Jacques Legendre

Who is Jacques Legendre?

Jacques Legendre is a former Ottawa City Councillor and Ottawa-Carleton Regional Councillor. He represented the Rideau-Rockcliffe Ward on regional council from 1994 until amalgamation in 2001 and continued to serve the ward on city council until 2011. He also represented Overbrook-Forbes Ward on city council from 1991 to 1994. Legendre moved to Ottawa as a teenager in 1955 he attended the University of Ottawa before leaving for McGill University in Montreal where he obtained a PhD in physics. He returned to the capital to work for the National Research Council.

A well known volunteer and activist Legendre was elected to Ottawa city council in 1991, defeating longtime city councillor George Kelly in surprise upset. The main issue in the election was the creation of a new baseball stadium in the ward. Kelly had pushed through the project, but Legendre complained that residents were not consulted and that the stadium would cause traffic and noise problems for the area. Once elected, however, Legendre failed to get the city out of the contract with the stadium developer. He was more successful in his campaign to make all new adult video stores pay a thousand dollar fee to the city.