Joseph Mario Jacques Olivier, PC (born April 14, 1944) is a Canadian politician, businessman and labour leader. He was mayor of

Longueuil Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie, Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the South Shore (Montreal), south shore o ...

, Quebec, from 2001 until 2005 and is a former Member of Parliament.

Background and early career

A hospital worker in his youth, Olivier was elected president of the trade union local at Charles-LeMoyne Hospital and treasurer of Quebec's National Federation of Hospital Employees. In 1970, Prime Minister

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

appointed Olivier as an aide to the

Canadian Cabinet The Canadian Ministry ( French: ''Conseil des ministres''), colloquially referred to as the Cabinet of Canada (), is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms ...

on labour relations.

Election to Federal Parliament and Federal political role

In the 1972 election, Olivier was elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

as the Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of Longueuil. He served as parliamentary secretary to the

Minister of Labour Minister of labour (in British English) or labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

from 1976 to 1978. Following the 1980 election, Olivier was elected chair of the Liberal Party's Quebec

caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...

. In January 1984, Trudeau appointed Olivier to the Cabinet as

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

for fitness and amateur sport. Olivier was dropped from Cabinet in June when

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposit ...

became the new prime minister. He was defeated in the subsequent 1984 election.

Business associations

Following his defeat, Olivier established a Ford dealership in Saint-Hubert, Quebec, and soon joined the board of directors of the ''Corporation des concessionnaires automobiles du Grand Montréal et du Québec''.

Longueuil municipal politics

In 1987, he ran to be mayor of Longueuil, but was defeated. He was elected mayor of the

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

suburb in 2001, and serves as vice-chairman of the executive committee of the Montreal Metropolitan Community. During the Quebec municipal restructuring of 2002, Olivier became Mayor of the new Mega-city of Longueuil which merged the former cities of Longueuil, Boucherville, Brossard and Saint-Lambert; towns of Greenfield Park, LeMoyne, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville and Saint-Hubert. This merger was partially reversed after municipal referendums and was seen by many to be a failure on Olivier's part to sell the new Mega-City. Olivier led his own municipal political party, ''équipe Olivier'', which held a large majority on Longueuil's

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

. Olivier did not run in the 2005 municipal election and was succeeded as mayor by Claude Gladu.

Electoral record (incomplete)

External links

*
Olivier Ford (official website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olivier, Jacques 1944 births Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people Olivier, Joseph Mario Jacques Olivier Mayors of Longueuil Politicians from Gatineau Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century mayors of places in Quebec mg:Jacques Olivier