THE CORRUPT LEGACY OF PAUL DESMARAIS (SPECIAL EDITION)
Robin Philpot; translated by Christopher Richard Wade Dettling (2013–2017)
The lavish praise which from many quarters is bestowed upon Paul Desmarais and his business legacy, centers upon what he supposedly accomplished for the province of Québec.¹ Few people, however, really know just how much the ruling classes of Québec have actually done for Paul Desmarais and his business empire, the Power Corporation. The answer is very simple: For a half–century, the Québec Régime greatly enriched Paul Desmarais, his family and his business empire, upon a massive and historically unprecedented scale.²
The biography of Paul Desmarais and his vast empire, without the massive financial support over the years by the Québec Régime (which according to René Lévesque, a famous contemporary, aspires to become “not merely a province but also a country among the nations”) might very well have been quite different from what it actually is in historical fact.³ Paul Desmarais once described his vast web of political and economic connexions this way: “When we French Canadians feel shortchanged, we always deploy the Québec Régime: That is the French Canadian mentality.”⁴
Peter Charles Newman and Diane Francis, Canadian establishment writers and journalists, have often explained the meteoric rise of Desmarais in the 1960s in the following manner: Paul Desmarais was “French Canadian and politically correct.” Paul Desmarais was, in their words, a French Canadian arch–federalist devoted to the interests of the new Canadian élites, namely the Québec Régime in Ottawa, and an arch–enemy of the anti–federalist movement.⁵ While the political and historical analyses of Newman and Francis are not entirely at odds with the legacy of Paul Desmarais, they give rise to contradiction since they conflict with the traditional view of Canadian culture, because Canada is usually portrayed as a paradise of multiculturalism, as opposed to a land of political correctness.⁶
1/ The Financial Empire of Paul Desmarais
Desmarais was never an entrepreneur: “Starting at the bottom takes far too long: I have never done anything from scratch.”⁷ Paul 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 Paul Desmarais thus accumulated was therefore obtained through his patronage of government officials and his influence in Québec politics and economics, namely his control of the Québec Régime: That is the history of Desmarais’ takeover of Gelco (Gatineau Electric), later Gesca, and also Power Corporation. Paul Desmarais and his business enterprises received huge subsidies over the years from the Québec Régime.
After Paul Desmarais’ takeover of Power Corporation and the Montréal 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 in 1968.⁸ Few people in Québec really seemed to care.
Very early in his career, Paul Desmarais learned to always cultivate very close political and economic connexions with provincial and federal elites, 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, ―with the sole exceptions of Premiers René Lévesque and Jacques Parizeau.⁹
People still talk about Paul Desmarais and the fake flight of capital in 1967 which caused Premier Daniel Johnson to turn his back upon the independence movement, after having been elected in large measure based upon the slogan “Equality or Independence” (Égalité ou Indépendance). Few people today recall the real flight of capital from Québec in the early 1990s, right under the nose of Premier Robert Bourassa, of which his close friend Paul Desmarais was the secret architect.
In early 1989, in the largest financial transaction in Canadian history, Paul Desmarais sold Consolidated–Bathurst for $2.6–Billion to American investors. Consolidated–Bathurst, the crown jewel of the Québec pulp and paper industry, under the control of Paul Desmarais, had benefited from massive subsidies over the decades from the taxpayers of Québec. 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.¹⁰
2/ The Empire of Paul Desmarais
Yet even though he played all of his Québec Régime games, Paul Desmarais the master of deception was still haunted by journalists, unions and politicians, all of whom wanted to know where and when he was going to make his next investment. His answer was nearly always the same: The political and economic uncertainty in Québec frightens–away the serious investor like himself who requires a return on his investment of at least 15 per cent. In the 1970s an advisor to René Lévesque insisted that he meet Paul Desmarais because the latter supported “half of the population of the province of Québec.”
