Elzéar Bédard

Elzéar Bédard (24 July 1799 – 11 August 1849) was a lawyer and a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. He later became a judge.

Mayor

Elzéar Bédard
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
In office
July 1832 – February 1836
Preceded byPhilippe Panet
Succeeded byNicolas Lefrançois
ConstituencyMontmorency
1st Mayor of Quebec City
In office
1 May 1833 – 31 March 1834
Succeeded byRené-Édouard Caron
Personal details
Born(1799-07-24)24 July 1799
Quebec City, Lower Canada
Died11 August 1849(1849-08-11) (aged 50)
Montreal, Canada East
Spouse(s)Julie-Henriette Marett
(m. May 1827)
Professionlawyer, judge

He was born at Quebec City in 1799, the son of Pierre-Stanislas Bédard. Bédard received a typical education for the time which he completed in 1818. He then pursued a career in the priesthood but abandoned this and in 1819 articled to become a lawyer which took place in 1824. By 1830, he was involved in provincial politics and ran unsuccessfully in Kamouraska. He won a by-election in 1832 for Montmorency, a riding left vacant by Philippe Panet. He aligned himself with Louis-Joseph Papineau's Patriote party program and in 1834 was the member who introduced the Ninety-Two Resolutions, although likely he did not have a significant role in the preparation.

He was the first mayor of Quebec City, (1833–1834), but lost the next election to René-Édouard Caron. A close friend and supporter of Lord Gosford, he was appointed a judge of the Court of King's Bench in 1836, an appointment that was called bribery by his radical adversaries in the Patriote party.

Bédard was a political moderate at a time when a more extreme outlook was held by most politicians and this stance brought him some adversity and misfortune during his political life.

  • Vachon, Claude (1988). "Bédard, Elzéar". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. VII (1836–1850) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  • "Biography of Elzéar Bédard". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.


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