ROBIN PHILPOT’S ARGUMENT

THE CORRUPT LEGACY OF PAUL DESMARAIS

Christopher Richard Wade Dettling (2017)

Québec journalist and author Robin Philpot wrote a scathing attack upon Paul Desmarais (DAY–maw–ray) and his corrupt legacy.¹ Desmarais had recently died, and great praise was being heaped upon the deceased, for the amazing things he had allegedly done for Québec. Few people, however, realized what Québec and the National Assembly had done for Paul Desmarais: The ruling–classes of Québec had greatly enriched Paul Desmarais and his family.²

According to Robin Philpot, the destiny of Paul Desmarais and his wealthy family would have been very different without the involvement of the government of Québec over the years, which according to a famous contemporary, aspires to be a country and not merely a province: “French–Canadians who feel threatened always turn to Québec,” Desmarais once said. “It’s our mentality.”³ Is this the secret behind the enormous wealth of Paul Desmarais and his family, that he was a persecuted French–Canadian businessman who needed government assistance in order to succeed in life? If Desmarais was so persecuted as a French–Canadian, then who were his persecutors? We know very well where this traditional sophistical reasoning leads in Canadian politics and economics.

Canadian establishmentarian journalists like Peter Charles Newman and Diane Francis have characterized the meteoric rise of Paul Desmarais in the 1960’s to the fact that he was “politically correct and a French–Canadian,” namely an arch–federalist capable of protecting the national interests of Canada and the Canadian ruling–class from the evils of the Québec independence movement: This analysis, according to Robin Philpot, is fallacious, and is completely at odds with the real political and economic legacy of Paul Desmarais.⁴

1. Paul Desmarais and the Power Corporation

Paul Desmarais was never an entrepreneur: “Starting at the bottom takes far too long … I have never done anything from scratch.” Desmarais was the builder of a financial empire based entirely upon the constant influx of easy money, which was quickly turned into a vast fortune. The enormous wealth Desmarais thus accumulated could only be obtained through his patronage of government and his influence in Québec politics: That is the history of Desmarais’ take over of Gelco (Gatineau Electric), later Gesca, and also Power Corporation, which received huge subsidies over the years from the Québec Government. ⁵ After his take over of Power Corporation and the Montreal newspaper La Presse, the notion of the Empire of Desmarais first appeared, when the young Liberal deputy Yves Michaud sounded the alarm at the Québec National Assembly:

“If this problem is not corrected by a very serious inquiry on the part of elected officials, in accordance with the laws of our Assembly, the Desmarais oligarchy will threaten the power of our Parliament: Does the dangerous nature of this situation require even further proof? Will not this oligarchy eventually usurp the sovereign will of our representatives, and even our Prime Minister? … At this very moment, the Gelco–Trans–Canada Group [controlled by Paul Desmarais] is seeking to further acquire Le Soleil Newspaper, the readership of which is more than 175, 000 people, as well as the daily newspaper Le Droit d’Ottawa, which has a readership of some 45, 000 people.”⁶

Despite the patriotic eloquence of Yves Michaud, nobody in Québec really seemed to care …

2. The Financial Empire of Desmarais: The Québec Inc

Desmarais always cultivated very close political and economic connexions with provincial and federal élites, so that every Premier of Québec and Prime Minister of Canada, at least since the time of Maurice Duplessis, used to “eat from his hand.”⁷ Yet, in the eyes of Robin Philpot, the anti–federalist Premiers of Québec, René Lévesque and Jacques Parizeau, were never the creatures of Paul Desmarais.

Much has been written on the political and economic relations between Paul Desmarais and Jean–Louis Lévesque: “Jean–Louis Lévesque, the Montreal financier from far–away Gaspé, ‘knew first–hand the difficulties that awaited a French–Canadian in business, and therefore he took the young Paul Desmarais under his wing, and led him into the realm of French–Canadian high finance.’”⁸ As for Jacques Parizeau, he was the Premier of Québec only for a relatively short period of time before being replaced by Lucien Bouchard, leader of the Second Québec Referendum: Premier Bouchard did have political and economic affiliations with Brian Mulroney and Paul Desmarais: “Brian Mulroney and Lucien Bouchard used to talk about the meetings they had together at the Élysée with President François Mitterrand and Paul Desmarais.”⁹