This was never really the case. Outside of his newspaper chain, Paul Desmarais never invested anything in Québec after 1990, although he continued to fill the dirty troughs of the corrupt swine. It is not surprising therefore that on the eve of the second Québec referendum in 1995, Premier Jacques Parizeau spoke of the Empire of Paul Desmarais, which continued, after having made $Billions off Québec, to control its ruling class, while investing $millions abroad, but practically nothing at home.¹¹
3/ Paul Desmarais and the Québec Regime in Ottawa
In this day and age, nobody really remembers Paul Desmarais as a French Canadian nationalist. The history of Canada and Confederation is such that, without changing his name and abandoning his heritage, Paul Desmarais really had no other choice.
Paul Desmarais was in fact a French Canadian nationalist, but he was not a Québec nationalist.¹² Desmarais’ French Canadian nationalism gave him access to Prime Ministers in Québec City and Ottawa, the Québec Régime. Desmarais chose this role for himself, as he explained to Peter Charles Newman: The Desmarais system was indeed very harsh, as he himself even admitted, especially with regards to minorities.¹³
When he was snubbed by the Canadian establishment (Argus 1975, Canadian Pacific 1982), Paul Desmarais had two options: Either he could endorse public opinion and his image as the greedy and corrupt backer of the Québec Regime in Ottawa, otherwise he could join the camp of the anti–federalists in the Parti Québecois and the Québec sovereignty movement, — the government of Premier René Lévesque made overtures in this direction, especially concerning the question of the propriety of the Canadian Pacific via la Caisse de dépôt deal in 1982.¹⁴
Paul Desmarais used to insist that he himself was really a “die–hard conservative” like Ronald Reagan, who was in his opinion: “The greatest American President.”¹⁵ Desmarais therefore ultimately chose the former position as the greedy and corrupt backer of the Québec Regime in Ottawa, undoubtedly because he feared the loss of his fortune was entailed by a more level playing–field, but also because the anti–federalism of the Parti Québecois and the Québec sovereignty movement is based upon social democracy.¹⁶ Paul Desmarais was, in other words, probably the most corrupt businessman in Canada, and the biggest crook in Canadian history.
4/ The Lessons of Paul Desmarais?
In 1972 Jean Bouthillette vividly characterized the essence of Paul Desmarais in the following manner: “Contradiction is the ultimate source of the political opportunism of the traditional Québec ruling class, which was — and still is — both nationalistic and patriotic: The survival instinct and the endeavor to remain in power at all cost, has caused our leaders to flatter the populace with slogans of freedom, which over the years has also convinced the British of our loyalty to the Crown. This duality of personality naturally leads to a dualism in politics, characteristic of all colonized peoples.”
After a half century of Paul Desmarais’ monstrous political and economic corruption, will we now learn to recognize the other foxes in the hen house, disguised in sheep’s clothing, who purposely confuse in the most diabolical manner their own private pecuniary interests with the public interests of Québec?¹⁷
ENDNOTES
1. Robin Philpot, “Paul Desmarais: un bilan s’impose,” Le Devoir, 12 octobre 2013: Christopher Richard Wade Dettling, editor and translator, The Corrupt Legacy of Paul Desmarais (Special Edition), Robin Philpot, 2nd edition, San Francisco, California, The Medium Corporation, 2017.
That Robin Philpot has advanced anti–federalism as the best solution to the political and economic irrationalism of the Empire of Desmarais and Québec Régime in Ottawa 1968–2006, is no proof that Paul Desmarais was not “the most corrupt businessman in Canada, and the biggest crook in Canadian history.” That Robin Philpot is not a very good political philosopher does not therefore entail that he is an equally bad Québec Régime historian: Robin Philpot, Richard Le Hir and Dave Greber are important Québec Régime historiographers like Peter Charles Newman and Conrad Black, insofar as they have discovered the road to a much higher conception of Canada and the Canadian people in world history.
2. “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!”
Robin Philpot, “Paul Desmarais: un bilan s’impose,” Le Devoir, 12 octobre 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.”
Philpot, Ibidem.
4. “Les Canadiens français qui se sentent menacés se sont toujours tournés vers le Québec … Cela fait partie de leur conscience et cela fait partie de la mienne.”
Paul Desmarais in Robin Philpot, Ibidem.
