It was back to school day at Radio-Canada’s news sector on Tuesday. Anchors Patrice Roy, Céline Galipeau and Anne-Marie Dussault opened the doors to their brand new studios in the new Maison de Radio-Canada, flooded with natural light and lined with giant screens.
Posted at 4:27 p.m.
It is superb. Really. Who will miss the old windowless brown tower? Here is Sébastien Bovet, still shaken by the departure of his colleague Martine Biron, who was recruited by the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) in anticipation of the October 3 elections. “I’m almost still on my behind,” he breathes. I hadn’t seen it coming. I don’t feel betrayed and I understand the desire for public service. Let’s say she surprised me. »
Sébastien Bovet and Martine Biron had been a “professional couple” for 15 years. In addition to the daily broadcast Politics buffs (RDI at 12:30 p.m.), Sébastien Bovet inherits Country buffswhich will bring together every weekday (RDI at 4:30 p.m.) outgoing members of the National Assembly, including, hold your glass of red wine, Claire Samson, of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ), as well as Christine St -Pierre (Liberal Party), Émilie Foster (Coalition avenir Québec) and Martin Ouellet (Parti québécois).
PHOTO IVANOH DEMERS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Sébastien Bovet inherits Country buffswhich will bring together outgoing deputies of the National Assembly every weekday.
Now, why recruit Claire Samson? Didn’t she recently declare that “green plant” deputies like her don’t kill themselves at work? “She is the first member of the Conservative Party of Quebec. And the Conservative Party of Quebec is rising in the polls. It was important for us to have that voice,” explains host Sébastien Bovet.
Reached Tuesday afternoon, Claire Samson, 67, revealed to me that she would not pocket a single dollar for her contribution to Country buffs of RDI. It’s a volunteer job, she insists. “We are a deputy and we have no right to receive money. Radio-Canada cannot pay us. It doesn’t matter. »
Radio-Canada wanted to have an outgoing MP from each party and they really had no choice but to have me. Me, I was not running after that. I’m going to do it because it’s still a good experience.
Claire Samson, Member of the Conservative Party of Quebec in Iberville
I specify here that the standards of Radio-Canada do not allow the remuneration of “politicians, their representatives or the holders of public office for their participation” in the broadcasts of the chain. End of parenthesis.
And how does Claire Samson envisage her new role as a political analyst? She qualifies: “Political analyst, we will not go crazy with that. It interests me, except that I realize that I will have to follow all the news of the week. Understand: it’s a lot of work for zero pay.
Claire Samson will only appear in the Friday edition of Country buffs, which will last one hour. We will therefore not see her every day on RDI for a month. Amir Khadir, from Québec solidaire, is the only Country buffs who is not officially an incumbent.
Recently operated for a brain tumor, Claire Samson is doing better. “I have no after-effects. I’m very good. I have a new little dog. I am ready for retirement,” she says.
With her outspokenness that she will not water down, Claire Samson will certainly stand out in this smoother and cleaner television universe, let’s say. Patrice Roy, head of 6 p.m. newsrecognizes that the panels of Radio-Canada have “perhaps leaned more than one edge” in the past.
“We have rebalanced the political coverage. You have to try things, ”he says, adding that political scientist Christian Dufour (more on the right) and columnist Émilie Nicolas (associate on the left) regularly debate at his 5 p.m. news on RDI.
As its name suggests, Country buffs will end after the provincial election. As for Politics buffs, the former Liberal minister Michelle Courchesne will replace Pierre Moreau, who is rumored to be returning to active politics. Jean-François Lisée, Dimitri Soudas and Françoise Boivin remain in the saddle.
Another star commentator who joins the ranks of Radio-Canada news: the former mayor of Quebec Régis Labeaume, who will inherit a weekly column at the Newscast by Patrice Roy who is (temporarily) called: The three minutes at Régis. However, nothing is cast in stone.
On election night (Monday, October 3), Patrice Roy will lead this high mass with Régis Labeaume, Luc Ferrandez of 98.5 FM and the mayor of Chibougamau, Manon Cyr, whose verve will throw us to the ground, assures Patrice Roy.
The leaders’ debate, again under the leadership of Patrice Roy, will take place in the immense atrium of the Maison de Radio-Canada on Thursday, September 22 at 8 p.m. It will arrive a week after the Head to head at VAT.
Yes, even if this election campaign does not promise to be among the most thrilling, it will eat up a lot of airtime.
On Sunday, September 4 at 8 p.m. on RDI and Radio-Canada, Anne-Marie Dussault, Céline Galipeau and Patrice Roy will cook the main political parties live in Five leaders, one election. It is also this week that Radio-Canada Info lands on the TikTok social network by offering original content on the platform (and not archives).
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Céline Galipeau and Patrice Roy, on the occasion of the re-entry of information from the state-owned company
Reporter Tamara Alteresco, who shut down the Radio-Canada office in Moscow in June, will fly to Ukraine on Saturday. For the next year, Tamara Alteresco will work from Montreal. You will see his reports in The Telejournal of Céline Galipeau, in particular.
Anne-Marie Dussault begins her 15e season at the helm of the excellent magazine 24-60 and she is delighted to once again be able to welcome several guests in the flesh and not in Zoom. “Politicians say during the election campaign that their region is the most beautiful. Me, I’m not afraid to say that my studio is the most beautiful, ”says Anne-Marie Dussault with the vivacity that we know her.