Prosper-Edmond Lessard

Lessard was born on February 3, 1873 in Cranbourne, Quebec to Jean-Prosper Lessard and Annie Campbell Davidson.[1] Lessard studied commerce and sciences at Collège du Mont-Saint-Louis in the mid-1890s and worked as a bookkeeper in Montreal following the completion of his studies.[1] He left home seeking his fortune in the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush, stopping in Edmonton on his way there and went on to become a leading citizen in the Franco-Albertan community.[2] Lessard began working as a bookkeeper for fellow Quebecers Joseph Chénier and Joseph-Hormidas Gariépy, and would later purchase Chénier's shares to partner with Gariépy to form a firm under the name Gariépy and Lessard between 1901 and April 1909.[1]

Lessard would serve on Edmonton's Board of Trade, formed a number of companies including Imperial Agencies, and served as an executive on a number of resource extraction companies including Elk Park Oil Company, Western Timber and Mines Company, and Edmonton Iron Works. In the civics world Lessard would serve as secretary-treasurer of Edmonton's Young Men's Liberal Club, Edmonton's Liberal Association, and launched Le Courrier de l'Ouest a french language paper with Philippe Roy which reached a circulation of 8,000.[3][1] He would also serve as a trustee of the Edmonton Separate-School Board between 1907 and 1910.[1]

Lessard ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature in the 1909 Alberta general election as a Liberal candidate. He won the new Pakan electoral district by acclamation.[4] He would be sworn into Premier Alexander Cameron Rutherford's cabinet as a Minister without portfolio, which he would hold until Rutherford's resignation in May 1910 due to the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway Scandal.[1]

The 1913 boundary redistribution saw the Pakan district abolished. Lessard ran for re-election in the new St. Paul electoral district in the election held that year. He won a closely contested two-way race over Conservative candidate Laurent Garneau, former pioneer in the Garneau district of Edmonton.[5]

Lessard ran for a third term in the 1917 general election. He received 66 percent of the vote to keep his seat, defeating Conservative opponent James Brady, a Metis activist and the subject of the biography One-and-a-half Men.[6]

Lessard ran for re-election again in the 1921 Alberta general election. He was defeated by United Farmers candidate Laudas Joly in a closely contested two-way race. Many other Liberal members also lost their seas in this election, as the United Farmers formed a majority government.[7]

In 1925 Lessard was appointed to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister Mackenzie King. Lessard served in the Senate until his death in his St. Paul home on April 11, 1931 at the age of 58.[8][3]

Lessard's 1913 unique downtown Edmonton area home on 100th Avenue and 119th Street was declared a Municipal Historical Resource by the City of Edmonton, however the home was demolished in 2005 to make way for a six-storey condo complex.[9]

Lessard married Hélène Gariépy, the daughter of Edmonton Alderman and Merchant Joseph Hormidas Gariépy on November 25, 1900 in Edmonton, together they had three daughters and two sons.[1]

Lessard would collaborate with J. H. Picard, Léonidas-Alcidas Giroux, and R.‑A. Blais to create the Société de la Colonisation de l’Alberta in September 1912, to support the growth of Alberta's french population by advertising the province's agricultural potential.[1]

• Foran, Timothy (2015). "Lessard, Prosper-Edmond". In Cook, Ramsay; Bélanger, Réal (eds.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. XVI (1931–1940) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
• Prosper-Edmond Lessard – Parliament of Canada biography
• Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing