Victor Charles Goldbloom (July 31, 1923 – February 15, 2016) was a Canadian pediatrician, lecturer, and politician.
Early life and education
He was 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 ...
, the son of
Alton Goldbloom and Annie Ballon. He studied at
Selwyn House School
Selwyn House School (SHS) is an English-language Independent school, independent K-11 boys' school located in Westmount, Quebec. The school was founded in 1908 by Englishman Captain Algernon Lucas and was named in honour of Selwyn College, Cambr ...
and
Lower Canada College
Lower Canada College (LCC) is an English-language elementary and secondary level independent school located in Montreal, Quebec. The school offers education from Kindergarten through Grade 11. Students graduate from Grade 11 and then have the opt ...
. He studied at
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 ...
receiving his BSc in 1944, his MD in 1945, his DipEd in 1950 and his DLitt in 1992. Dr. Goldbloom was assistant resident at the Babies' Hospital of the
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New ...
, in New York.
Career
He was elected in
1966 as the
MNA for 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 ...
. He was re-elected in
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
,
1973, and
1976
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...
. While
Robert Bourassa
Robert Bourassa (; July 14, 1933 – October 2, 1996) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd premier of Quebec from 1970 to 1976 and from 1985 to 1994. A member of the Liberal Party of Quebec, he served a total of just un ...
was
Premier of Quebec
The premier of Quebec ( French: ''premier ministre du Québec'' (masculine) or ''première ministre du Québec'' (feminine)) is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of the ...
, Goldbloom was Minister of State responsible for Quality of Environment (1970–73). In 1973, he was appointed Minister of Municipal Affairs as well as Quebec's first Minister of the Environment, serving in both positions until the Liberal government's defeat in 1976.
Goldbloom was in charge of the Olympic Installations Board for the
1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...
in Montreal.
[
He was the first member of the Jewish community to become a cabinet minister in the Quebec government. He kept his seat in the 1976 provincial election that defeated the Liberal government and sat on the ]Opposition
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...
benches until he resigned his seat on October 16, 1979 after Claude Ryan
Claude Ryan, (January 26, 1925 – February 9, 2004) was a Canadian journalist and politician. He was the director of the newspaper ''Le Devoir'' from 1964 to 1978, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party from 1978 to 1982, National Assembly of ...
became Liberal leader.
Subsequently, from 1980 to 1987, he was CEO of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews.
From 1991 until 1999, he was Canada's fourth Commissioner of Official Languages. During his tenure, Commissioner Goldbloom conducted two comprehensive studies. The first study examined the availability of services in both official languages in offices designated bilingual, which concluded that the federal government's bilingualism was not yet fully implemented nor functional. The second study focused on the implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act by the federal government and suggested different ways that Section 41 of the Official Languages Act could be implemented. In this report, Goldbloom suggested assigning a role of Coordinator of Language Policy at the Privy Council Office.
In 2009, he expressed concerns on the state of Catholic-Jewish relations after the lifting of the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X
The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) ( la, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X; FSSPX) is an international fraternity of traditionalist Catholic priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a leading traditionalist voice at the Sec ...
. Goldbloom died of a heart attack at Montreal in February 2016.
Family
In June 1948, he married Sheila (born Barshay-Rothstein) of Peekskill
Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fr ...
, New York. His sons are Michael Goldbloom
Michael Goldbloom (born 1953) is a Canadian lawyer, publisher, and academic administrator. He is the former publisher of the ''Toronto Star'', Canada's largest newspaper by circulation.
Early life and education
Born in Montreal, Quebec, as th ...
, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Bishop's University
Bishop's University (french: Université Bishop's) is a small English-language Liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Lennoxville, a borough of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The founder of the institution was the Anglican Diocese of Quebe ...
and former publisher of the Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
and the Montreal Gazette
The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
, and Jonathan Goldbloom, founder and president of Jonathan Goldbloom & Associates. His daughter, Susan Restler, lives in Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York.
Honours
* Officer of the Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
(1983), was promoted to Companion in 2000.
* Officer of the National Order of Quebec
The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as ''l'Ordre national du Québec'', and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is an order of merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Gove ...
. (1991)
* Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...
.(1994)
* Honorary Doctorate from the Université Sainte-Anne at Church Point (Pointe de l'Église), Nova Scotia (1996)
* James H. Graham Award of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (french: Collège royal des médecins et chirurgiens du Canada) is a regulatory college which acts as a national, Non-profit organization, nonprofit organization established in 1929 by a speci ...
(1996)
* Knight of the Order of St. Sylvester
Pontifical Equestrian Order of Saint Sylvester Pope and Martyr ( la, Ordo Sancti Silvestri Papae, it, Ordine di San Silvestro Papa), sometimes referred to as the Sylvestrine Order, or the Pontifical Order of Pope Saint Sylvester, is one of five o ...
(2012)
Sheila and Victor Goldbloom Distinguished Community Service Award
In June 2009, the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN) established the Sheila and Victor Goldbloom Distinguished Community Service Award in their honor.
In September 2009, the first awards were presented to lawyer and longtime promoter of quality and English rights Casper Bloom, Eastern Townships-based health-care advocate Marjorie Goodfellow, and researcher Jack Jedwab, who has contributed to the knowledge and understanding of English-speaking Quebec.
Electoral record
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, Democratic Alliance
, Elie Chalouh
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, Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
, Max Wollach
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References
External links
The Great Names of the French-Canadian Community
Multicultural Canada
article in the Canadian Jewish Review on Goldbloom's wedding, June 25, 1948
*
Victor Goldbloom: Eminent Quebecker brought people together
Globe and Mail obituary by Lisa Fitterman, Feb.28, 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldbloom, Victor
1923 births
2016 deaths
Anglophone Quebec people
Commissioners of Official Languages (Canada)
Canadian pediatricians
Companions of the Order of Canada
Jewish Canadian politicians
Knights of the Order of St. Sylvester
McGill University Faculty of Medicine alumni
Officers of the National Order of Quebec
Physicians from Montreal
Politicians from Montreal
Quebec Liberal Party MNAs
Canadian expatriates in the United States