Jules Crepeau, Director of City Services, MontrealWell, with the Montreal City Hall file and my aunt's scrapbook, I guess I have most of the articles are about my grandfather's firing..actually he tendered his resignation on approval of the Alderman. (Some about the congratulations he received in 1926 upon his 40 years in service. Ironic..)
The French Press seemed against this, the English for it.
Houde said that Chief Engineer Tetrault and Jules had to resign, as it was the mandate of the people to send home those who favoured the purchase.
The Herald, an English paper said succinctly "It is the opinion of the Herald that Tetrault and Crepeau are resigning because Houde has made their position uncomfortable."
Oh course why would Houde want to keep a man who had worked for Mederic Martin for so long? I must find a bio of Mederic Martin. I know there are many of Houde, because he was 'so colourful'.
Anyway, there's a lot more to it.. and a lot more to read... But clearly my grandfather, like some of the people going down in Hackgate right now, took the fall for others.
He very likely didn't benefit from the money made on the sale of Montreal Water and Power....Bigger fish than took home the spoils from the 4 million dollar profit made by the Lee Chase Company, famous industrialists no doubt.
But he was smart enough to negotiate a huge pension fo 7,500 a year until death.. (Too bad he died so early, run over by city constable, who my mother says was very contrite so it couldn't have been on purpose.)
I guess he signed something saying he'd tell no secrets... I guess.
Of course, as I wrote in the previous post, the Montreal Water and Power Purchase was to prove very beneficial to the city.
Le Devoir wrote this upon his resignation:
As an example of the kind of man my grandfather was, I will translate a piece from Le Devoir, 1938 that speaks of him upon his death.
(Translated off the top of my head.) “Yesterday, upon his death, the newspapers published some rather dull obituaries of Jules Crepeau, none of which give a just account of the exceptional role the man played in Montreal politics…. Jules Crepeau was intelligent, ambitious, and proactive.His education was rudimentary and didn’t give him a background in culture, unlike his successor Honore Parent. (Crepeau finished his studies at night) But this affable man turned all his considerable intellect and curiosity and energy towards the work at hand. From the start he comprehended the importance of the municipal administration, its vast complexity and its workings and he had a sense of being part of something grand and of great import. He started out as an intern in the Health Department and rose steadily, especially after going to work under L O David in the Head Clerk’s (Greffier)Office…
He rose in the ranks, slowly at first, then more quickly until all the Municipal Councillors and the aldermen had only his name on their tongues. He became the first Director of Services in 1921. Jules Crepeau was too passionate, too uncompromising not to have taken sides in disputes, so he made enemies and he took some hits, some of them nasty.
But it must be stated that no accusations against him stuck. On the outside, his reputation got larger and larger. In Quebec, before the Committee of Private Bills, it was his opinion that held the most weight. He was the one people went to for information because they knew that information would be succinct and exact. I once knew a banker who had thousands of safety deposit boxes in his bank, but if a client showed up he knew exactly which box to open. Jules Crepeau was like this man. The Administration is made up of many many boxes, or more precisely, articles and charters, rules and regulations, and if you wanted to know about any one of them, you called Jules. He had a prodigious memory and you could trust it. It remains only to say that this venerable and brilliant civil servant is an example to all, for his sense of service, his zeal for his work and the pride he took in serving the public.
