Joseph Robillard

Who was Joseph Robillard?

Joseph Robillard was a farmer, navigator, merchant and political figure in Quebec. He represented Berthier in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec from 1878 to 1886 as a Conservative.

He was born in Saint-Joseph-de-Lanoraie, Lower Canada, the son of Maurice Robillard and Marguerite Hilaire, dit Bonaventure, and was educated there. Robillard became a navigator, then a farmer and merchant dealing in grain and hay at Saint-Joseph-de-Lanoraie then Montreal. He was a member of the Montreal Board of Trade. In 1873, Robillard married Annie de Lorimier. He was first elected to the Quebec assembly in 1878; his election in 1880 was appealed but he won the subsequent by-election. He was defeated by Louis Sylvestre when he ran for reelection in 1886. Robillard died in Montréal and was buried in the Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery in 1905; his body was later moved to a cemetery in Saint-Joseph-de-Lanoraie in 1912.

He was the uncle of Joseph-Israël Tarte who was also a member of the Quebec assembly.