See: “Exploitons à fond la Confédération … the confederation pact must not be allowed to continue on its present path, else it will be in danger of compromising its existence.”
Jean Lesage, “Exploitons à fond la Confédération,” The Canadian Experiment, Success or Failure? (Le Canada, expérience ratée … ou réussie?) Congress Held 15–18 November 1961, Under the Auspices of the Association générale des étudiants de l’Université de Laval, Mason Wade, editor, Québec, 1962, 169–180.
See: “Now we know, after the last Budget Speech, this year Québec will get $362,740,000.00 in various federal equalization payments, compared to the $66 million in 1962. Québec has therefore won the taxation war in Ottawa.”
Robert Bourassa, “Épilogue: Aspects économiques d’un Québec indépendant,” Cahiers de Cité Libre: Réflexions d’un Citoyen, By Jean–Paul Lefebvre, Ottawa/Montréal, 1968, 112
5. See: “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.
See: “Among titans, Desmarais is in a class of his own. He is the only major establishment figure whose hold on power has bridged all of my books, having been featured in my first volume, published nearly a quarter of a century ago, just as prominently as he is in this one … One of Desmarais’ favorite collectibles is Pierre Trudeau, who remains on Power Corp.’s international advisory board … plans for Trudeau’s candidacy had first been hatched in early 1968 at the offices of Power Corporation, at Friday–night meetings presided over by then–Power vice–president Claude Frenette. In August of that year, two months after Trudeau swept the country, the new PM flew to visit Desmarais at Murray Bay.”
Peter Charles Newman, “King Paul,” The Canadian Establishment: The Titans, How the New Canadian Establishment Seized Power, vol. 3, Toronto, Viking Canada, 1998, 164–189, 166–172–172.
See also: “In 1972, Desmarais hired Mulroney as negotiator during a labour dispute at his paper La Presse. In apparent appreciation of Mulroney’s work, Desmarais became Mulroney’s biggest financial backer, starting with his leadership bid in 1976. Mulroney confirmed the relationship after becoming Prime Minister. In September 1990, Mulroney appointed John Sylvain, Desmarais’s brother–in–law to the Senate, one of eight controversial appointments that ensured the passage of the Goods and Services Tax. In June 1993, Mulroney appointed Desmarais’s brother, Jean Noël Desmarais, to the Senate as part of a flurry of patronage appointments. Now Mulroney has returned to work for Power Corporation’s long–time law firm, Ogilvy Renault.”
Robert A. Hackett, Richard S. Gruneau, Donald Gutstein and Timothy A. Gibson, The Missing News: Filters and Blind Spots in Canada’s Press, Aurora, Ontario, Garamond Press, 2000, 131–132.
See also: “[Jean Chrétien] gave his niece a job in the PMO and appointed his nephew Raymond as ambassador to Washington … His son–in–law, André Desmarais (married to Chrétien’s daughter, France), was awarded a billion–dollar contract to operate a satellite–TV network over the objections of federal regulators … [Jean Chrétien] cut welfare and social service payments to 1950s levels and reneged on his election promises to increase immigration, support cultural sovereignty or allow more free votes in the Commons.”
Peter Charles Newman, The Canadian Revolution,1985–1995: From Deference to Defiance, Toronto, Viking, 1995, 389.
See finally: “Just after he graduated from University of Toronto Law School in 1966 at age twenty–eight, he [Paul Martin Junior] joined Power Corporation of Québec. Martin was hired by Maurice Strong, former assistant to Paul Desmarais Sr., … Paul Desmarais began running the company the next year, and within three years he had appointed Martin vice–president … Paul Martin will be the fourth politician this Québec billionaire has groomed for or financially assisted into being prime minister.”
Murray Dobbin, Paul Martin: CEO for Canada? Toronto, James Lorimer & Company Limited, 2003, 11.
6. New Canadian establishmentarian analyses avoid Robin Philpot’s point altogether: Writers like Peter Charles Newman and Diane Francis were never in possession of the exact historiographical and world historical conception of the Québec Regime in Ottawa and Empire of Paul Desmarais, 1968–2006, when Canada was ruled by Québec Regimers for nearly a half century, except for one year under Joe Clark, Kim Campbell and John Turner.
