Tous les autres en parlent - TLMEP for April 1

Updated Apr 3: Thanks to Suzanne, Dominic and my girlfriend, Kim, who spotted some errors. Corrections to Lisa LeBlanc's name (major faux pas!), M. Martineau's attachment to the Church, and the Ontario group website that supported Mgr. Lépine's appointment. This is a personal effort based on notes taken, and I will make mistakes, so I welcome you to point any out.


Updated Apr 4: Many thanks to friend Dominic Major who stepped in and wrote some great notes for Lisa LeBlanc's interview. Please read below.

Here are my latest notes from this Sunday's Tout le monde en parle...


PLEASE... if you do read through this entire piece, take a moment to answer the survey real quick (at the bottom of the post) and provide some feedback in the comments.

Zapette d'or de la télé

Today's show began with a mention that, over the weekend, the TV show C'est juste de la télé (It's Just TV) gave its annual Zapettes d'or (golden clickers) for best moments or characters on French Canadian television in the past year. TLMEP won Most touching interview, for their conversation with Isabelle Gaston.

Mme Gaston is the wife of Dr. Guy Turcotte, the man who inexplicably killed his two children in 2009 but was found criminally not responsible for his actions. (There's a lot more to this, but I made a point not to follow this story too closely as the court case unfolded last year, as I found it tastelessly voyeuristic.)

More info:

National Post has a list of articles tagged with Isabelle Gaston

C'est juste de la télé's list of finalists and winners of the different Zapettes d'or this year (in French)

Guest: Arturo Brachetti

This seminary-educated "transformist" and "quick-changer" says he owes his current popularity to Gilbert Rozon. The founder of Juste pour rire/Just for Laughs discovered Brachetti in 1999, gave him a show, and his career has gone to great heights from there, including an upcoming stint off-Broadway.

Signor Brachetti studied in seminary school, where it was a priest introduced him to magic tricks. From noble beginnings he now has two assistants helping him change in and out of his velcro-stitched suits.

Guy A. asks him La Question qui tue: Were one of his assistants to leave, would he have him assassinated? — No... no Sicilan treatment for them.

Why this matters: Does it have to? The guy is cool! =) And there will be plenty of time for serious matters in a minute. Which brings us to...

Guest: Richard Martineau

The first thing you notice about M. Martineau is he comes on stage wearing a yellow square pinned to his coat. Not a red square, as we see all across the city during this student strike. But we'll get back to that in a second.

We start by explaining that M. Martineau finds himself in the student protesters' crosshairs, over comments he made on Twitter, that read:  Vu sur une terrasse à Outremont: 5 étudiants avec carré rouge, mangeant, buvant de la sangria et parlant au cellulaire. La belle vie! (Seen on a terrasse in Outremont: 5 students with red squares, eating, drinking sangria and talking on their cell. The good life!)

This was considered an affront to students, who held M. Martineau as a tête de Turc (victim of taunts). Some of the taunts were fair game (de bonne guerre), while others were slanderous and, in his words, sexist. What offended him the most were those that targetted not him but his girlfriend, Sophie Durocher, who was not involved in the original comment and does not necessarily share all of his views.

There was even a website created, called Aidez Richard Martineau, to "help" create other, more ridiculous statements. (The website, richardmartineau.ca, now seems to point to tlmep.ca, which has a similar game based on this very interview!)

But where exactly does M. Martineau stand? And what's with the yellow badge?

The idea for the yellow badge comes from an accountant friend of M. Martineau's, who suggested it as a way to demonstrate against the tuition increase as it stands, but for a limited increase paired with a general cleaning up of government accounts. Tuition in his opinion should be modulated (modulé) as a function of income (or presumably, family income): richer students pay more than poorer ones, the richer students paying for any increase the system needs. 

This puts M. Martineau slightly at odds with his position in 2005, when he sided with students on tuition matters. He explains that his point of view has changed because the global situation has worsened: in 2005, the provincial debt was at $117 billion, whereas today it stands at over $200 billion.

Why this matters:

• If the government's plan goes as scheduled, full-time university students stand to pay an extra $325 per year, every year, until the 2016-2017 school year.
• The student protests continue across the province and is a topic that is definitely on everyone's lips.
• Opinions are still divided, but in a poll commissioned by the Journal de Montréal, Léger Marketing reports an increase in support for the students.
• There is no end in sight: students and the Ministry of Education continue not to see eye-to-eye on this matter.

