada. Canadian reformers were part of an informal North American reference service and information network which guaranteed the prevalence of the most fashionable reform concepts on both sides of the border.1 That is not to say, of course, that the reformers of Montreal were slavishly dependent on other cities for answers to their own urban problems; but, where warranted, they certainly did not hesitate to profit from the experience of others. Reference to the reform movement in Montreal should not imply a degree of cohesiveness and continuity which was never present during this period. The personalities, groups, and goals associated with the reform cause shifted constantly throughout the period from 1894 to 1921, and the term "reformer" was little more than a convenient label for all those who, for various reasons and at various times, combatted the role of the "machine" politician or "ward heeler." To this pattern of constant change, there was, however, one notable exception: the career of Hormisdas Laporte. A successful FrenchCanadian businessman - itself a fact of considerable interest - Hormisdas Laporte served as an alderman from 1897 to 1904 and as mayor of Montreal from 1904 to 1906, but his career as a leader of urban reform spanned the entire period. He first emerged as a leader of the Volunteer Electoral League (1894), moved on to the Good Government Association (1895), then to the ReRevue d'etudes canadiennes Vol. 13, No. 2 (Ete 1978 Summer) form Party (1898-1904), next to the Committee of Citizens (1909-1912). Finally, in 1920 he was appointed chairman of the Charter Commission established by the Provincial Government to make recommendations concerning the future shape of municipal government in Montreal. In this sense, the public career...