Philemon Cousineau, B. A., Ll. D., K. C., M. L. A.

As a member of the firm of Bastien, Bergeron, Cousineau, Lacasse & Jasmin, Philemon Cousineau, K. C., occupies a foremost position among the legal fraternity of Montreal. Moreover, he has gained a reputation as a legislator and is considered today one of the foremost authorities on constitutional law in the province. He has important commercial interests, and his career has had in its various aspects a lasting influence upon the growth and development of the city. He was born at St. Laurent, Quebec, on October 25, 1874, and is a son of Gervais and Angelique (Grou) Cousineau.

Philemon Cousineau was educated at Sainte Therese College and Laval University, from which he graduated in 1896. Being called to the bar, he began the active practice of law in July of that year and has ever since continued with increasing success. He is professor of constitutional and municipal law at Laval University, which institution of learning conferred upon him the degree of LL. D., after he had presented a thesis on Corporations. He has also been for some time king’s counsel and enjoys a profitable and representative practice.

Mr. Cousineau is extensively interested in industrial and financial projects which have had to do with the city’s progress, among them being the Mount Royal Telephone Company, of which he was president, and previous to its absorption by the Canadian Light & Power Company he was a director of the Saraguay Light & Power Company. He is also president of the St. Lawrence Tobacco Company. He was mayor of the town of St. Laurent from 1904 to 1908 and both as an official and citizen has had no little to do with the progress of that flourishing town.

In 1897 Mr. Cousineau was united in marriage to Miss Helmina Gendron, and they have four daughters. In politics Mr. Cousineau is a conservative and in 1908 was elected to the legislature of the province of Quebec from the county of Jacques Cartier and reelected in 1912. He is a trusted counselor of the party and has done far-reaching work on committees as well as on the floor of the house. Public-spirited in the most noble sense of the word, he has ever stood for that which is best for the greatest number. In 1913 he was delegate of the Canadian government to the general meeting of the International Institute Of Agriculture at Rome, Italy.