The History of Montreal Read online

  By 1904, the reform movement ran out of steam. New populist politicians, close to their voters and deeply rooted in their wards, appeared on the city council. The annexation of a number of towns in the suburbs brought with it more city councillors and made managing Montreal a more complex affair. Patronage again flourished at City Hall, sparking the rebirth of the reform movement under the auspices of both the English Board of Trade and the French Chambre de commerce.

  In 1909, the reformers succeeded in having a public inquiry into Montreal’s administration set up. Judge L. J. Cannon presided the inquiry. His report shed light on a regime of corruption and favouritism and pointed the finger at a number of city councillors. The inquiry opened the ears of many Montrealers to the reformers’ arguments.

  The reformers wanted to reorganize the municipal government. They sought to limit the influence of local politicians by reducing the number of seats reserved for them on the city council and by transferring some of their powers to a Board of Control elected by the people. In doing so, they hoped to eliminate waste and ensure the city was run like a business. This major reform was approved by referendum and came into effect in 1910.

  In the 1910 elections, on the back of the Cannon inquiry that had discredited the current set of politicians, the reformers saw four of their candidates elected as controllers and made gains in practically every ward of the city. The “rule of honest folks” was underway, and would last until 1914. The new administration helped to improve management of the city and to reorganize the civil service. But it struggled to live up to the population’s expectations for roads and public amenities. By becoming more bureaucratic, it lost sight of the needs of voters, which explains the recovery in the popularity of traditional politicians from 1914.

  Between 1896 and 1914, Montreal grew rapidly, in terms of demography, its economy, and the area it covered. With half a million people, Montreal society was becoming increasingly diverse, more complex, and harder to govern. Inequalities were still there for all to see, but the efforts of reform groups were starting to bear fruit and living conditions were improving. Montreal was therefore a dynamic, lively city. It was at a crossroads not only for French and British traditions, but also for the influences of American culture and the contributions of new immigrants.

  CHAPTER 9

  A North American City

  1914–1929

  The First World War curbed the sustained period of growth Montreal had enjoyed since the end of the nineteenth century. The city then went through a difficult spell that lasted until the start of the 1920s, which saw Montreal continue its expansion. It now had one million inhabitants and looked every bit a major North American city.

  World War I

  The economic slowdown was felt starting in 1913, as property values—swollen by rampant speculation—crumbled. Unemployment increased and things continued like this until at least 1915. The outbreak of war in 1914 only worsened the situation. New investments plunged, all the more so because Great Britain, which had largely funded Canada’s expansion at the turn of the century, stopped exporting capital in order to devote its full attention to the war effort. Commercial and industrial activity was dented by the slowdown.

  Construction stalled, bringing a temporary halt to urban expansion. Maisonneuve, a large town in Montreal’s east-end suburbs that had invested heavily in the hopes of sustained growth, collapsed under its debt and even had to borrow to pay the interest on it, which led to the municipality being swallowed up by Montreal in 1918. The war also halted immigration, which had until then helped swell population numbers. Some recent immigrants were even called up and had to return to their countries of origin.

  Starting in 1915, the economy picked up again. Manufacturing companies lapped up lucrative war contracts; longshoremen dispatched farm commodities and military materiel to Britain; thousands of men who signed up left their jobs to others, including a growing number of women, bringing down unemployment. War did drive up inflation, however, which had an impact on many Montreal workers whose wages were no longer enough to make ends meet.

  Most of the consequences of war were political, though. Montreal was split into two camps, with the English on one side, eager for Canada to be involved to the hilt, and the French Canadians, opposed to the war, on the other. Since the turn of the century the imperialist movement had gained strength in English Canada. Anglo-Montrealers had thus felt their attachment to the British Empire grow and enlisted eagerly to fight for their homeland. Leading businessmen headed patriotic organizations and raised substantial sums to support the war effort. But Anglo-Montrealers paid a heavy price for their zeal. The war proved to be a bloodbath, with a great many young Montrealers leaving their lives on the battlefields or returning home broken by war gases and injury.

  Meanwhile, despite support for the war effort from some of their leaders and intense propaganda encouraging them to enlist, French Canadians were reluctant to become involved. For them, the war was a British matter, of no concern to them. For more than 15 years, the leading lights of the nationalist movement, headed by Henri Bourassa, had been telling them that Canada should not be getting involved in wars led by the British Empire. The Canadian army, whose working language was English, was also an unappealing destination for many. The fate that awaited French-Canadian minorities from Ontario and the other provinces, whose language rights were denied, further poisoned relations between the two sides. (Nationalists even coined the term “Prussians of Ontario” to describe the people responsible for that province’s language policy.)