According to Robin Philpot, not only did Paul Desmarais make investors flee from Québec in the 1990’s during the administration of Robert Bourassa, but in 1989, in the largest financial transaction in Canadian history, Desmarais sold Consolidated–Bathurst, the crown jewel of the Québec pulp and paper industry, which had benefited from very generous subsidies from taxpayers over the years, for $2.6 billion to American investors.¹⁰ The sale of Montréal Trust later followed for some $550 million: Thus, Paul Desmarais ripped–off (arrachés) $3 billion in natural resources from the hard–working people of Québec.¹¹

3. The Québec Regime in Ottawa, 1968–2006: The Québécocracy

According to journalist and author Robin Philpot, Paul Desmarais was probably the most corrupt businessman in Canadian history, and therefore he was also a very big crook.¹²

Defenders of Desmarais such as Marc Jussaume, who attack the credibility and honesty of Robin Philpot, assert that since Desmarais paid his taxes in Québec, he was not therefore a very corrupt businessman: “Paul Desmarais decided to live in Montréal, and the Charlevoix, and for that reason Power Corporation has remained a Québec taxpayer. What is the bad–faith of Philpot’s attack? Philpot accuses Paul Desmarais of being the most corrupt Québec businessman.”¹³

But apart from his existentialist critique of Philpot’s bad–faith (a phrase popularized by Jean–Paul Sartre and his Parisian counter–culture followers in the 1960’s), Jussaume advances no further information on the exact amount of taxes the Empire of Paul Desmarais and Power Corporation has actually paid in Québec over the years: Paul Desmarais, according to Robin Philpot, was probably the most corrupt businessman in Canadian history, but he also undoubtedly paid some taxes.

Jussaume also accuses Robin Philpot of tendentiousness and hyperbole: “The problem is that the nationalization of hydro–electricity started in 1962–1963, and was completed in 1964–1965. The investors who sold their companies to Desmarais essentially sold him bank accounts, and he did not receive any liquidity. Paul Desmarais was therefore not part of the nationalizations.”¹⁴

Of course, this “problem” certainly depends very much on what exactly Jussaume means by the “nationalizations” of hydro–electricity, and also on his divisions and sub–divisions of the historical chronology of Québec’s political and economic history, matters of exact historiography upon which he and many others are silent. Once the exact historiography of Canada in the last half of the 20th century is very well known, and also exonerates Paul Desmarais and the Québec Regime in Ottawa of their monstrous political and economic corruption, then Marc Jussaume and his friends can fit their defense of Desmarais into the appropriate chapter, — if the day ever comes.¹⁵ Once this great work of exact historiography, the history of the Quiet revolution and nationalization, is laid before our eyes, we will make a further judgement upon Robin Philpot’s argument, either for or against, but until that time comes, his argument stands. Of course, we will require a further reading, namely, the exact political and economic history of nationalism in Québec during the time period in question. Hopefully this last work will be gift wrapped with an instruction manual: The Philosophy of the Nation–State.

According to Jussaume, “after the initial purchase of Power Corporation in 1968, which held 18% of Consolidated–Bathurst, the latter company lost a lot of money, but instead of selling Consolidated–Bathurst, Paul Desmarais increased his shares to 42%, and then he took over. Only afterwards did Consolidated–Bathurst become very profitable.”¹⁶

Says Robin Philpot in rebuttal: The enormous wealth Paul Desmarais accumulated over the years could only be obtained through his patronage of government and his influence in Québec politics, because every Premier of Québec and Prime Minister of Canada, at least since the time of Maurice Duplessis, used to “eat from his hand.”¹⁷ No wonder then that Consolidated–Bathurst became “very profitable” under the control of Paul Desmarais and his family.

Robin Philpot’s charge against Paul Desmarais is straightforward: The vast fortune Desmarais accumulated over the years could only be obtained through his patronage of government and his influence in politics: “All the Premiers of Québec and Prime Ministers of Canada, since the time of Maurice Duplessis … used to eat from his hand.”¹⁸ In other words, Paul Desmarais was a very big crook.¹⁹ The vast fortune Desmarais accumulated over the years was obtained through his patronage of government and his influence in politics.

The political and economic inclinations of Robin Philpot are not here in question.²⁰ The historical and logical question at hand is whether Paul Desmarais was the most corrupt businessman, and therefore the biggest crook, in Canadian history. Robin Philpot advances a number of instances in support of his historical argument: Unless his examples of Paul Desmarais’ corrupt legacy are demonstrably false, the argument of Robin Philpot stands, and the conclusion is therefore irresistible.

