Robert Libman (born November 8, 1960) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician and architect.

Background

Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, he is the son of David Libman and Goldie Aronovitch. He attended

Herzliah High School United Talmud Torahs of Montreal ( he, הַמְאוּחָדִים בְּמוֹנְטְרִיאָל בּ‬ָ‬תֵי תַלְמוּד תוֹרָה‬, french: Talmud Torahs Unis de Montréal) (also known as The Azrieli Schools, in French: Les é ...

Vanier College Vanier College ( French: ''Collège Vanier'') is an English-language public college located in the Saint-Laurent borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1970 as the second English-language public college of Quebec's public colle ...

, and received a

Bachelor of architecture The Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) is a bachelor's degree designed to satisfy the academic requirement of practising architecture around the world. Australia Architectural education in Australia varies depending on the university offering th ...

from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

in 1985. From 1985 to 1989, he practiced architecture with Jacques Beique et Associés and Tolchinsky and Goodz Architects.

Provincial politics

In 1988, he co-founded the Equality Party to protest against the

Quebec Liberal Party The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; french: Parti libéral du Québec, PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; e ...

government's decision to extend a ban on

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

commercial signs. In

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, he was elected as a

Member of the National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

in the Montreal riding of

D'Arcy-McGee D'Arcy-McGee is a provincial electoral district in the Montreal region of the province of Quebec, Canada, that elects members to the National Assembly of Quebec. It consists of the cities of Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead and part of the Cô ...

, 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 Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties. ...

to reveal the details of confidential, money-losing contracts signed between

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States. It was established by the ...

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 Lawrence S. Bergman (born December 6, 1940) is a Canadian politician in Quebec, Canada. He was a minister of the government of Quebec from 2003 to 2007, the Member of National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of D'Arcy-McGee in Montreal's wes ...

. After his election defeat, he hosted an evening talk show on Montreal radio station

CJAD CJAD (800 AM) is a commercial radio station operating in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The station has an English language news/talk radio format and identifies itself on-air as ''CJAD 800''. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it has a daytime power ...

for three years. He also became the Quebec Regional Director of

B'nai Brith Canada B'nai Brith Canada ( ; BBC; from he, בני ברית, b'né brit, Children of the Covenant) is a Canadian Jewish service organization and advocacy group. It is the Canadian chapter of B'nai B'rith International. Mission The organization prese ...

. 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 An acclamation is a form of election that does not use a ballot. It derives from the ancient Roman word ''acclamatio'', a kind of ritual greeting and expression of approval towards imperial officials in certain social contexts. Voting Voice vot ...

mayor of the city of

Côte Saint-Luc Côte Saint-Luc (; also spelled Côte-Saint-Luc, and known historically in English as Cote St. Luke) is a city on the island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. Geography Along with Hampstead and Montreal West, Côte Saint-Luc forms an enclave within ...

. In 2001, he was elected borough mayor of Côte Saint-Luc—Hampstead—Montreal West and was a member of the

Montreal City Council The Montreal City Council (french: Conseil municipal de Montréal) is the governing body in the mayor–council government in the city of Montreal, Quebec. The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the ...

and its

Executive Committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

. 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. Libman supported the continued merger of the borough of

with the

megacity A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people. Precise definitions vary: the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its 2018 "World Urbanization Prospects" report counted urban ...

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

following its

demerger A demerger is a form of corporate restructuring in which the entity's business operations are segregated into one or more components. It is the converse of a merger or acquisition. A demerger can take place through a spin-off by distributed or ...

from the

of Montreal. He returned to private life and opened his own architectural consulting firm, Libcorp Consultants Inc. He was also a director and partner in RSW Properties, a property management firm in Montreal until 2015. Later that year he joined Olymbec, a large real estate developer as their in-house consultant on architecture, planning and municipal zoning.

Move to federal politics

Libman returned to politics in 2014 by seeking the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

nomination in

Mount Royal Mount Royal (french: link=no, Mont Royal, ) is a large intrusive rock hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The best-known hypothesis for the origin of the name Montreal is the hi ...

for the 2015 federal election. Libman won the nomination on April 26, beating former

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

journalist,

Pascale Déry Pascale Déry is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2022 Quebec general election. She represents the riding of Repentigny as a member of the Coalition Avenir Québec. She was formerly a television ...

. On October 19, 2015, Libman was defeated by Liberal

Anthony Housefather Anthony Housefather (born January 25, 1973) is a Canadian Member of Parliament representing the riding of Mount Royal on the island of Montreal. From 2015 to 2019, Housefather served as the Chair of the Justice and Human Rights Committee. Foll ...

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

Electoral history

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Libman, Robert 1960 births Living people Architects from Montreal Equality Party (Quebec) MNAs Mayors of places in Quebec Montreal city councillors McGill School of Architecture alumni Anglophone Quebec people Quebec political party leaders People from Côte Saint-Luc Canadian architects Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Jewish mayors of places in Canada Quebec candidates for Member of Parliament