Guest: Lisa LeBlanc

This singer/songwriter from Rosaireville, New Brunswick was unknown two weeks ago. Now she's in first place on iTunes in Québec, having moved over such big names as Star Académie team, Mes Aïeux, Arianne Moffat and Dumas.

[Update Apr. 4: the following is contributed by friend, Dominic Major (@heydomajor on Twitter). Many thanks to Dominic!]

Winner of the 2010 Festival international de la chanson de Granby (clip of her performance is showed in mid-interview) we’re introduced to her music with a video clip from her new album released March 27, 2012; « Aujourd’hui, ma vie c’est d’la marde » ("Today, My Life is Shit"). Lisa happily admits that today, her life is not shit. She’s had what seems instantaneous success after touring all over New Brunswick and Quebec the past 4 years and also living in Montreal and playing locally for the past year.

Lisa talks about her life in Rosaireville – a small village of 39 to 42 inhabitants in New Brunswick – where she grew up and where everyone’s witnessed her being dumped (Calisses-moi la). Critics categorise Lisa’s music as being Trash Folk – “Strong enough for a man, made for a woman?” Is the big question from Guy A.

The most personally revealing song on her record is "Kraft Dinner" (no need for a translation?) M. Martineau really wants this album and is promptly told he can afford it himself and should go buy it. No gift for him! Back to Kraft Dinner – Lisa’s big fears are to appear quétaine (cheesy) or to write music that is too fi-fille (girly-girl) – despite this, she still finds much of her inspiration in her love-life’s pitfalls.

To conclude we move to Entrevue Rosaireville (Interview about Rosaireville). Between Miramichi and Moncton, there’s nothing and then there’s Rosaireville. There’s nothing there except the village (20 or so houses) and trees. Lisa talks about the one road and the francophone families that reside there.

The big question with the interesting answer: How are Québecois perceived in New Brunswick? Lisa answers very adeptly for one so young by pausing slightly and then saying (I paraphrase here): “Well, we deal with Gaspésiens mostly and they’re much like us.”

Why this matters: Well, Quebeckers hold music and the arts in very high regard and music in French matters here. Lisa’s music is honest and free and it’s not from Quebec! This makes it unique and fun and we love this stuff. Besides, who doesn’t like Trash Folk?

More info:

• Current overall Canadian standings of top downloaded albums on iTunes (English and French combined). As of Apr 4, Lisa LeBlanc's album is ranked #3 nationwide.
• Lisa LeBlanc's website.

Guest: Monsignor Christian Lépine

Archbishop of Montreal, successor to Jean-Claude Turcotte, who took his retirement

The monsignor is in hostile territory here. Guy A. immediately begins by announcing that an Ontarian anti-abortion website welcomes his appointment. Mgr Lépine positions himself, that he is for life and for helping those who find themselves having to make terribly difficult decisions. He finds people think the Church seeks to impose its view on the world; whereas he feels it's up to the individual to take the message or not.

M. Martineau says he's a non-believing Catholic. He was married in a church for the spirituality of the ceremony, but decided to go to a United Church (a Protestant denomination) because, among many reasons, his wife's friend was gay and did not feel welcome.

The conversation quickly turns to sexuality; notably views on homosexuality, sexual abuse, paedophilia and sexual repression through celibate priests. Messrs. Martineau and Turcotte (who is openly gay) tag-team the archbishop, about how chastity causes more pain than sexuality. But for a priest, says the monsignor, chastity is about sacrifice and giving all for the love of God.

Brachetti, showing his theological acumen he developed in seminary school, sheds great light into how Pope John Paul II (Jean-Paul II) grew the college of cardinals and allowed more right-wing elements into the leadership of the church. This in his opinion explains the election of cardinal Ratzinger as pope Benedict XVI, and a lot of the political positioning we see coming from the Vatican and the College of Bishops of many countries.

The arrival of the Holy Week makes for a convinient cover for His Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord to excuse himself from the rest of the taping.

Why this matters:

• Quebec's coming of age in terms of national identity coincides with a liberalization that occurred in the Catholic Church, culminating in a series of decisions we refer to by the name of the convention that made them, Vatican II, in 1962-65. In Quebec, the societal change is referred to as the Quiet Revolution (la révolution tranquille).
• While Quebec in general still regards the Church as irrelevant, it is still fighting to find exactly how much space Christianity and Christian tradition should occupy in the public place. Recent examples, to name just two:
• In 2008, there was pushback to removing the crucifix from above the Speaker's chair in the Quebec National Assembly.
• Last year, the word noël (Christmas) was supposedly "banned" from a school, creating a public backlash.

