Peter F. Trent is an English Canadian businessman and politician. He is the current mayor of Westmount, Quebec. He was named Mayor of Westmount by acclamation on the November 1, 2009 municipal election.[1] He plans to use his profile to debate reorganization of the Montreal region. He previously served as mayor from 1991 to 2001.
Born in England, Trent and his family immigrated to Toronto when he was 10. In 1968, at the age of 25 he would leave McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario to work for a chemical company in Montreal.[2] In 1971 he started his own company, PBI/Plastibeton Inc. which he would later sell in 1989 to Shell Oil and Lone Star Industries. From 1982-1983, he taught Marketing at Concordia University's Faculty of Commerce and Administration.[3] In 1992 he received a medal marking the 125th anniversary of Canada. In 1994 he was named honorary lieutenant colonel of the Royal Montreal Regiment, and in 1999 honorary colonel. In 2005 he received the decoration of the Canadian Forces.[3]
After the 2002 mergers, Trent resigned from office. He fought for three years for demergers as a non-elected official before retiring from politics entirely. By the end of the demerger campaign, Trent found exhausting the degree of vilification directed at him as someone from Westmount, and as an anglophone.
He owns the licences to many worldwide patents, which give him a significant revenue stream, this has allowed Trent to devote himself to public service.
Trent's book about the merger-demerger debate is due by the end of 2010. The publisher is McGill-Queen's University Press. He plans to present ideas in the last chapter that will be the foundation for a debate starting in 2011 about governing the Montreal region.[2]