E. A. Bourque

Who is E. A. Bourque?

E. A. "Eddy" Bourque was Mayor of Ottawa in 1949 and 1950.

Bourque was born in Ottawa's Lower Town. He was a longtime city councilor and member of the city's Board of Control from 1937 to 1949, and owner of the Twin City Ice and Coal Company, later to become E.A. Bourque Ltd.

As the city comptroller, he squired the purchase of the Ottawa Electric Railway, that became Ottawa Transportation Commission. In 1949 he became the first French-speaking mayor of Ottawa in 50 years. As mayor, at the request of Prime Minister Mackenzie King, he worked closely with urban planner Jacques Gréber to oversee the annexation of thousands of acres of Nepean and Gloucester, laying the groundwork for the Greenbelt, Gatineau Park and the National Capital Region.

His brother Romuald was a mayor of Outremont and a member of the Canadian House of Commons and of the Senate of Canada. His father, Frank Bourque, was from Douglas ON and was a conductor for Ottawa Electric Railway, his mother Rachel Langevin from Fort Coulonge Que. His children, Marie, Edouard, Raymond, Paul, Gerard, Suzanne and Pierre, survived him. Edouard, Pierre and Bernard became prominent real estate developers.

Pierre purchase Ciment Lafarge quarry in Hull in 1982,developed it as Boulevard de la Carriere, built Louis St-Laurent Building,occupied bu national Defence Department. He, let the water into the quarry and it became a lake, is now the finest area in Hull He sold part of the land to Casiloc, operating arm for Quebec Casinos, and Casino du Lac Leamy was built, opened in 1995.