Background

Born to Salomon Martin, a carpenter and Virginie Lafleur, Martin studied at St. Eustache College and went on to open a cigar

Cigar

A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...

 store in Montreal's

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 East End and soon became a populist politician, best known for stirring up suspicion against English Montreal residents.

Member of the house of Commons

He served as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Sainte-Marie

St. Mary (electoral district)

St. Mary was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1892 to 1953.This riding was created in 1892 from parts of Montreal East riding....

 in the city's east side from 1906 to 1917.

City Councillor

But he was best known as a city politician. He was elected to the City Council

Montreal City Council

The Montreal City Council is the governing body of Montreal, Quebec. The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Île de Montréal...

 in 1906 and represented the Papineau Ward. He was re-elected in 1908, but was defeated in 1910. He was re-elected again in 1912.

Mayor of Montreal

In 1914 Martin was elected Mayor of Montreal

Mayor of Montreal

The Mayor of Montreal is head of the executive branch of Montreal City Council.The Mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city and provincial laws within Montreal....

. He was re-elected in 1916, 1918 and 1921, but lost against Charles Duquette

Charles Duquette

Charles Duquette was a Canadian politician in the province of Quebec. He was mayor of Montreal from 1924 to 1926....

 in 1924. He was re-elected again in 1926, but was defeated by bitter rival Camillien Houde

Camillien Houde

Camillien Houde was a Quebec politician, a Member of Parliament, and a four-time mayor of Montreal.-Political career:...

 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

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce , also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal located in the city's west-end. It is one of five districts of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–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.

Legislative Councillor

Martin was appointed to the Legislative Council of Quebec

Legislative Council of Quebec

From 1867 until 1968, the Legislative Council of Quebec was the unelected upper house of the bicameral legislature in the Canadian province of Quebec...

 in 1919 and represented the district of Alma.

External links

• Bilan du Siècle - Médéric Martin (1869-1946) Homme politique at bilan.usherbrooke.ca
• Médéric MARTIN at www.assnat.qc.ca