The do-nothing mayor does something

   Mayor Fernand Rinfret was a veteran federal politician who would serve in Cabinet, and became Mayor of Montreal in April 1932 beating incumbent Camilien Houde during the depths of the Depression. Rinfret did not run for re-election in April 1934 and Houde won with a massive majority. 

   Rinfret started as an editor of the paper Le Canada in 1910 and was elected to federal parliament in 1920. I am assuming he was mayor while also serving in the federal government. He was drafted to take on and beat a young Camillien Houde because he was thought to have pull in the federal government and might be able to dissuade them from participating in the St. Lawrence Seaway project. Many feared the new watery route would weaken Montreal by allowing more ships to get upriver to the Great Lakes. He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on July 12,1939, he was Canada's Secretary of State at the time. He was 56.
  This photo was labelled with the following message:
   "The Montreal Police radio system was declared in full working order this morning by Mayor FERNAND RINFRET. His Worship spoke briefly into the microphone and to the assembled gathering. He is seen at the microphone.
   In the photograph, left to right: P.E. JARMAN, manager of Westmount; Director of Police FERNAND DUFRESNE; Mayor GEORGE HOGG of Westmount; ALBERT BERTHIAUME, legal advisor of the Montreal Police Department; Deputy Director of Police BARNES; Ald. ALFRED LEGAULT, acting chairman of the Executive Committee; Mayor JOSEPH BEAUBIEN of Outremont. The police radio station designation is UYR."
  The identity of others in the background remains a mystery. The photo seems to be a ceremony unveiling a new radio communications system.