Louis-Olivier Taillon

The Honourable Sir Louis-Olivier Taillon
8th Premier of Quebec
In office 25 January 1887 – 27 January 1887
Monarch	Victoria
Lieutenant Governor	Louis-Rodrigue Masson
Preceded by	John Jones Ross
Succeeded by	Honoré Mercier
In office 16 December 1892 – 11 May 1896
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Charles Boucher de Boucherville
Succeeded by	Edmund James Flynn
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Montréal-Est
In office July 7, 1875 – October 14, 1886
Lieutenant Governor	Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau
Preceded by	Ferdinand-Conon David
Succeeded by	Laurent-Olivier David
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Montcalm
In office October 14, 1886 – June 17, 1890
Preceded by	Jean-Baptiste-Trefflé Richard
Succeeded by	Joseph-Alcide Martin
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Chambly
In office Mar 8, 1892 – May 11, 1897
Preceded by	Antoine Rocheleau
Succeeded by	Antoine Rocheleau
Personal details
Born	(1840-09-26)September 26, 1840 Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne (Terrebonne), Lower Canada
Died	April 25, 1923(1923-04-25) (aged 82) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Resting place	Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Georgiana Archambault ​ ​ (m. 1875)​
Children	1
Residence(s)	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Alma mater	Collège Masson
Profession	Lawyer

Sir Louis-Olivier Taillon PC (French pronunciation: [lwi ɔlivje tajɔ̃]; September 26, 1840 – April 25, 1923) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was the eighth premier of Quebec, serving two separate terms.

Political career

Taillon's first term of office was just four days, from January 25 to January 29, 1887. This term came at the end of the Conservative government of his predecessor John Jones Ross. Ross had lost the 1886 Quebec election, but had tried to cling to power in a minority government for a few more months.

Taillon was Leader of the Opposition from 1887 until 1890, when he lost the 1890 election and his own seat.

He briefly returned to the practice of law, but following the removal of Liberal Honoré Mercier from office by the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, Taillon became minister without portfolio in the government of Charles-Eugène Boucher de Boucherville. Taillon became premier when Boucher de Boucherville resigned. Taillon lost the 1890 election but continued as leader of the party.

He resigned in 1896 and moved into federal politics to serve as Postmaster-General in the very short-lived federal Conservative government of Charles Tupper, from May to July 1896. He failed to gain a federal seat in the 1896 federal election, and likewise failed to secure a seat in the 1900 federal election, ending his political career. In 1916, he was made a Knight Bachelor.

Personal life

Taillon was born in Terrebonne, Lower Canada (now Quebec). He was the son of Aimé Taillon, a farmer, and Josephte Daunais. Taillon married Georgiana Archambault in 1875. Archambault and their child died shortly after the child's birth in January 1876.^[1]

By the 1920s, Taillon had lost his sight and by 1922 had cut off his beard, his political trademark. Taillon lived in the Institution des Sourdes-Muettes on Rue Saint-Denis in Montreal. Taillon died in 1923.^[1]

See also

• Politics of Quebec
• List of Quebec general elections
• Timeline of Quebec history

References

1. "Biography: Taillon, Louis-Olivier". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved May 23, 2020.

• "Louis-Olivier Taillon". Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. 1979–2016.
• "Biography". Dictionnaire des parlementaires du Québec de 1792 à nos jours (in French). National Assembly of Quebec.

External links

• Works by or about Louis-Olivier Taillon at the Internet Archive
• Louis-Olivier Taillon at Find a Grave

Preceded by Arthur Turcotte

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec 1882–1884

Succeeded by Jonathan Saxton Campbell Würtele