See: “Becoming PM on June 30, Turner dissolved parliament on July 9.”
Robert Bothwell, “John Napier Turner,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, vol. 3, 1st edition, James Harley Marsh, editor, Edmonton, 1985, 1860.
See finally: “John Napier Turner served as prime minister of Canada for 2½ months in 1984.”
Christina McCall, “John Napier Turner,” The World Book Encyclopedia, vol. 19, Chicago, 1992, 516.
7. Paul Desmarais: “Je ne trouve rien que j’ai commencé … commencer à zéro, c’est trop lent pour moi.”
8. See: “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 in Ottawa, which has a readership of some 45,000 people.”
Yves Michaud (1968) in Robin Philpot, Derrière L’État Desmarais: Power, 2e édition, Montréal, 2014, 13–14.
See also: “Through Gesca Ltée, 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] had gained control of four of Québec’s eight French–language daily newspapers (La Presse, La Tribune of Sherbrooke, Le Nouvelliste of Trois–Rivieres and La Voix de l’Est of Granby), seventeen weeklies (including the three largest weeklies in the Montréal area), and ten radio and television stations (including Montréal’s CKAC, the largest French–language radio station in Canada). These acquisitions raised the spectre of a virtual information monopoly.”
Rae Murphy, Robert Chodos and Nick Auf der Maur, Brian Mulroney: The Boy from Baie Comeau, Toronto, 1985, 72.
See finally: “It has taken some 30 years, but in November 2000 the Desmarais family finally gained control of the newspapers Le Soleil and Le Droit, along with Le Quotidien of Chicoutimi: The Desmarais family controls 70% of the written press in Québec … Canadians are outraged to learn that 66% of all their daily newspapers were owned by media conglomerates in 1970 and that this number had increased to 88% in 1995, and then increased to 95% in 1999. In Québec, all of our daily newspapers, except Le Devoir, are owned by media conglomerates: One conglomerate alone owns 70% of all our daily newspapers.”
Robin Philpot, Derrière L’État Desmarais: Power, 1e édition, Montréal, 2008,15–156
9. See: “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.’”
Jules Bélanger, Jean–Louis Lévesque: La montée d’un Gaspesien aux sommets des affaires, Saint–Laurent, 1996, 138.
See finally: “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.”
Jules Bélanger, Ibidem, 166–167.
10. See: “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.’ In other words, Paul Desmarais was a big crook. The political and economic inclinations of Robin Philpot are not here in question. The historical issue at hand is whether or not Paul Desmarais was an extremely corrupt businessman, and therefore an evil person. Robin Philpot advances a number of instances in support of his historical argument: Unless these examples of Desmarais’ legacy are demonstrably false, the argument of Philpot stands, and the conclusion is therefore irresistible. The political and economic consequences of Philpot’s argument are of great interest with regards to the historical development of the rational conception of Canada and its actualisation in the world of today: By far, the Empire of Paul Desmarais and Power Corporation was the main backer of the Québec Regime in Ottawa, 1968–2006.”
Christopher Richard Wade Dettling, Robin Philpot’s Argument and the Legacy of Paul Desmarais, Archive.org, 2016, 12–14.
11. See: “In order to better align ourselves with France, imagine for a moment that in Canada we had established a central government and that the provinces no longer had any power or freedom of taxation whatsoever. Imagine also that, among other things, the Royal Bank of Canada, the Bank of Montréal, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce were all nationalized, along with General Motors. Imagine also that nearly all sources of energy belonged to the government, as well as all the railroads and the telephone networks and telecommunications systems. And don’t forget to include all small financial institutions: The Sun Life, for example. Do you really think that we can organize and coordinate our credit and financial institutions, as well as our public expenses and political investments, as they are today!”
Jacques Parizeau, “Insaisissable Planification,” Cité Libre: Nouvelle série, 13.57(mai, 1963): 5–6.
