A resident of Boulevard LaSalle, this landowner had an orchard between Orchard Avenue and 90th Avenue. He was a municipal councillor in the Parish of Lachine in 1911 and 1912, the year the City of LaSalle was created, under Mayor Henri Bergevin. Cecil Platt Newman was the first Mayor elected in the new city. His two-year term was highlighted by the acquisition of Maison Brunning, which became LaSalle City Hall in 1914.

Mr. Newman ran in the next election against Cyril Charles Lapierre and lost by just two votes. Newman returned to politics in 1917, as City Councillor, and remained there until 1923. He passed away in 1952, in a booming city of residential, industrial and demographic growth.

In order to perpetuate his memory, a boulevard and an electoral district within the municipal administration have been named after him.