Background
He was born in Montreal, the son of Alton Goldbloom and Annie Ballon.
He was born in Montreal, the son of Alton Goldbloom and Annie Ballon.
He studied at Selwyn House and Lower Canada College. He studied at McGill University receiving his Bachelor of Science in 1944, his Doctor of Medicine in 1945, his DipEd in 1950 and his Doctor of Letters in 1992.
He was elected in 1966 as the MNA for the Montreal riding of Doctorate"Arcy-McGee. He was re-elected in 1970, 1973, and 1976. While Robert Bourassa was Premier of Quebec, Goldbloom was Minister of State responsible for Quality of Environment (1970-1973).
In 1973, he was appointed Minister of Municipal Affairs as well as Quebec"s first Minister of the Environment, serving in both positions until the Liberal government"s defeat in 1976.
Goldbloom was in charge of the Olympic Installations Board and is credited with ensuring that the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal started on time. He kept his seat in the 1976 provincial election that defeated the Liberal government and sat on the Opposition benches until he resigned his seat on October 16, 1979 after Claude Ryan became Liberal leader.
From 1991 until 1999, he was Canada"s Commissioner of Official Languages. In 2009, he expressed grave concerns on the state of Catholic-Jewish relations after the lifting of the excommunications of the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X. Goldbloom died of a heart attack at Montreal in February 2016.
He was the first member of the Jewish community to become a cabinet minister in the Quebec government.