In 1967 the visit to Canada of France's President Charles de Gaulle culminated with his arrival in Montreal in Quebec. Jean Drapeau, who has died aged 83, was then that city's mayor, as he was for almost three decades until 1986. Apprehensive about the general's likely utterances, Drapeau had the public address disconnected as De Gaulle waved to the crowds from the city hall balcony. But someone else reconnected a microphone, and thus was the French leader able to shout: "Vive Montreal, Vive le Quebec. Vive le Quebec libre!"

The result was a globally reported diplomatic incident. De Gaulle's visit to Canada's largest English-speaking city, Ottawa, was abandoned, and the day after his outburst Drapeau made a nationwide broadcast reiterating the province's place within Canada. If Drapeau had not been known outside Quebec before, he was then.

He transformed Montreal from a provincial town to a global city, with a combination of dreamy ideas and tough-mindedness. History and geography had conferred on Montreal the challenging mission of being a mirror for Canada, he observed in 1967. The city was "a link between cultures, religions and traditions; a witness of the past and precursor of a more magnificent future still".

It was Drapeau who attacked organised crime, brought Montreal Expo 67 - for which he had hoped to borrow the Eiffel Tower from Paris - and the 1976 Olympics. He provided the city with its underground transit system and the country's first major-league baseball team. But he also saddled the metropolis with a huge debt from the Olympics, which are believed to have cost $3.5bn, a bill taxpayers will be paying off well into the next century. Drapeau meanwhile insisted that "the Olympic Games can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby".

The mayor was a man of simple tastes, never moving away from his modest bungalow in the French-speaking east end of the city and drinking hot water every morning for breakfast. He was small and balding, but at times he seemed above his citizens, speaking impeccable French, lecturing world leaders like De Gaulle and governing, at times, like an emperor.

"For him, the only vote that counted was that of the electorate every four years," wrote Claude Masson in Montreal's La Presse. "Democracy had its moment of glory on election day. Period. Between votes he ruled the kingdom, and the consultation was limited to a small circle of intimates".

Drapeau came from a political family. His father, an insurance broker, was a city councillor. Educated at St Jean de Brebeuf College, he graduated from the University of Montreal - where he was influenced by Abbé Groulx, the French Canadian nationalist - and became a criminal lawyer in 1943. He ran for office in a 1942 parliamentary by-election as an anti-conscription candidate and lost, losing again two years later in a Quebec provincial election.

His life in the public eye began when he took on organised crime - death threats and all - as a crown prosecutor. In 1954 he was swept into mayoral office by a public appreciative of his efforts to clean up the city. Brothels and gambling and drinking dives were closed, but three years later, what was labelled a dirty election saw him ousted. In 1960 he was back, and went on to win six more times, outlasting seven prime ministers and nine Quebec premiers.

The Quebec of 1960 was undergoing what was labelled the "quiet revolution". Control of the provincial government had shifted from the conservative Union Nationale to a revitalised local Liberal Party. The power of the Roman Catholic church in Quebec weakened, the economy grew, new welfare measures were introduced, and a confident French-Canadian nationalism developed. It was a political environment in which Drapeau flourished.

With that 1960 victory he returned to his war on crime and even brought in police consultants from London and Paris. But Drapeau was also interested in the oddest of details. Thus, in his city, no food vendors are allowed on the streets - the mayor wanted to encourage fine cuisine.

The 1968 de Gaulle rallying cry came as Québecois separatism was becoming a significant factor. The Parti Quebecois was formed that year, and outside mainstream politics the Front de Libération du Quebec kidnapped a British trade commissioner and murdered a Quebec minister. Drapeau was targeted and his family home was destroyed by a bomb in 1969 although luckily no one was home.

Drapeau cried when he retired 13 years ago. He then became Canada's ambassador to Unesco in Paris for five years.

He leaves his wife, Marie-Claire, and three sons.

 Jean Drapeau, politician, born February 18, 1916; died August 12, 1999.