MANOIR DESMARAIS: SAGARD IN THE SAGUENAY
Michel Vastel (1999)
“People come here from everywhere: By plane, by helicopter or by limousine,” say the residents who live by the road that connects the airport at Chemin des Falaises (Pointe–au–Pic), with the narrow highway 170 which leads from Saint–Siméon upwards towards the Hamlet of Sagard. Within a 50–km radius of the Malbaie, the Who’s Who of world finance and politics come to admire the coastline, which Paul Desmarais the Seigneur of the Manoir Desmarais and its vast estate, compares to the French Riviera.¹
ENDNOTES
1. Michel Vastel, “Le secret de Paul Desmarais,” L’Actualité, 9 octobre 2013. [1999] : “‘Ça arrive de partout; en avion, en hélicoptère, en limousine,’ disent les habitants de la route qui relie l’aéroport au chemin des Falaises, à Pointe–au–Pic, et ceux de la petite route 170 qui, de Saint–Siméon, remonte vers le hameau de Sagard. Dans un rayon de 50 km autour de la Malbaie, le Who’s Who de la finance et de la politique admire cette côte que le seigneur des lieux [Manoir Desmarais], Paul Desmarais, compare à la Riviera française.”
See: “[Giovanni Mowinckel] had been helping plan a new 35,000–square–foot French–style château, Manoir Desmarais, in the Saguenay region of Québec.” Claire Hoy, Friends in High Places: Politics and Patronage in the Mulroney Government, updated edition, Toronto, Seal Books, 1988, 222. [1987]
See also: “[Brian Mulroney] had allowed his officials [Québécocrats] to bargain away Newfoundland’s most precious commodity, its northern cod, by striking a secret deal with the French. [9] Newfoundland officials had been included in the negotiations right up until two days before External Affairs sneaked privately off to Paris to offer the French the golden cod … [109] Though quotas for Canadian fisherman had been cut, Ottawa [Québec Régime = Hydro–Québec ruling class] gave France fishing rights in disputed waters plus the right to take fifteen thousand tonnes of Canadian fish elsewhere off Newfoundland … the deal was struck after federal negotiators [Québécocrats] secretly flew to Paris to reach a settlement without telling the Newfoundland officials, who had, up until then, been involved in the negotiations … [Mulroney] blamed a 1972 treaty negotiated by the Liberals [Québécocrats] for giving the French the right to fish there … [146] [Brian Mulroney] predicted that he would play ‘a vigorous rôle, not a pretentious one’ in representing Third World concerns … [147] Mulroney replied that Canada would ‘never participate in a common front against [anti–NATO] France … [we] will always look for ways to reconcile French and Canadian positions,’ and would vigorously oppose ‘any attempt to isolate the French.’ His words would come back to haunt him months later when his government gave [Gaullist] France everything it wanted in a fishing agreement off the coast of Newfoundland.” Claire Hoy, Friends in High Places: Politics and Patronage in the Mulroney Government, updated edition, Toronto, Seal Books, 1988, 8–9–109–146–147. [1987]
See finally: “[Mulroneyists] had sold about 24,280 hectares of land (expropriated by the previous Liberal regime [376] for Mirabel Airport) for just over 30 per cent of its market value. Many of the bargains went to prominent Tories [Québécocrats]. François Romeo, a Tory [Québécocentrist] organizer, bought three houses on a 178–hectare farm for $148,000 and sold it all to a Montréal developer for $400,000 just twenty–four hours after the deal was registered. Former minister Roch LaSalle, boasting about the deal, said he had faced systematic opposition to his plan from civil servants, so, ‘I went to see Brian Mulroney and in thirty minutes I convinced him to get those fuddy–duddies off my back so I could deal with this problem in my own way.’” Claire Hoy, Friends in High Places: Politics and Patronage in the Mulroney Government, updated edition, Toronto, Seal Books, 1988, 375–376. [1987]