Today the last remnants of the Québec Regime in Ottawa and Empire of Desmarais have abandoned, for the most part, their early French–Canadian nationalist and French chauvinist supporters: They are now, in old age, a very expensive burden, and they want to escape from government taxation and the ever–rising costs of services. The New Québec Regime wants the ethnic votes, especially in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal: That is where the $Billions in new federal infrastructure will flow, since upwards of 35 per cent of the contracts end–up in the hands of organized crime (Charbonneau Commission findings), and then the juiciest cut gets kicked–back into the pockets and overseas accounts of the criminal ruling class.
12. See: “French Canadians have not been able to think of the long–term in business because they’ve had no economic power. That is what must change.”
Paul Desmarais in Sheila McLeod Arnopoulos, Voices from French Ontario, Kingston/Montreal, 1982, 161.
Paul Desmarais’ conception of “economic power” is very special, and involves mostly himself and his close relatives like Jean Chrétien, and his very intimate friends like Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, and Paul Martin. Desmarais’ conception of “economic power” ignores the exact historiographical and world historical conception of the American world, as does the Québec Regime myth of Maurice Duplessis, the Roman Catholic Church and the Great Darkness (la grande noirceur), as disseminated by Cité Libre, the propaganda arm of the Quebec Regime.
See finally: “Until recently in Québec, the two language groups functioned according to a tacit understanding: The English ran business and the French controlled government and culture.”
Sheila McLeod Arnopoulos, Ibidem, 159.
Exact historiography and world history tells a very different tale: In Québec, as well as in Canada, both anglophones and francophones ran, and still run, business, government and culture. Moreover, the American Hegelian distinction between superior and inferior ruling classes does not correspond with the historical division between anglophones and francophones in the American world.
13. See: “In the Canadian Establishment, the Pope of Canadian political and business journalism, Peter Charles Newman, devoted some 60 pages to Paul Desmarais. But not without trouble. Although Newman is considered by many as the official historian of the Canadian business elite, just before the publication in 1975 of his book on the Canadian Establishment, he was challenged in court by Paul Desmarais who, according to The Gazette, ‘did not like the things that Newman wrote concerning Desmarais’ treatment of some minority shareholders of his holding company.’ Desmarais then hired the Toronto lawyer J.J. Robinette and sought to obtain an injunction aimed at blocking the publication of the book. The two sources cited by Newman, governors of the Bourse de Montréal, then got cold–feet (pris le bois) and the editor, McClelland and Stewart, one of the largest publishing houses in Canada, was forced to cover over the unfortunate paragraph with a sticker in each one of the 75,000 copies. In another book of his, Newman slavishly [albeit truthfully] wrote a chapter on Desmarais which he entitled ‘King Paul.’”
Robin Philpot, Derrière L’État Desmarais: Power, 2e édition, Montréal, 2014, 11–12.
14. La Caisse de dépots et de placements du Québec (CDPQ): Quebec Pension Plan. For the next 30 odd years, something like fourteen cents of every dollar spent on the BC SkyTrain goes to Québec: British Columbians did not build the SkyTrain. The Lion’s share of the infrastructure cash ended–up in the pockets of SNC–Lavalin (builders of Qaddafi’s torture chambers and extermination centers), Bombardier Corporation (biggest corporate welfare bum in Canadian history) and the Québec Pension Plan (under the thumb of Power Corporation). Under the Québécocentric BC Liberal Party and New Democratic Party governments as the Québec Regime in Victoria (namely, Michel Fournier and his friends), British Columbians crept–up to the table after the party was over, and they were left with nothing but the crumbs, and a public debt which every year consumes an unhealthy portion of their incomes in provincial taxes.
15. The “Red Tory” connexions to Paul Desmarais’ so–called conservatisme is evidenced in his strong support over the years of Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservative Party, as well as his strong support over the years of federalisme asymetrique (of which he was a great beneficiary). Desmarais was also one of the most powerful backers of the Liberal Party of Canada under Pierre–Elliott Trudeau, Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. The “French Canadian conservatism” of Paul Desmarais is therefore most certainly at odds with the American conservative legacy of Ronald Reagan:
“[Brian Mulroney] said labor must play ‘a full partnership role’ with business and government in deciding the country’s future.”