The political and economic consequences of Robin Philpot’s argument are of great interest with regards to the historical development of the rational conception of Canada and its actualization in the world of today: The Empire of Paul Desmarais, the Power Corporation and the Québec Inc, was the main backer of the Québec Regime in Ottawa, 1968–2006, when Canada was ruled by Québécocrats for nearly a half century, except for one year under Kim Campbell, Joe Clark and John Turner:

“Claude Frenette, the right hand man of Paul Desmarais … was elected as president of the Québec wing of the Liberal Party of Canada in virtue of the upcoming leadership race: Frenette and Pierre Trudeau elaborated a scheme at Power Corporation whereby the latter would become the new leader of the Liberal Party and then the Prime Minister of Canada.”²¹

ENDNOTES

1. See: Robin Philpot, “Paul Desmarais: un bilan s’impose,” Le Devoir, 12 octobre 2013.

See: Robin Philpot, Derrière L’État Desmarais: Power, Montréal, 2008.

2. See: “Les éloges à l’endroit de Paul Desmarais convergent sur ce que l’homme d’affaires aurait donné au Québec. Mais peu s’attardent sur ce que le Québec et son État ont donné à M. Desmarais. Il y a une réponse courte à cette question: Tout!” Philpot, Ibidem, 2013.

3. “Sans le Québec, un Québec qui aspirait, selon les mots d’un contemporain célèbre, à devenir ‘non pas une province pas comme les autres, mais un pays comme les autres,’ l’avenir canadien de Paul Desmarais aurait été bouché. ‘Les Canadiens français qui se sentent menacés se sont toujours tournés vers le Québec, disait-il. Cela fait partie de leur conscience et cela fait partie de la mienne.’” Ibidem.

4. “Des journalistes d’affaires de l’establishment canadien, dont Peter Charles Newman et Diane Francis, ont d’ailleurs attribué son ascension rapide dans les années 1960 au fait qu’il était ‘French Canadian and politically correct,’ bref, un archi–fédéraliste canadien-français capable de protéger leurs intérêts et de faire obstacle à l’indépendance du Québec. Ce constat, qui n’enlève rien à Paul Desmarais, est pourtant accablant pour le Canada, qui se targue d’être le paradis de la diversité.” Ibidem.

5. “Bâtisseur? Peut–être, mais d’un empire financier construit par la recherche constante de liquidités permettant d’accroître sa fortune personnelle. Les liquidités de l’ampleur de son ambition ne pouvaient se trouver que dans le giron de l’État, principalement celui du Québec. C’est l’histoire de la prise de contrôle par Paul Desmarais de Gelco (Gatineau Electric), devenu Gesca, et de Power, qui disposaient d’importantes liquidités versées par l’État. Après la prise de contrôle de Power et de La Presse est apparue la notion de l’État Desmarais. C’est le jeune député libéral Yves Michaud qui a sonné l’alarme à l’Assemblée nationale en 1968. Trop peu l’ont entendue.” Ibidem.

6. Robin Philpot, Derrière L’État Desmarais: Power, 2e édition, Montréal, 2014, 13–14.

See: “Through Gesca Ltee, Desmarais controls several daily newspapers, including La Presse, Montréal’s prestigious broadsheet, and Québec City’s Le Soleil … Power Corporation, through its Square Victoria Communications Group subsidiary, and together with the corporate parent companies of the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail newspapers owns The Canadian Press.” Ross Marowits, “Canadian business giant Desmarais dead at 86,” Global News, 9 October 2013.

See also: “Paul Desmarais is not a builder, he is but an animal and rapist, a wolf in sheep’s clothing: Over the years Paul Desmarais has learned that it is much easier to hoodwink the Good Shepherd, and to thereby prey upon the flock, rather than struggle constantly against the powers that be … The whole of Québec discovered the truly vile and depraved character of Paul Desmarais, when he and Michael Sabia, the president of the Québec Pension Plan, were seen together, as two love birds in a gilded cage, in that vast and luxurious palace of Sagard: At that instant the scales fell from our eyes, and we understood the nature of Desmarais’ diabolism, and we perceived how our National Assembly, the ministers of our parliament, our highest officials, and our institutions of government, had all become the puppets of Paul Desmarais.” Richard Le Hir, Desmarais: La Dépossession Tranquille, Montréal, 2012, 13.

