Paul Desmarais chose business over politics, but his perceived influence extended even beyond Canada’s borders
Clockwise from top left: From Nicolas Sarkozy to George H. W. Bush and Pierre Trudeau to Paul Martin, Paul Desmarais, centre, close ties with provincial, federal and international leaders.
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When he was getting his start in business, Paul Desmarais was told by an uncle that he could be prime minister one day. But to Mr. Desmarais, who had seen his uncle sink into depression after losing a municipal election, defeat at the ballot box was worse than bankruptcy.
“I said, ‘No, I want to be a businessman,’ ” he recounted to France’s Le Point in 2008. “ ‘If I’m bankrupt, it will be my fault. I don’t want to depend on a guy in a corner who’s going to vote against me.’ ”
If I’m bankrupt, it will be my fault
But while he never stood for election, Mr. Desmarais, who has died at age 86, was no stranger to the halls of power. From Robert Bourassa to Jean Charest, from Pierre Trudeau to Paul Martin and from George H. W. Bush to Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr. Desmarais cultivated close ties with provincial, federal and international leaders.
“Paul Desmarais admired political men and women from all parties,” former prime minister Brian Mulroney, a close friend, told radio interviewer Paul Arcand Wednesday. “He greatly appreciated the sacrifice that politicians had to make to advance the interests of their provinces or of their countries.”
Dave Sidaway / Postmedia News fileThen premier Robert Bourassa in montreal March 8, 1991.
In a 1999 profile of Mr. Desmarais in L’Actualité magazine, Michel Vastel told the story of a visit by Mr. Trudeau to Mr. Desmarais’ country estate. Mr. Trudeau expressed a desire to drive his friend’s Rolls Royce, and Mr. Desmarais surrendered the driver’s seat and hopped in the back.
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“It’s the first time I’ve been chauffeured by a prime minister,” he joked.
To Quebec sovereigntists, it was actually Mr. Desmarais who was behind the wheel, using his financial clout to influence federalist governments. In a 2008 book, Robin Philpot wrote that Mr. Desmarais had “spun his web to such an extent that it now enables him to call the shots.” Richard Le Hir, a former Parti Québécois cabinet minister, described Mr. Desmarais last year as “a wolf who has understood that it is much easier to convince the shepherd to open the doors of the sheep pen than to constantly try to evade his surveillance.”
There is no denying Mr. Desmarais was friendly with plenty of so-called shepherds. Guests at a 2008 party for his wife, Jacqueline, included Mr. Mulroney, Mr. Bush, Lucien Bouchard and Jean Chrétien, whose daughter is married to Mr. Desmarais’ son.
Mr. Desmarais addressed critics of those close ties in a 1998 interview with Peter C. Newman, published in Maclean’s. “To hell with the people who say I do it for political favours,” he said.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris YoungFormer Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien walks through Toronto's financial district.
“It has been a great advantage to say, ‘I know the prime minister of Canada, and I know what he’s thinking.’ I always thought that I couldn’t impose on political figures and ask them to do something for me and still be a friend of theirs, that if I was going to render any service to my country, I could do it by giving these guys my policy positions.”
What really upset his sovereigntist adversaries was that Mr. Desmarais was an unabashed federalist committed to defeating their project.
His first brush with the separatists came during the 1970 October Crisis when his Power Corp. was cited in the FLQ manifesto as a symbol of “the aggression perpetrated by high finance.”
In 1980, a few days before the first sovereignty referendum, he told a Power Corp. annual general meeting that his business experience had taught him francophones are free to participate in all aspects of Canadian life. During the 1995 referendum campaign, he again spoke out against independence, earning the wrath of PQ Premier Jacques Parizeau, who accused him of “spitting on Quebecers” and “pulling strings in the shadows.”
Mr. Desmarais’ perceived influence extended beyond Canada’s borders. He befriended Nicolas Sarkozy in 1995, and after Mr. Sarkozy became president of France, he awarded Mr. Desmarais the Grand-croix de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur in 2008 — a rare honour for a non-citizen. Mr. Sarkozy said at the time he owed his political success to Mr. Desmarais.
When Mr. Sarkozy spoke out more directly in favour of Canadian unity than his predecessors, it was blamed on the fact that Mr. Desmarais had his ear.
Paul Martin, the former prime minister who got his start with Power Corp., dismissed suggestions that Mr. Desmarais sought to pull political strings.
“I worked very closely with him for 13 years as president of Canada Steamship Lines,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
“When I went into public life, I can tell you that as minister of finance and as prime minister, I never once discussed political issues with him, except for one, and that was in the mid-’90s when we talked about the Quebec referendum and we both agreed that Quebec had to stay in Canada.” He said Mr. Desmarais’ most memorable quality was his integrity.
FileFrom left: Mila Mulroney, Paul Desmarais, Soprano Diana Soveiro, her husband, Bernard Uzan, Jackie Desmarais and Brian Mulroney attend the Opera at Theatre Maisoneuve in 1995.
Jean-Claude Rivest, a senator and former advisor to Mr. Bourassa, said Mr. Bourassa consulted with Mr. Desmarais regularly but did not shy away from taking decisions that ran counter to his business interests. Mr. Desmarais’ greatest contribution was in helping build Quebec’s reputation through his business success. “He was very useful to Quebec, but not for defining policies,” Mr. Rivest said.
On Wednesday, tributes poured in from across the political spectrum. Former Quebec premier Jean Charest, who some say was drafted by Mr. Desmarais to become provincial Liberal leader in 1998, called Mr. Desmarais “a leader of his century and of his generation.”
A leader of his century and of his generation
Pauline Marois, the PQ Premier, said, “Today, Quebec has lost one of its great builders, but the memory of Mr. Paul Desmarais will always be associated with one of the finest personal successes of our era.”
Mr. Mulroney was a young lawyer when he got to know Mr. Desmarais, who enlisted him in 1972 to resolve a labour dispute at his newspaper, La Presse.
“This is a profoundly sad moment, for me and I presume for all Quebecers,” Mr. Mulroney said Wednesday, “because he was a great leader who did great things for our province and our country.”
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