Anonymous, “Social Net Not Part of Trade Talks: Reisman,” The Montreal Gazette, 15 May 1986, A9.
See: “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.”
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 also: “I am not the least bit critical of the Desmarais family for being rational actors in a free marketplace and pursuing their advantage … Power Corporation seems to have a particularly unique influence over Canadian foreign policy.”
Jason Kenney in Kevin Steel, “How Montreal’s Power Corporation Found Itself Caught Up in the Biggest Fiasco in UN History,” The Western Standard, 5 March 2005: “The fact that sustaining Saddam directly could have potentially benefited a family connected to so many Canadian mandarins and politicians―and married into the family of the prime minister―led some Canadians to raise questions about the motivations behind the Liberal Party’s decision to refuse to support the invasion of Iraq and Saddam’s ouster. When Chrétien announced that decision in early 2003, Opposition foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day asked in the House of Commons, ‘I do not fault the prime minister’s family ties with his nephew [Raymond Chrétien], our ambassador to France or with Paul Desmarais Sr., who is the largest individual shareholder of France’s largest corporation, TotalFina Elf, which has billions of dollars of contracts with Saddam’s former regime. With this valuable source of information and experience at his fingertips, has the prime minister ever discussed Iraq or France with his family or friends in the Desmarais empire?’”
See also: “[Mulroney] chafed at serving those who had defeated him at party conventions. He refused to run for Parliament, he grumbled in the backrooms, and he kept his friends around him, ready to make another attempt for power if and when the new leader [Joe Clark] faltered … For all his pious pronouncements, Mulroney had demonstrated from the start of the regime that old–style patronage remained a critical component of his politics, and Canadians soon realized that the revolution of September 4, 1984, had merely substituted one set of faces for another on the government’s Jetstars and in luxury hotels in New York and Paris.”
David Bercuson, Jack Lawrence Granatstein and William Robert Young, Sacred Trust? Brian Mulroney and the Conservative Party in Power, Toronto, 1986, 2–303.
See also: “In 1981, the Mulroney’s sold the family house at 68 Belvedere Road to Iron Ore Company of Canada, where Mulroney was president from 1977 until he entered―and last month won―the campaign for the Tory leadership. The records only say the price was $1 plus ‘good and valuable consideration’ … The records show that on October 15, 1976, Mila Pivnicki, (Mrs. Mulroney’s maiden name, although they were married in 1973) bought the Westmount house from Arthur Sanft, a local dress manufacturer. But―again―the records only say the price was $1 and ‘good and valuable consideration.’”
Anonymous, “Mystery Shrouds Sale of Mulroney’s Westmount Home,” The Montreal Gazette, 5 July 1983, A3.
See also: “The house of Brian Mulroney in Westmount has recently been sold. The residence was bought by Paul Desmarais Junior’s son … Paul Desmarais III has been the chief executive officer of Power Corporation Financial since 2014. Educated at Harvard University, he worked at Goldman Sachs in New York … Paul Desmarais III was named a board member of the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art 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.
See finally: “Senior members of the major political parties are integrated into an intricate corporate web dominated by Paul Desmarais, owner of Power Corporation.”
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, 131–132.
16. See: “Paul Desmarais is not a builder, he is but an animal and rapist, a wolf in sheep’s clothing: Over the years Desmarais has learned that it is much easier to hoodwink the Good Shepard, 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 the president of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (the Québec Pension Plan), Michael Sabia, were seen together as two love birds in a gilded–cage, at the palatial Manoir Desmarais, on the vast and luxurious estate of Sagard in the Saguenay: At that instant the scales fell from our eyes, and we understood the nature of his diabolism, and we perceived how our National Assembly, the ministers of our parliament, our highest officials and institutions of government, had all become prostitutes of the whoredom of Desmarais.”
Richard Le Hir, Desmarais: La Dépossession tranquille, Saint Denis, Montréal, Les Éditions Michel Brûlé, 2012, 13.