7. “Très tôt, Paul Desmarais a appris à cultiver des liens étroits avec les politiciens, de sorte que tous les premiers ministres du Québec et du Canada depuis Maurice Duplessis, à l’exception de René Lévesque et de Jacques Parizeau, lui mangeaient dans la main.” Philpot, Ibidem, 2013.

8. Jules Belanger, Jean–Louis Lévesque: La montée d’un Gaspesien aux sommets des affaires, Saint–Laurent, 1996, 138. See also: “The Lévesque which most Canadians have heard about is the great orator, René, the Minister of Natural Resources of the Province of Québec. Jean–Louis Lévesque is his wealthy distant cousin, who owns the largest financial empire in Québec.” Ibidem, 166–167.

9. Yves Boisvert, “Paul Desmarais, l’empereur,” La Presse.ca, 10 octobre 2013.

See: “The house of Brian Mulroney in Westmount has recently been sold. The residence was bought by Paul Desmarais Junior’s son, Paul Desmarais III and his wife for $4.8 million … Paul Desmarais III has been the administrator of Power Corporation Financial since 2014 … He was named a board member of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in March 2015 by the Council of Ministers in Québec.” Anonymous, “Brian Mulroney vend sa maison au fils de Paul Desmarais Jr.,” TVA Nouvelles, 10 octobre 2015.

10. “On parle moins de la vraie fuite de capitaux du début des années 1990 dont il a été l’architecte, mais cette fois en douceur et sous le nez de son fidèle ami Robert Bourassa … Début 1989, dans la plus importante transaction financière de l’histoire du Canada, Desmarais vend à des Américains pour plus de 2,6 milliards de dollars la Consolidated–Bathurst, joyau de l’industrie papetière québécoise qui avait profité depuis des dizaines d’années des largesses du gouvernement du Québec.” Philpot, Ibidem, 2013.

11. “Un pactole de 3 milliards arrachés aux ressources naturelles et à la sueur des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec.” Ibidem.

12. It follows that since Paul Desmarais was the most corrupt, or one of the most corrupt businessmen in Canadian history, that therefore he was also a very big crook.

13. “Paul Desmarais a choisi de demeurer à Montréal, et dans Charlevoix, et a fait en sorte que Power demeure une contribuable québécoise. Le comble de la mauvaise foi, dans ce texte? Essentiellement, M. Philpot lui reproche d’être, et de loin, le plus grand mécène québécois.” Marc Jussaume, “La Réplique: Paul Desmarais — L’argumentaire boiteux de Robin Philpot,” Le Devoir, 17 octobre 2013.

14. “Le problème est que la nationalisation de l’hydroélectricité fut amorcée en 1962–1963, et complétée en 1964–1965. Les actionnaires vendeurs de ces compagnies lui ont vendu essentiellement des comptes de banque, ils ne lui ont évidemment pas simplement donné ces liquidités. Paul Desmarais n’était pas donc pas partie dans les nationalisations.” Jussaume, Ibidem.

15. The catalog of the monstrous political and economic crimes of the Québec Regime in Ottawa and Empire of Paul Desmarais cannot be summarized with complete certainty until the Government of Canada makes the archives of Trudeau, Mulroney, Chrétien and Martin known to the public. But it is important that we should form a provisional judgement of the historical nature of the Québec Regime in Ottawa and Empire of Desmarais from such material as is available. For this step is a necessary phase in the renovation of our political and economic institutions and the aggrandizement of Canada and the Canadian People: Only by this insight into the political and economic necessity of such a recovery can our civilization be rescued from the shameful financial, commercial and industrial decay in which we are immersed at the present time.

16. “Après l’achat initial de Power en 1968, laquelle détenait 18% des actions de Consolidated–Bathurst, cette dernière se mit à subir des pertes opérationnelles dévastatrices; et Paul Desmarais, au lieu de tenter de vendre Consolidated–Bathurst, acheta plutôt d’autres actions, passant à 42%, et évidemment y installa son équipe. Puis il fit croître Consolidated–Bathurst. Sous sa gouverne, il y eut finalement des années de rentabilité.” Ibidem.