Guest: Tasha Kherridin

Comments on Radio-Canada, CTV and National Post.

Mrs.  Kheiriddin speaks to the federal budget. She's pleased with the cuts, that counteract the addded spending during the beginning of the 2008-2011 economic roller-coaster. Of course, she was also part of the Canadian Federation of Taxpayers, so that's not surprising she would be happy to hear of cuts.

Among her claims:

• we need to be economically strong to be able to support the environment. Streamlining the environmental review process makes good sense.
• On the raise in Old Age Security (OAS) from 65 to 67: it has to follow demographics; there fewer workers to support more pensioners, therefore the system becomes unviable. Martineau adds that life expectency is much higher today than when the threshold of 65 was put in.

Mrs.  Kheiriddin thinks Mulcair is strong, which is what the NDP needs at this juncture. But Mulcair lacks the smile of le bon Jack (Layton), which is what helped the NDP win Quebec.

She claims Quebec cannot afford to be independent, because of its reliance on transfer payments. Martineau adds that Quebecers want to have the cake, eat it too... and take the baker's wife (le beurre, l'argent du beurre... et le cul de la femme du fermier) !!!

She maintains that Bill 101 helped keep Quebec in Canada, because it helped maintain French in the current system. She believes the system is viable for all parties and disagrees with Curzi's view that more needs to be done to promote French. Here we've touched a nerve. M. Turcotte asserts that the status of French in Montreal has decreased over the years. Kheiriddin attempts to position this as a story of immigrants, but Martineau says we can't take the blame away from Anglos. Guy A. diffuses the situation before it has a chance of exploding, and leads the conversation to the much tamer debate on capital punishment.

[No, not for speaking English! Yeesh, simmer down!]

Mrs  Kheiriddin wrote that in the case of Tori Stafford, she could find are times where death penalty is the only recourse. She feels it's not a question of vengeance but of justice.

Why this matters: We touched on a lot of topics here, but let's try...

• Pierre Curzi presented his bill to reinforce the standing of the French language by, among other measures, denying non-Anglophones the right to access English cégeps.
• Among other recent Anglo PR problems, a patient at the Royal Victoria hospital had to pay for a translator out-of-pocket to get service in French. Service in French is to be always available in all Quebec hospitals by law... and just as a matter of common sense.
• Though they swept the seats in Quebec during last year's general election, the NDP was back down below the Bloc québécois  after Layton's death and during the leadership race.
• Streamlining environmental review processes for big infrastructure processes will probably help to time expected to rebuild the Champlain Bridge, but for environmentalists it represents one less hurdle for projects like the Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia, or the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to the southern US.

Guests: Martin Leclerc et François Gagnon

The former, sports analyst at Radio-Canada; the latter, jouralist and La Presse and RDS

Geoff Molson, part owner of the Canadians, has fired General Manager Pierre Gauthier and thanked adviser Gainey for his services. Is Gauthier responsible for the defeat of the Habs? Yes, but Gainey is the architect of the failure.

Molson had courage taking on Serge Savard, say the gentlemen, since Savard was the first first and the loudest to scream bloody murder when Cunneyworth was put in place as interim head coach.

M. Gagnon has it on good word that Patrick Roy is already selected to coach the Habs once the season for the Quebec Ramparts is done. Speaking of Quebec City, there's a chance (Mssrs disagree on how big a chance) that in three years, Qc City wil have an NHL-worthy arena. Péladeau may have too many enemies in the league to get his team, though.

La Question qui tue : Can Patrick Roy coach both Habs and the Nordiques? — Can't be done! Nor can he be coach and GM, as has been rumoured he'd like to be.

Guest: Adam Blanshay

Three productions: Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, How to succeed in business without really Trying

He's currently producing Evita, with Ricky Martin portraying El Ché. He is also bringing a Canadian production of Jesus Christ Superstar from the Stratford Festival in Ontario, and its all-Canadian cast, to Broadway.

He's also got a show in London's West End, but Broadway remains more prestigeous but crueler.

Book of Mormon is the hardest ticket to get on Broadway... Good thing Turcotte's card grants himself unlimited access to all of Blanshay's shows!

Your Feedback, Please!

As I mentioned last week, I need feedback to know if this is a worthwhile project or not. I've invested a good number of hours into this so far. Tell me, am I taking too much time going into detail?

Your thoughts!

How do you feel about raising Old Age Security and tuition fees? Do demographics force the government to do with less?

What should the role of the Church be in public space?

Are the Twitter counterattacks M. Martineau face tantamount to cyberbullying?

Share your thoughts below!