  The atmosphere soon soured. The English-language press openly attacked French Canadians who, in its eyes, were not doing their share. In fact, many French Canadians enlisted, but in much smaller proportions than English Canadians. The decision of the federal government in 1917 to impose conscription for overseas service sent sparks flying among French Canadians, massively opposed to the measure. Huge anti-conscription demonstrations were held in the city. A small group led by Élie Lalumière even resorted to terrorism, but was quickly dismantled. Ethnic tensions had reached an all-time high.

  The dichotomy between English and French had been part of life in Montreal for a long time. In 1914, populist Médéric Martin exploited it adroitly when he threw his hat in the ring for mayor. He ran as the candidate of working-class French Canadians up against the rich English businessmen, defending the interests of east-end Montreal against those of the west. The French-Canadian masses swept him to a resounding victory. His election was symbolic since it brought to an end the practice of alternating between an English-speaking and a French-speaking mayor. From 1914 until the arrival of Michael Appelbaum in 2012, all future mayors would come from a French-Canadian background.

  Painful adjustments

  The end of the war in 1918 marked the start of a series of painful adjustments. The shift to a peacetime economy was not without its downsides, and manufacturing stalled. Soldiers returning home upset the job market. Inflation, which had reached worrying levels during the conflict (18 percent in 1917), continued to take its toll. And such a context inevitably heightened social tensions, which came to a head in 1919. That year, a record number of strikes hit Montreal, a year writ large in the annals of unions across the country because of the famous Winnipeg General Strike.

  This period of adjustment resulted in a serious economic crisis from 1920 to 1922. Inflation was stopped in its tracks and prices tumbled, while unemployment skyrocketed. Private organizations struggled to help the destitute, leading the Quebec government to pass the Public Charges Act of 1921.

  Economic difficulties particularly affected one of the mainstays of the Canadian economy: the railways, which had been a driver of investment before the war. Between 1917 and 1922, the federal government had to bring the Canadian Northern Railway and the Grand Trunk Railway System under government control, then integrate them into the Canadian National Railways. Happily for Montreal, the city was home to the company’s new headquarters and kept its role
as the railway centre, since the two main networks, Canadian Pacific and Canadian National, were headquartered there.

  Postwar tensions also played out in municipal politics. Médéric Martin’s election as mayor cemented the failure of the reformers, who had taken power in 1910. But the business community wasn’t lying down just yet and called on the government to intervene and reform the city’s administration. Montreal’s rapid expansion at the turn of the century and its many annexations, particularly the annexation of Maisonneuve in 1918, had burdened the city with a heavy financial load that had the banks worried.

  In 1918, the Quebec government reacted to this pressure by putting Montreal in trusteeship. The Board of Control was abolished and replaced by a five-member administrative commission, all appointed by the government. The commission had the first and last word on managing the city, and municipal elected officials saw their powers dwindle. Montreal politicians reacted vehemently to this attack on municipal autonomy that had taken the control over patronage out of their hands. Unaccountable to voters, the commissioners went about cleaning up the city’s finances and reforming its administration. They quickly grew unpopular, forcing the government to terminate their mandate in 1921.

  Renewed growth

  Once the crisis of 1920–1922 was over, Montreal was back on the path to growth. Between 1921 and 1931, the city’s population increased from 619,000 to 819,000, with the population on the whole island reaching one million people by the end of the decade.

  External forces were clearly at work. As before the war, many migrated from the Quebec countryside to the city lights, and lots of English-speaking people came from other provinces to settle in the growing metropolis. Montreal reaped the rewards of a new wave of immigration that, although weaker than the one at the start of the century, was similar in makeup if not in scope, with most new arrivals hailing from Britain and eastern and southern Europe.

  This increase in population naturally relaunched urban development. Urbanization mainly took place within the city limits since Montreal had annexed most of the municipalities in its suburbs and thus had vast areas of land to develop. The districts of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Villeray in particular were bespeckled with thousands of new homes. The tramway network whisked workers between their homes and work, and housewives to commercial thoroughfares like Sainte-Catherine, the mecca of Montreal shopping. In addition each neighbourhood had its nexus of local retail stores and services located on a busy street, such as Notre-Dame in Saint-Henri, Mont-Royal on the Plateau, and Ontario in Sainte-Marie.

  Revival of the construction industry affected more than just the residential sector. Schools and hospitals went up, along with a host of commercial and industrial buildings. The downtown area continued its makeover with the erection of shiny new skyscrapers, built in the American style, that transformed the skyline. The Victorian era had well and truly ended and Montreal was looking more and more like a bustling North American city by the day. The downtown area now spilled over from Old Montreal toward uptown Sainte-Catherine street, between Phillips and Dominion squares, with department stores squeezed in between the office towers.

