By Dan McCaffery for the Sarnia Observer
He helped launch the local tourism industry and gave Sarnians direct control over their Police Department.
Those were among the major achievements of Mayor Richard LeSueur.
Born in Quebec City in 1850, LeSueur settled in Sarnia, becoming a shoe merchant and County Registrar.
He ran for Council in 1884, serving for several years as an Alderman before being elected the Community’s 20th Mayor in 1892.
The new Chief Magistrate soon proved to be a forceful Chair. In fact, he twice caused a public uproar by refusing to allow delegates to address Council on a controversial parks issue.
In one case, a former Mayor was barred from speaking. In the other, the muzzle was applied to a prominent Parks Commissioner. The Observer was highly critical of LeSueur, declaring, “if the Mayor’s ruling is to hold good in future any cantankerous Member has it in his power to prevent a citizen or deputation of citizens from laying their grievances orally before Council”.
Members of Council, it added, were “putting on airs of supremacy and torturing the rules of order to sustain swelling importance”.
But the Editor had to admit Council carried out major improvements to Bayview Park during Mayor LeSueur’s first term at the helm. And that led directly to the Community’s first real tourism boom.
Mayor LeSueur was also responsible for the formation of the Sarnia Police Committee, which was the forerunner of the modern Police Services Board. The Organization gave civilians direct control over the Police Department for the first time.
The Observer called the move “a radical departure from the old order”.