See also: “Desmarais purchased 2.8 million shares, about 2.1 million class A common shares and 700,000 second preferred shares. He said he bought all the Power shares held by the Caisse de Depot du Quebec, amounting to 2,001,300 common shares and 333,000 preferred, with the rest coming from Peter Nesbitt Thomson, deputy chairman of Power and ‘other persons associated with him.’ The shares were bought by an unspecified private holding company belonging to Desmarais.”
Anonymous, “Power Corp. Chairman Increases Control With $31 Million Buy,” Winnipeg Free Press, 16 July 1977, 17.
See also: “At the time, the government of René Lévesque held large economic summits in order to integrate the big players of the Québec economy: The first of these massive summits was held at the Richelieu Manor, at the Malbaie, in the Charlevoix region of Québec, from the 24th until the 27th of May 1977, and gathered around the same table such high–flyers as Louis Laberge, Paul Desmarais, Yvon Charbonneau and Brian Mulroney, to name but a few.”
Mario Pelletier, La machine à milliards: L’Histoire de la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Montréal, Les Éditions Québec/Amérique, 1989, 149.
See also: “During my time there at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, (CDPQ), namely, the Québec Pension Plan, we became very big players in the economy of Québec, resultant from the millions in contributions from Québéckers. That is when I perceived that political influence, especially after 1978, played an increasingly important role at the Caisse and the Québec Pension Plan: Our investments were then very much determined by political considerations … The Caisse and the Québec Pension Plan secretly followed in the footsteps of Paul Desmarais, and we utterly failed the Québec taxpayers. Sadly enough, the losers are not these wealthy investors, but rather Québéckers themselves are impoverished.”
Pierre Arbour, Québec Inc et la tentation du dirigisme: La Caisse de dépôt et les sociétés d’État: Héritage d’une génération? Montréal, L’Étincelle, 1993, 12–14.
See also: “How did the Québec independence movement which flourished before René Lévesque, end–up in its present state of decline? Ever since 1968, René Lévesque has told his followers in the Québec independence movement that he will not fight for Québec’s independence. Then why did they so loyally support him? … By using the Parti Québécois to climb the rungs of the social ladder in order to dominate Québec, has not this class of newcomers instead replaced the goal of Québec independence with the aim of their own self–aggrandizement?”
Raoul Roy, René Lévesque: Était–il un imposteur? Montréal, Les Éditions du Franc–Canada, 1985, back cover.
See finally: “Jean–Louis Lévesque, the Montréal 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 … 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.’”
Jules Bélanger, Jean–Louis Lévesque: La montée d’un Gaspésien aux sommets des affaires, Saint–Laurent, Fides, 1996, 138–166.
17. In the Empire of Paul Desmarais, all modern Canadian political and economic distinctions between liberalism, conservatism and socialism are therefore become merely relative, and therefore their notion is become outdated in the rational development of Americanism in world history: The old political and economic conception of Canada is therefore undone and yet also overcome in the period of the Québec Régime in Ottawa, 1968–2006. Ottawa is now the first sphere of Americanism: The Québec Régime 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 also overcome …
See: Christopher Richard Wade Dettling, Americanism: The New Hegelian Orthodoxy, revised edition, Archive.org, 21 March 2016, 18–20.
PAUL DESMARAIS: SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 1969–2017
Ian Anderson, “Paul Desmarais Buys More Power,” The Montreal Gazette, 15 July 1977, 9.
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.
José-Alain Fralon, Albert Frère: Le fils du marchand de clous, (Paris: Fayard, 1997).
Matthew Fraser, Quebec Inc: French-Canadian Entrepreneurs and the New Business Elite, (Toronto: Key Porter, 1987).
Geneviève Garon et Marc Verreault, “Un procès au civil déchire les Desmarais, de Power Corporation,” Radio Canada Économie,” 12 Janvier 2017.
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.
Lisa Kassenaar, “Buffett Loses to Desmarais as Power Exceeds Return,” Bloomberg Business, 29 July 2009.
