Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Eugene Damase Labelle

Few men occupy a more enviable position in business and military circles than Lieutenant Colonel Alfred E. D. Labelle. He has been termed “the beau ideal of a soldier,” and his position as one of the captains of industry in Montreal none question. Montreal claims him as a native son. He was born August 23, 1866, his parents being Hospice L. and Leocadie (Masson) Labelle, the former a grain inspector of Montreal. The son was a student in Bishop’s Academy and in a commercial school of his native city, his training in that institution fitting him for the responsibilities which came upon him after he entered business circles in 1883 in the employ of the late W. W. Ogilvie, the miller king. He remained in that connection until the business was merged into the Ogilvie Flour Mills Company, Limited, in 1897, at which time he became sales manager for Montreal, so remaining until his retirement from active connection with the business in 1910. In that year he became managing director of the St. Lawrence Flour Mills Company, of which he was one of the principal promoters and as such he stands today as one of the leading representatives of the productive industries of the province, bending his energies to constructive direction and executive control of a business that has already reached mammoth proportions.

He has active connection and voice in the management of many organizations looking to the betterment of trade and commercial relations. He is a member of the Montreal Harbor board, the Montreal Board of Trade, was president of the Chambre de Commerce, and is vice president of the Montreal Industrial Exhibition Association and the Montreal Vehicular Traffic Association. He is also connected with movements touching the general interests of society outside the strict field of business, being councillor of the Red Cross Society and of the Boy Scout movement. His military career is perhaps even more brilliant than his business record. He has been long connected with the volunteer militia service, having joined the Sixty-fifth Regiment as a private in 1882. He was advanced through various ranks until he became lieutenant colonel, commanding in 1897 and in 1902 his name was placed upon the list of retired officers. Subsequently he commanded the Seventh Infantry Brigade, was appointed a second time to the command of the Sixty-fifth Regiment in March, 1907, and is now in command of the Twelfth Infantry Brigade. He served in the Northwest rebellion in 1885 and was one of its medallists. He was on the staff of the Victoria Jubilee contingent in London, England, in 1897, when he was again accorded a medal. He commanded the troops sent to Valleyfield, P. Q., during the trade riots in 1900, and he commanded the Canadian Bisley team in 1908. In the previous year he received a long service decoration and became actively connected with military training in 1896 as president of the Montreal Military Institute. He was likewise president of the Montreal Amalgamated Rifle Association in 1901-2. The Montreal Witness speaks of him as a “splendid officer, popular and respected by all.”

Colonel Labelle was married in 1900 to Amelie Sicotte, the second daughter of the late Hon. L. W. Sicotte. Colonel Labelle is a Roman Catholic in religious faith and a conservative in political belief. His club relations are with the leading organizations of that character in Montreal, including the St. James Club, Club Lafontaine, Club Canadien, the Military Institute and Club St. Denis. The analytical trend of his mind readily enables him to understand the various factors which enter into the successful control of military interests and of business affairs. He has ever followed the broad policy of building up rather than of destroying and in all of his commercial interests has employed constructive measures, never sacrificing interests of others to corporation gain. While in military circles he is a strict disciplinarian, he has at the same time, those qualities which win personal popularity and respect among subordinates and the expressions of praise again and again heard from those who have served under him show that he is justly entitled to be termed “the beau ideal of a soldier.”