Then & Now
ST. ALBERT’S MAYORS THEN & NOW
was St. Albert’s first doctor in addition to serving as mayor, and he brought St. Albert through the First World War. Having a doctor as mayor didn’t spare St. Albert from the Spanish Flu, which erupted towards the end of the war. Between the deaths, injuries and epidemic that the war brought home, St. Albert’s economy suffered. Alex Perron (elected 1918), the son of Fleuri, would try to remedy the economic situation during his brief stay in office, but to no avail. St. Albert would take many years to recover.
1919 to 1943 The mayoral career of Michael Hogan (elected 1919) was, in some ways, cursed from the start. The financial hardships that followed the war went from bad to worse as a result of the Great Depression. Hogan is well remembered for the cuts he made to education and public services, but despite the economic climate in which he found himself, he still managed to win the confidence of the citizens who continued to re-elect him. Hogan remains St. Albert’s longest-serving mayor, having held the office for 24 years until his death in 1943.
1943 to 1951 IT’S ELECTION SEASON in St. Albert,
and on October 16, our city will be choosing a brand new mayor. To date, St. Albert has had 21 mayors, each a link in the chain of leadership that’s made our city what it is. Before you vote this month, take a look back, and see what kind of legacy the winner will be inheriting.
1904 to 1919 When St. Albert officially incorporated as a town, Cheri Hebert had the honour of being 18 T8Nmagazine.com
elected the very first mayor. Hebert’s council included Fleuri Perron and Lucien Boudreau, who would later hold the post of mayor during St. Albert’s formative years, in 1908 and 1909 respectively. While their names are mostly remembered as roads here in town, all three men were prominent business owners and instrumental in attracting businesses and setting St. Albert on a path of growth. Herbert Dawson (elected 1910) and Leon Levasseur (elected 1911) continued the tradition of improving the town’s business interests and attracting more institutions to St. Albert. J. Arthur Giroux (elected 1912)
Richard Porier (elected 1943), St. Albert’s second doctor-turned-mayor, would see the town through the remainder of World War II, when he would step down and be replaced by John E. LeClair (elected 1945). With the war over and the town’s finances improving, LeClair and his successors Eugene Maheux (elected 1945) and Neil M. Ross (elected 1947) would govern uneventfully. For the first time since the start of World War I, the town had no impending crisis to solve.
1951 to 1965 After the calm years following the war, it was decided that St. Albert should modernize, and William Veness (elected 1951) was the