Richard Le Hir, Desmarais: La Dépossession tranquille, (Saint Denis, Montréal: Les Éditions Michel Brûlé, 2012).
Richard Le Hir, “L’Empire Desmarais: Les Québécois vont financer les entreprises EDF et Enbridge,” Mondialisation.ca, 4 octobre 2013.
Jean Lesage, Lesage s’engage, (Montréal: Les Éditions politiques du Québec, 1959).
Jennifer Lewington, “Power Corporation Plans Takeover,” The Montreal Gazette, 26 March 1975, 1–13.
Jean-François, Lisée, “Les Desmarais: un empire médiatico-bitumineux?” L’Actualité, 5 janvier 2010.
Jean-Sébastien Marsan, “Paul Desmarais: Une ‘main économique’ omniprésente?” TVA Nouvelles, 9 octobre 2013.
Rodolphe Morissette, “Louis Desmarais candidat libéral dans Dollard?” Le Devoir, 3 mars 1979, 2.
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.
Peter Charles Newman, The Canadian Establishment: The Old Order, vol. 1, (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1975).
Peter Charles Newman, The Canadian Establishment: The Acquisitors, vol. 2, (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1981).
Peter Charles Newman, The Canadian Establishment: The Titans, How the New Canadian Establishment Seized Power, vol. 3, (Toronto: Viking Canada, 1998).
Pierre O’Neill et Jacques Benjamin, Les Mandarins du Pouvoir: L’Exercice du Pouvoir au Québec de Jean Lesage à René Lévesque, (Montréal: Québec/Amérique, 1978).
Pierre Karl Peladeau, Le projet Énergie Est de Trans Canada, Vigile.Quebec, 1 novembre 2014.
Pierre Karl Peladeau, The Energy East Project and Trans Canada, Christopher Richard Wade Dettling, editor and translator, archive.org, 2016.
Andrew Phillips, “Desmarais Nominated in Dollard,” The Montreal Gazette, 4 April 1979, 10.
Robin Philpot, Derrière L’État Desmarais: Power, 2ième édition, (Montréal: Livres Baraka Inc., 2014).
Robin Philpot, Derrière L’État Desmarais: Power, 1ière édition, (Montréal: Les Intouchables, 2008).
Robin Philpot, “Paul Desmarais: un bilan s’impose,” Le Devoir, 12 octobre 2013.
Robin Philpot, The Corrupt Legacy of Paul Desmarais, Christopher Richard Wade Dettling, editor and translator, archive.org, 3 July 2016. [2013]
Luciano Pipia, “Huge Montreal Wedding Today,” CJAD 800 News, 7 September 2013.
Frederick Rose, “We Still Want Argus, Desmarais Tells Bryce,” The Montreal Gazette, 11 December 1975, 19.
Gérard Samet et Jean-François Cloutier, “Paul Desmarais se renforce en Europe,” TVA Nouvelles, 11 juillet 2011.
Lou Seligson, “Trouble-Shooter Par Excellence,” The Montreal Gazette, 25 August 1971, 25.
Harvey Shepherd, “Desmarais Romps to Victory as Dollard Sticks with Tradition,” The Montreal Gazette, 23 May 1979, 10.
Kevin Steel, “How Montreal’s Power Corporation Found Itself Caught Up in the Biggest Fiasco in UN History,” The Western Standard, 5 March 2005.
Jonathan Trudel, “Desmarais et les ficelles du pouvoir,” L’Actualité, 9 octobre 2013.
Mathieu Turbide, “Power et le pétrole ‘sale,’” Le Journal de Montréal, 19 décembre 2009.
Michel Vastel, “Le secret de Paul Desmarais,” L’Actualité, 9 octobre 2013.
Richard Vigneault, “Réplique à Robin Philpot: La France n’est pas le Québec,” Le Devoir, 5 février 2009.
James Winter, “Reporting on the Pharmaceutical Industry: Profit Before People,” The Political Economy of Media and Power, Jeffery Klaehn, editor, (New York: Peter Lang, 2010), 243–273.
