The Devil from Saint-Hyacinthe: Senator Télesphore-Damien Bouchard

Frank Myron Guttman
iUniverse (2007)
ISBN 9780595403028
Review by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (2/08)


In “The Devil from Saint-Hyacinthe” biographer Frank Myron Guttman portrays Télesphore -Damien Bouchard as a man ahead of his time.  Guttman has captured the fire that motivated Bouchard in his attempt to diminish the role of the Roman Catholic Church in politics, social services, and in education in Quebec, Canada throughout a political career that covered nearly half of the 20th-Century.
 
Guttman draws from numerous sources, including autobiographical information written by Bouchard himself, to provide important and interesting family background and to show how these early influences during his formative years impacted the decisions he made throughout his political career. I especially appreciated pictures from the family albums and a reproduction of the family tree that went back to the parents of Nicolas Bouchard the first of the family to come to Canada in 1658.

The years in seminary, law school, and an early marriage segue into the beginning phase of T. D.’s political career as a journalist and alderman on the municipal counsel. He moved on to become a member of the legislative assembly to represent Quebec. In 1919 he became Mayor of Saint- Hyacinthe. He went on to become cabinet minister where he served until 1944. 
 
As early as 1906 Bouchard understood the importance of developing electrical infrastructure to provide cheap electricity for industrial and residential use. This early vision provided the impetus that helped form important legislation leading to the nationalization of public services.
 
The generous photo gallery featured throughout the book provides the reader with an added dimension that appeals to the imagination and brings the history of a bygone era alive and allows the personalities of Bouchard and his contemporaries to be seen as real.

Frank Myron Guttman has created an outstanding tribute to a man who dedicated his life to improving the status of the working class of Quebec, their educational opportunities, and social betterment. His work is brilliantly researched and well documented.  This work is an important contribution to the historical accounts of Quebec’s political development and will add to the understanding of the struggle to defend Quebec’s democracy. 
 
“The Devil from Saint-Hyacinthe” offers hope and encouragement to the young potential leader in these times of confusion, uncertainty, and conflict.  T. D. Bouchard is a model example of the influence one man can have on change and reform.

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