17. “Paul Desmarais a appris à cultiver des liens étroits avec les politiciens, de sorte que tous les premiers ministres du Québec et du Canada depuis Maurice Duplessis … lui mangeaient dans la main.” Philpot, Ibidem.

18. “Tous les premiers ministres du Québec et du Canada depuis Maurice Duplessis … lui mangeaient dans la main.” Philpot, Ibidem. See also: “No businessman in Canadian history has ever had more intimate and more extended influence with Canadian prime ministers than Desmarais.” Peter Charles Newman, “Epitaph for the Two–Party State: Trust Canadians to Invent a New System of Government: Elected Dictatorship,” Maclean’s, 1 November 1993, 14.

19. See: “Paul Desmarais senior and his two sons Paul and André have often been accused of ‘controlling’ Québec, and of having unwarranted power in politics and over governments.” Jonathan Trudel, “Desmarais et les ficelles du pouvoir,” L’Actualité, 9 octobre 2013.

Remarks: Robin Philpot does not merely accuse Paul Desmarais of “controlling” Québec or having “unwarranted power in politics and over governments.” Paul Desmarais, according to the argument of Robin Philpot, was probably the most corrupt businessman in Canadian history: “Desmarais ripped–off $3 billion in natural resources from the hard–working people of Québec.”

20. See the sophistical refutation of Robin Philpot’s argument by Richard Vigneault based upon the former’s anti–federalist political affiliations:

“According to Philpot, Paul Desmarais had corrupted the President of France as well as Daniel Johnson [fils], Jean Charest, Brian Mulroney and many other politicians … [and] everyone involved in the [Desmarais and Power Corporation] plot has conspired against the Québec independence movement … when it comes to the political and economic development of Québec, I prefer the services of Paul Desmarais over Robin Philpot.” Richard Vigneault, “Réplique à Robin Philpot: La France n’est pas le Québec,” Le Devoir, 5 février 2009.

Remarks: Obviously the beneficiaries of Paul Desmarais and the Québec regime in Ottawa prefer the “services of Paul Desmarais over Robin Philpot.” Their families, along with Paul Guy Desmarais, were enriched beyond their wildest dreams. But this is no refutation of Philpot’s argument: Under Adolf Hitler many Germans greatly benefited from the Nazidom; but this is no proof of Hitler’s political and economic prowess. That Robin Philpot advances anti–federalism as the best solution to the political and economic irrationalism of the Québec Regime in Ottawa and Empire of Paul Desmarais is no proof that Desmarais is not the most corrupt businessman in Canadian history, and that therefore he was not a very big crook: That Robin Philpot is not a very good political scientist does not mean that therefore he is an equally bad historian.

21. Robin Philpot, Derrière l’État Desmarais: Power, 2e édition, Montréal, 2014, 14–15: “Claude Frenette, adjoint de Paul Desmarais … a été élu président de l’aile québécoise du Parti libéral fédéral en vue du congrès au leadership et, dans les bureaux mêmes de Power Corporation, avec Pierre Trudeau, il a établi le plan qui mènerait celui–ci à la direction du Parti libéral et au poste de premier ministre du Canada.”

See: “In the Empire of Desmarais, all modern Canadian political and economic distinctions between liberalism, conservatism and socialism are therefore become merely relative, and therefore the conception of modernity is become outdated in the rational development of Globalism in world history, and therefore the old political and economic conception of Canada is undone and yet also overcome in the period of the Québec Regime in Ottawa, 1968–2006. Ottawa is now the first sphere of Americanism: The Québec Regime therefore signalizes the end of modern European Raison d’État in Canada, — in the world historical sublation of Global civilisation. The selfsame political and economic rationality of Americanism is also evidenced in every other region of the 20th century, in the rise of the American world: In the Empire of Paul Desmarais the old conception of Canada is therefore undone, but within the world historical realm of Globalism is yet also overcome.”

Christopher Richard Wade Dettling, Americanism: The New Hegelian Orthodoxy, 3rd edition, San Francisco, California, The Internet Archive, 2016. [2013]

SELECT DESMARAIS BIBLIOGRAPHY 1969–2017

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Anonymous, “Brian Mulroney vend sa maison au fils de Paul Desmarais Jr.,” TVA Nouvelles, 10 octobre 2015.

――, “Power Corp encore une fois dans le viseur du fisc,” TVA Nouvelles, 26 septembre 2015.

