Larivée worked at his family's roofing firm in private life.
[1] He first ran for a seat on city council in the 1974 municipal election and was defeated in the second Saint-Jacques ward.
He was defeated by Robert Perreault of the Montreal Citizens' Movement in the 1982 election.
Larivée intended to run as a Civic Party candidate again in the 1986 municipal election but was denied the nomination.
[2] He later briefly affiliated with the Montreal Municipal Democratic Alliance party,[3] but ultimately chose to run as an independent.