Joseph-Tancrède Labbé (June 18, 1887 – December 13, 1956) was a prominent
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 ...
politician and businessman. He was the father of media mogul
François Labbé
François Labbé (born September 23, 1928 in Thetford Mines, Quebec) is a Canadian mass media owner who started the first commercial French language radio network in Canada, the Réseau des Appalaches, in 1972.
Born in Thetford Mines in 1928, the ...
.
Background
He was born on June 18, 1887 in
East Broughton to parents who operated a farm and studied at the
Frères des écoles chrétiennes, and studied commerce in
Sainte-Marie.
He first worked as a general store clerk, and after that as a manager from 1913 to 1919 and after that, became a grocer when he founded T. Labbé Ltd. He also started an
ice cream
Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...
plant, Produits Régal LTD, in 1921, which remained in business until the 1980s, but with different owners. He was a member of the provincial ice cream producers association and became a director for
Thetford Asbestos, a mining company.
Labbé was honorary member of the
Thetford Mines
Thetford Mines (Canada 2021 Census population 26,072) is a city in south-central Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of Les Appalaches Regional County Municipality.
The city is located in the Appalachian Mountains, 141 miles northeast of Montreal and ...
Chamber of Commerce from 1931 to 1937 and from 1947 to 1951. Member of the
Canadian Club
Canadian Club is a brand of Canadian whisky produced by Beam Suntory. Popularly known as CC, Canadian Club was created by Hiram Walker and Sons, an evolution of a brand around a product that took place over the second half of the nineteenth c ...
,
Rotary Club and the
Knights of Columbus
The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney on March 29, 1882. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight. ...
.
Mayor
He was elected mayor of
Thetford Mines
Thetford Mines (Canada 2021 Census population 26,072) is a city in south-central Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of Les Appalaches Regional County Municipality.
The city is located in the Appalachian Mountains, 141 miles northeast of Montreal and ...
on February 3, 1931 and kept his seat until February 9, 1937. He was elected mayor again in May 1946 and stayed there until May 1951.
Member of the legislature
He was elected to the
Legislative Assembly of Quebec in
Mégantic in
1935 for the
Action libérale nationale. Labbé joined
Maurice Duplessis
Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis (; April 20, 1890 – September 7, 1959), was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 16th premier of Quebec. A conservative, nationalist, anti-Communist, anti-unionist and fervent Catholic, he and hi ...
's
Union Nationale and was re-elected in
1936
Events
January–February
* January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
.
He was defeated in
1939, but managed to win a
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
on November 19, 1940 and was re-elected in
1944
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 2 – WWII:
** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...
,
1948,
1952
Events January–February
* January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
* February 6
** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...
and
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...
. He became a
Minister without Portfolio in Duplessis's
Cabinet in 1944.
With 11 years in office, he was the longest tenured mayor of Thetford Mines until
Henri Therrien retired after 12 years in office in 1999. He was the only politician to have been mayor of Thetford Mines and provincial
MLA at the same time, from 1935 to 1937 and from 1946 to 1951, a practice that is now forbidden in Quebec.
Laurent Lessard became a provincial MNA for the
Liberal Party of Quebec
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; ...
after resigning as mayor of
Thetford Mines
Thetford Mines (Canada 2021 Census population 26,072) is a city in south-central Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of Les Appalaches Regional County Municipality.
The city is located in the Appalachian Mountains, 141 miles northeast of Montreal and ...
in 2003.
Labbé was the first MLA from the Mégantic (now
Frontenac) county to become a minister and the only
Union Nationale MLA from the county to do so. After him,
Roger Lefebvre and
Laurent Lessard, both
Liberals, also became ministers.
[Le Soleil (February 19, 2005, P. A-12) ''Laurent Lessard n'est que le troisième ministre issu de Frontenac'']
Death
Labbé died in office in
Saint-Romuald,
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 ...
on December 13, 1956.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Labbe, Tancrede
1887 births
1956 deaths
Action libérale nationale MNAs
Mayors of Thetford Mines
Union Nationale (Quebec) MNAs
French Quebecers