――, “Liens avec la famille Desmarais: Péladeau dénonce Charest,” Canoe.ca, 26 mars 2014.

――, “La succession de Paul Desmarais vend des actions,” Le Devoir, 8 janvier 2014.

――, “Desmarais advances on Buffet Zone, The Australian Business Review, 3 August 2009.

――, “En bref — Desmarais au CHUM,” Le Devoir, 12 février 2009.

――, “En bref — Hélène Desmarais, présidente du conseil de la CCMM,” Le Devoir, 12 octobre 2007.

――, “Power Corp. and the Desmarais Family,” Financial Sector Blogspot, 25 May 2006.

――, “Paul Desmarais Sr. hospitalized after stroke,” CBC News, 31 May 2005.

――, “Canada’s Satellite TV Row Clouds Chrétien’s Image,” The Toledo Blade, 30 April 1995, A13.

――, “Power-Play: Desmarais Anoints Sons to Take Over Empire,” Ottawa Citizen, 6 June 1986, C3.

――, “Desmarais Steps Aside to Give Sons More Power,” Ottawa Citizen, 1 May 1986, D15.

――, “Le projet Revi-Centre achemine vers Québec,” L’Écho de Louiseville Berthier, 12 décembre 1984, 10.

――, “University Founder J.-N. Desmarais,” The Gazette, 6 October 1983, B18.

――, “Chrétien malade,” L’Évangéline, 20 janvier 1981, 13.

――, “Changes Could Boost Desmarais’ Control of Power,” The Montreal Gazette, 26 April 1980, 69.

――, “Desmarais, Hebert to Seek Re-election,” The South Shore News, 20 December 1979, 6.

――, “Desmarais Seeks Dollard Job,” The Montreal Gazette, 7 March 1979, 5.

――, “Power Corporation réalise un bénéfice de $13.3 millions,” Le Devoir, 17 février 1978, 27.

――, “Louis Desmarais Expected to Run as Tory,” The Montreal Gazette, 31 March 1978, 6.

――, “Desmarais Aims to Forge a Front,” The Montreal Gazette, 1 December 1977, 4.

――, “Power Corp. Executive Dies,” The Montreal Gazette, 23 February 1976, 4.

――, “Power Corporation Holdings,” The Montreal Gazette, 26 March 1975, 13.

――, “Ottawa Now Studying Proposed [Argus Corporation] Takeover,” The Montreal Gazette, 26 March 1975, 13.

――, “Argus Holdings,” The Montreal Gazette, 26 March 1975, 13.

――, “Power Corporation doubla ses profits,” Le Devoir, 14 aout 1974, 13.

――, “Mais qui est donc André Desmarais?” La Patrie, 11 mai 1969, 8.

Pierre Arbour, Québec Inc. and the Temptation of State Capitalism, Madeleine Hébert, translator, (Toronto/Montréal: Robert Davies Publishing, 1997).

――, Quebec Inc: La Tentation du Dirigisme, (Montréal: L’Étincelle, 1993).

Sheila McLeod Arnopoulos, Voices from French Ontario, (Kingston/Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1982).

Benoit Aubin, “Desmarais Ready to Guarantee News Team’s Independence,” The Montreal Gazette, 18 March 1986, C1.

Henry Aubin, “Desmarais and McDougald: Two Titans Meet,” The Montreal Gazette, 26 March 1975, 13.

Nick Auf der Maur, “Asbestos Corporation Used in U.S. Bribes: Ex Official,” The Montreal Gazette, 15 May 1986, A1-A8.

Ian Austen, “The Name is ‘Power’ and It Fits,” The New York Times, 26 January 2006.

Robert Barberis-Gervais, “Limites et dangers du concept de coupable par association,” Sorel Tracy Magazine: L’Opinion du Lecteur, 2 août 2013.

Robert Barberis-Gervais, “Les aventures politiques de Richard Le Hir,” Sorel Tracy Magazine: L’Opinion du Lecteur, 12 mai 2014.

Bertille Bayart, “Décès de Paul Desmarais, le complice canadien d’Albert Frère,” Le Figaro, 9 octobre 2013.

Jules Bélanger, J.-Louis Lévesque: La montée d’un Gaspésien aux sommets des affaires, (Saint-Laurent: Fides, 1996).

