Robert "Bob" Labine was a Quebec politician in Gatineau, Quebec. He was best known for being mayor of the former city of Gatineau between 1988 and 1994 and again between 1999 and 2001.

Labine entered politics as a councillor

Councillor

A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...

 of Gatineau in 1968 and remained at that position until 1978. He was elected mayor in 1988 and re-elected for a second mandate in 1991. Due to conflicts of interest, he resigned in 1994 before re-entering politics in 1999 after then-incumbent mayor Guy Lacroix stepped down after five years as mayor. Labine defeated future ADQ

Action démocratique du Québec

The Action démocratique du Québec, commonly referred to as the ADQ is a centre-right political party in Quebec, Canada. On the sovereignty question, it defines itself as autonomist, and has support from both soft nationalists and federalists....

 candidate Berthe Miron.

In 2001, Labine competed against then-Hull incumbent mayor Yves Ducharme

Yves Ducharme

Yves Ducharme was the mayor of Hull, Québec, in the Outaouais region, from 1992 to 2002 and from 2002 to 2005 mayor of Gatineau after the city had been merged with its neighbours, part of the supra-organization the Communauté Urbaine de l'Outaouais. He was defeated in an election in 2005 by Marc...

 and lost. After the election, he was little involved in municipal politics.

During his first mandate, Labine (along with former Aylmer mayor Constance Provost) opposed a project of regrouping the city of Hull

Hull, Quebec

Hull is the central and oldest part of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of the Canadian National Capital Region, it contains offices for twenty thousand...

, Aylmer

Aylmer, Quebec

Aylmer is a former city in Quebec, Canada. It became a sector of the City of Gatineau on January 1, 2002. Located on the Ottawa River and Route 148 it is a part of the National Capital Region. The population in 2006 was 41 882 — approx. 16% of Gatineau...

 and Gatineau in the early 1990s.http://www.pum.umontreal.ca/apqc/90_91/andrew/andrew.htm The merger would occur in 2002 when a bill by the Parti Québécois

Parti Québécois

The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...

 forced the merger of those three municipalities along with Buckingham

Buckingham, Quebec

Buckingham was a city located in the Outaouais region of the province of Quebec. Since January 1, 2002, it has been part of the amalgamated city of Gatineau which merged five former municipalities, including Masson-Angers, Buckingham, Hull, Aylmer and Gatineau, into a single entity...

 and Masson-Angers

Masson-Angers, Quebec

Masson-Angers is a former municipality and now a sector within the City of Gatineau, located on the north shore of the Ottawa River, in Quebec, Canada, approximately northeast of downtown Ottawa.-History:...

. In 2000, Labine mentioned that a merger would not save money.http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2000/03/08/rural000308.html

During his tenure as mayor, Labine was in favour of building a new sports complex in the Gatineau sector. However, the building is still not built due to negotiations with other levels of governments. The mayor of the new city of Gatineau Marc Bureau had committed of having this project realized. Labine was also in favour of building a bridge to Ottawa in the east-end via the Kettle Island towards the Aviation Parkway

Aviation Parkway (Ottawa)

The Aviation Parkway is a parkway in Ottawa, Canada.The parkway begins at Highway 417 and proceeds north, passing beside Ken Steele Park and Ottawa's only French college, La Cité collégiale...

, a project opposed by Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

.http://www.magma.ca/~mcsail/bridge/bridge.htm

After his political career, Labine led a successful bid for the city of Gatineau to obtain the 2010 Quebec Summer Games in which it defeated four other bids coming from Vaudreuil-Dorion, Shawinigan, Rivière-du-Loup and Charlevoix

Charlevoix

The Charlevoix region, located in Quebec, includes parts of the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River and the Laurentian Mountains region of the Canadian Shield...

. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/11/30/ot-quebec-games-071130.html

Labine is married and has two children.

Electoral record (partial)

See the 1987 Gatineau municipal election

Gatineau municipal election, 1987

The 1987 Gatineau municipal election was held on November 1, 1987, to elect a mayor and councillors in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. Incumbent mayor Gaétan Cousineau was narrowly re-elected over a challenge from former mayor John Luck.-Council:...

page for details on Deschênes and Leroux.
Source: David Gamble, "Labine wins tight race for mayor in Gatineau," Ottawa Citizen, 6 June 1988, A1.

External links

• Partial Biography of Robert Labine