Cyrille Vaillancourt

Who was Cyrille Vaillancourt?

Cyrille Vaillancourt was a journalist, civil servant, businessman and political figure in Quebec. Vaillancourt played an important role in the development of the caisses populaires in Quebec. He represented La Durantaye division in the Legislative Council of Quebec from 1943 to 1944 and sat for Kennebec division in the Senate of Canada from 1944 to 1969 as a Liberal.

He was born in Saint-Anselme, Quebec, the son of Cyrille-Émile Vaillancourt and Marie-Louise Larochelle, and was educated at the Collège de Lévis and the Université Laval. Vaillancourt worked for the Étoile du Nord at Joliette before serving in the Quebec Department of Agriculture, responsible for the areas of beekeeping and maple syrup production. He became director for the Caisse-Populaire at Lévis in 1924, then was vice-president from 1929 to 1932 and administrator from 1929 to 1969. From 1927 to 1963, he was general manager for the regional federation of caisses populaires for Quebec district. He was the first president of the Fédération des caisses populaires for the province of Quebec. Vaillancourt also served as president of Assurance-vie Desjardins, the Association Coopérative Desjardins and the Société de Gestion Aubigny.