1. Pierre Laporte, grandson of the Liberal politician Alfred Leduc, was born in Montreal, Quebec, on 25 February 1921.
27 Facts About Pierre Laporte
1. 2.
Pierre Laporte was a journalist with Le Devoir newspaper from 1945 to 1961, and was known for his crusading work against Quebec's then-Premier Maurice Duplessis.
3.
Pierre Laporte was a pioneer of investigative journalism in an era when investigative journalism was not practiced, when the media were very docile toward the government of Maurice Duplessis.
4.
Pierre Laporte was very close to his wife, Francoise, whom he adored.
5.
Pierre Laporte was the type of guy who went fishing with his wife.
6.
Peter Edwards, the crime correspondent of The Toronto Star, wrote in 1990 that Pierre Laporte was a "devoted family man".
7.
Pierre Laporte was a member of the Quebec Liberal Party, and considered to be a leading member of the party's left wing.
8.
Pierre Laporte served as minister of municipal affairs from 1962 to 1966.
9.
Several Quebecois newspapers printed cartoons that mockingly showed Pierre Laporte leading hundreds of bulldozers and tractors into Quebec City for the government to rent.
10.
In 1962, Laporte was the leading force behind a bill passed in the National Assembly that disqualified from holding office, J Aldeo Leo Remillard, the Union Nationale mayor of Ville Jacques-Cartier, on the account of his criminal record.
11.
Pierre Laporte served as minister of cultural affairs from 1964 to 1966.
12.
In 1965, Pierre Laporte introduced the bill that led to the merger of several municipalities that created the city of Laval.
13.
Pierre Laporte took a populist line, presenting himself as the defender of the "little guy".
14.
Pierre Laporte was frequently accused of accepting kickbacks during his time in office with his nickname being "Monsieur Dix Pour Cent".
15.
Pierre Laporte was a frequent customer at the Victoria Club owned by the gangster Frank D'Asti, a capo of the Cotroni family, and he was known as a good friend of D'Asti.
16.
The report from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police surveillance team, which observed the meeting, stated that Di Iorio, D'Asti and Cote entered together the apartment of Gagnon, who were joined at about "1740 hours" by Pierre Laporte who left at about "1850 hours".
17.
On 3 May 1970, in a room that was wiretapped by the police, D'Asti talked with Di Iorio, Angelo Lanzo and Romeo Bucci about their hopes that Pierre Laporte would be appointed Attorney-General of Quebec.
18.
The situation with Pierre Laporte was considered highly sensitive by the authorities in Ottawa who made it clear that they did not want the Mounties investigating Pierre Laporte.
19.
Pierre Laporte called the Cross kidnapping "a wind of madness temporarily blowing across Canada".
20.
On 10 October 1970, Pierre Laporte was kidnapped from his home on Robitaille Street in Saint-Lambert, Quebec, by the Chenier Cell of the FLQ.
21.
Pierre Laporte was chosen partly because of his links to the Cotroni family and partly because he had no bodyguards, which made him an easy man to kidnap.
22.
Pierre Laporte was heading towards the street to pick up the football when he was confronted with a masked man who had just gotten out of a car parked in front of his house who pointed a submachine gun at his face.
23.
Pierre Laporte was held in a house at 5630 Armstrong street in Longueuil.
24.
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked Canada's War Measures Act which allowed mass raids and arrests to take place in order to find the group who had kidnapped Laporte and Cross.
25.
Pierre Laporte broke through the window, but his leg chains left him dangling in the air.
26.
The police siren that Pierre Laporte heard was due to a report of a fire at a house further down Armstrong street.
27.
Pierre Laporte was buried in the Cimetiere Notre-Dame-des-Neiges on 20 October 1970 in a funeral attended by the elites of both Ottawa and Quebec City in Montreal, Quebec.