Jacques Benjamin et Pierre O’Neill, Les Mandarins du Pouvoir: L’Exercice du Pouvoir au Québec de Jean Lesage à René Lévesque, (Montréal: Québec/Amérique, 1978).

Sylvie Bergeron, “Ça change quoi de savoir tout ça?” Le Huffington Post Québec: Les Blogues, 9 juillet 2015.

Annabelle Blais, “Un Faste Royale au Mariage de Jacqueline-Ariadne Desmarais,” La Presse.ca, 7 September 2013.

Yves Boisvert, “Paul Desmarais, l’empereur,” La Presse.ca, 10 octobre 2013.

Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot, “Cinq grands coups de Paul Desmarais,” La Presse.ca, 10 octobre 2013.

Alex Castonguay, “L’ombre politique de Paul Desmarais,” L’Actualité, 9 octobre 2013.

Jean-François Cloutier, “L’ampleur du pouvoir des Desmarais mise en lumière,” TVA Nouvelles, 2 avril 2012.

Jean-François Cloutier, “L’Affaire Quick: Une vente à prix gonflé pour enricher des amis, selon Kuhn,” Le Journal de Montréal, 16 février 2014.

Jean-François, Cloutier, “La fiducie familiale des Desmarais se reorganise,” TVA Nouvelles, 1 janvier 2016.

Jean-François Cloutier et Gérard Samet, “Paul Desmarais se renforce en Europe,” TVA Nouvelles, 11 juillet 2011.

Terence Corcoran, “Desmarais Hits Back at Critics of Takeovers,” The Montreal Gazette, 1 May 1975, 17.

Terence Corcoran, “Power Corp. may Syndicate Holdings in Argus Preferred,” The Montreal Gazette, 1 May 1975, 17.

Louis Cornellier, “Essais Québécois — Dépeindre le pouvoir: Robin Philpot tente de percer le ‘secret’ dont s’entourent Paul Desmarais et l’empire Power,” Le Devoir, 13 décembre 2008.

Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien, Straight From the Heart, 1st edition, (Toronto: Seal Books, 1986).

Christopher Richard Wade Dettling, Robin Philpot’s Argument and the Legacy of Paul Desmarais, archive.org, 28 February 2016.

――, editor, Power Corporation and the Oil-for-Food Scandal, Second Edition, By Kevin Steel, Medium, 2017

――, Robin Philpot’s Argument and the Legacy of Paul Desmarais, Second Edition, Medium, 2017.

――, editor and translator, The Energy East Project and Trans Canada, By Pierre Karl Peladeau, archive.org, 1 March 2016.

――, editor and translator, The Corrupt Legacy of Paul Desmarais, By Robin Philpot, archive.org, 3 July 2016.

――, Jean Chrétien and French Chauvinism, Medium, 2017.

――, Who Murdered Duplessis, Sauvé and Johnson? Medium, 2016.

――, Paul Desmarais and the Québec Regime in Ottawa 1968–2006, Medium, 2016.

Saidatou Dicko, Un Conseil d’administration fortement réseauté pour une Power Corporation, (Paris: Éditions Publibook, 2012).

Martine Vanden Driessche, “Albert Frère et Paul Desmarais Majoritaires dans Pargesa,” Le Soir, 23 février 1990.

Louis Fournier, “Jean Lesage, the Montreal Trust et Power Corporation: Le Signe de $$$,” Québec-Presse, 30 août 1970, 12A.

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Ann Gibbon, “Desmarais Resigns at Power Financial: Son New President,” The Montreal Gazette, 1 May 1986, F6.

E.J. Gordon, “Wedding Most Glamourous of Year: Paul Guy Desmarais―Hélène Blouin,” The Montreal Gazette, 10 September 1979, 49.

David Greber, Rising to Power: Paul Desmarais and Power Corporation, (Toronto: Methuen, 1987).

Robert A. Hackett, Richard Gruneau, Donald Gutstein, Timothy A. Gibson, The Missing News: Filters and Blind Spots in Canada’s Press, (Aurora, Ontario: Garamond Press, 2000).

Graeme Hamilton, “Paul Desmarais Chose Business Over Politics, But His Perceived Influence Extended Even Beyond Canada’s Borders,” National Post, 9 October 2013.

Marc Jussaume, “La Réplique: Paul Desmarais — L’argumentaire boiteux de Robin Philpot,” Le Devoir, 17 octobre 2013.

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