Building Bridges: Volume 20

A pediatrician, provincial politician, and pioneer of interfaith dialogue, Victor Goldbloom (b. 1923) has led a rich and varied life. Deeply committed to social issues, his dedication to reconciliating French and English, federalists and sovereignists, Christians and Jews, and his understanding of public health, the environment, and minority communities are unparalleled. Born in Montreal, Goldbloom received his medical degree from McGill University in 1945. A practising pediatrician for many years, he entered public life in 1962 as a governor of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Quebec and in 1966 was elected to the Quebec Legislature. In 1970 he became the first member of Quebec's Jewish community to serve in the provincial cabinet, under Premier Robert Bourassa. A minister of the National Assembly until 1979, Goldbloom served as Quebec's first environment minister, and later as municipal affairs minister and minister responsible for the Olympics Installations Board. In the early 1990s he became Canada's Commissioner of Official Languages. In Building Bridges - a collection of personal anecdotes, media coverage of his impressive career, and transcriptions of two historic speeches - Goldbloom recounts the details of his remarkable life and lifelong commitment to Quebec and to Canada.