Gaston Hardy in 1945

Gaston Hardy (April 22, 1917 – July 15, 1977) was a municipal and provincial politician in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec. He was the 13th Mayor of the City of Shawinigan Falls, from 1954 to 1957.[1]

Biography

Gaston Hardy was born in 1917 in Portneuf, Quebec. He completed commercial scientific studies in 1934 in Trois-Rivières.[2] In 1942, he settled in Shawinigan Falls, where he worked for the Aluminium Company of Canada (Alcan).[2] He later worked as insurance agent.[3] He once lived at 1512, rue Saint-Joseph, in the Saint-Marc neighborhood.

In the July 5, 1954 general municipal election, Hardy ran for mayor of Shawinigan Falls and won the election over the other candidate, Paul-Émile Bélanger, a businessman.[3][4] He was sworn into office on July 12, 1954.[5] During Hardy's term, the City created a city planning department and appointed a full-time city planner.[6] On January 7, 1957 mayor Hardy's proposal to annex to the City the three neighbouring municipalities of Shawinigan-Sud, Shawinigan-Est and Baie-Shawinigan was defeated by a majority of the City council members.[7] On January 14, 1957 Hardy announced his resignation as mayor for reasons of health problems, on the advice of his doctors.[8] A by-election was called for February 11, 1957 to elect a new mayor for the remaining 10 months of the term. The two candidates were businessman J.-Armand Foucher and alderman Fernand Bilodeau. Foucher won.[9]

Hardy was the Union Nationale candidate in the district of Saint-Maurice in the 1956 and the 1960 Quebec general elections. Each time he lost against incumbent MLA René Hamel.[10]

He died in 1977 in Shawinigan.

Rue Hardy in the Shawinigan-Nord neighbourhood was named to honour him.

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Fabien LaRochelle, Shawinigan depuis 75 ans, 1976 (in French)
  2. 1 2 Stéphanie Lavoie, "Shawinigan modelée par ses magistrats 1937 à 1957 Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine", in L'Écho de Shawinigan, 15 janvier 2014, p. 4 (in French)
  3. 1 2 "Gaston Hardy elected mayor of Shawinigan Falls", in The Shawinigan Standard, July 7th, 1954, p. 1
  4. ↑ "M. Gaston Hardy est élu maire de Shawinigan par 880 voix de majorité", in Les Chutes de Shawinigan, 7 juillet 1954, p. 26 (in French)
  5. ↑ "Mayor Gaston Hardy Sworn Into Office by City Secretary", in The Shawinigan Standard, July 14th, 1954, p. 1
  6. ↑ "City Engages Gilles Dufresne Full Time Municipal Planner", in The Shawinigan Standard, September 14, 1955, p. 20
  7. ↑ "Council Rejects Annexation of Adjoining Municipalities 6 to 4", in The Shawinigan Standard, January 9th, 1957, p.1
  8. ↑ "Lettre de démission du maire Gaston Hardy adressée au greffier de la cité", in Les Chutes de Shawinigan, 16 janvier 1957, p. 11 (in French)
  9. ↑ "J.A. Foucher Elected Mayor of City With 1,353 Majority", in The Shawinigan Standard, February 13th, 1957, p. 1
  10. ↑ Jacques Lacoursière, Shawinigan Cent ans d'histoire, Les éditions des Glanures, 2001 (in French)
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