  Downtown was a testament to the city’s economic—and, above all—financial strength. Montreal was still Canada’s largest city, although it was increasingly having to share this title with Toronto. Most major American investment in Canada ended up in Toronto, particularly in the automobile and mining industries, allowing that city to eat into Montreal’s lead.

  Increased financial concentration marked the 1920s. Companies such as the Bank of Montreal, the Royal Bank, Sun Life, and Bell Telephone were becoming gigantesque. Concentration also affected a string of manufacturing and commercial businesses. Given this, French-Canadian entrepreneurs were largely peripheral figures, confined mostly to small and medium businesses.

  Big businesses had more and more managers working out of downtown offices. This meant that the 1920s saw the emergence of a new social group: white-collar workers, whose numbers rose to new heights. Thousands of clerks, secretaries, telephone operators, and bookkeepers completely transformed a Montreal working environment that had until then been characterized by its sizable working class. Other services—stores of all kinds, transportation, teaching, personal services—also employed more and more people.

  The decade was also marked by the rapid development of the middle class—which included not only professionals and local storekeepers, but a growing number of self-employed workers such as insurance agents—and executives from the public and private sectors. All shared in the city’s renewed prosperity.

  A better life

  Living conditions showed a marked improvement. Of course, many Montrealers still had to make do with modest wages and cope with seasonal unemployment. As consumers, they were limited and scraped by on the bare necessities. Despite these difficulties, the prosperity was a boon to them, improving job security and living conditions as a whole.

  The clearest sign of this improvement was the decline in mortality rates, particularly among infants, the result of public health measures implemented at the start of the century. Montreal was still burdened with a higher mortality rate than in other North American cities. Yet the progress since the late nineteenth century was striking: whereas fewer than 75 percent of children lived to be more than a year old in the 1890s, 86 percent reached their first birthday by the late 1920s. Despite a fall in infectious diseases, tuberculosis continued to rage, striking the poorest neighbourhoods hardest.

  Housing also continued to improve. By the end of the decade, almost all homes had electricity, compared to only a quarter in 1914. The construction of thousands of modern buildings in the 1920s further raised standards.

  Education also made leaps and bounds, even though French-speaking Catholics still lagged behind Anglo-Protestants. More and more children made it through the sixth grade and the Montreal Catholic School Commission developed secondary schools, although only a minority of students attended. Vocational education rose in popularity, and new classical colleges opened their doors.

  Changes in higher education came too, with the founding of the Université de Montréal in 1920, which at last became independent from Université Laval. This change in status made it easier for the university to gather donations and to start work on a new building designed by the architect Ernest Cormier and located on the northwest flank of Mount Royal. It was also able to set up new faculties. Within a few years, the Université de Montréal had become the centre of French-Canadian intellectual life in the city and was at the heart of the scientific awakening around Brother Marie-Victorin, who later founded Montreal’s Botanical Garden. Professors such as Lionel Groulx and Édouard Montpetit became household names.

  The intellectual boom among French Canadians in the 1920s was still largely stoked by France, but American culture was increasingly making its presence felt in working-class circles. Although not new, the phenomenon was growing. Burlesque shows, one of the most popular forms of entertainment, were American in origin and adapted into French by Montreal artists. Cinema, which was also growing in popularity, was dominated by American distributors who showed American movies for the most part. Radio was an emerging medium that featured programs from the United States, prompting Montrealers to rush and learn the Charleston. Generally speaking, the influence of the United States affected Montrealers’ way of life. Ford and General Motors automobiles, Chiclets chewing gum, Coca-Cola, and many other American products—some of which were made in Canadian branch plants—became symbols of a modern age.

  Meanwhile, British influence remained strong on the English-language cultural scene, particularly at McGill University, but American influences were increasingly making themselves felt there too, while a handful of intellectuals tried to speak up for a voice specific to Canada. Eastern European Jews, who made up the biggest group that was neither of French or British origin, also had a cultural scene all its own, drawing heavily on the Yiddish language and on Jewish and European traditi
ons since so many immigrants were new arrivals.

  In terms of social and cultural values, Montreal was therefore a lively place to be in the twenties. An important phenomenon was the delicate transformation of French-Canadian society in Montreal, which enjoyed better living standards and had a culture all its own, a culture that was more urban and North American than anywhere else in Quebec. French Canadians were looking to assert themselves in the face of the domination exerted by English Canadians. A new nationalism, more Québécois than at the start of the century, took root in Montreal around leading thinker Lionel Groulx, a priest and historian. For its part, the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste sought to spur on national pride by reviving the tradition of Saint-Jean parades and erecting a cross on Mount Royal (1924).