Michel Nadeau left us suddenly, killed by pancreatic cancer, like Marcel Masse before him, another great Quebecer. Michel Nadeau had not ceased to be active for Quebec since 1973, the year of the beginning of his professional activity at the newspaper The duty. He made a crucial intervention there in the weeks preceding the first referendum. Then, in 1995, he played a determining role, in the shadows, having prepared Quebec to face a financial shock, having worked to reduce to zero any threat the day after the referendum and in the weeks after a Yes of the people to the sovereignty of Quebec.
Michel Nadeau liked to do more and better than his journalist colleagues; he frequently challenged us in a friendly way, Robert Pouliot and me, who were on the economic pages of The Press and Day, to find out who had the best economic coverage of what had happened most important to Quebec the day before. He wanted us all to surpass ourselves; he was also the lifeblood of the group and joined us in the new Association of Journalists in the Economy of Quebec, with Jean-Paul Gagné, from Sun, and Claude Picher, from Montreal Journal.
His first claim to fame, he obtained it at the time of the 1980 referendum, by the force of his analysis and his convictions, with Michel Roy. If the four editorial writers of the Duty have been able to speak out publicly, there is a lot to do with it. I remember that he said he was affected by the impossibility of convincing Michel Roy, the former editor-in-chief of Claude Ryan who became the acting director of the Duty, to vote Yes since Ryan had made the leap into politics, as leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, in 1978. Claude Ryan had become the chief opponent of Quebec sovereignty. Michel was one of these four columnists in May 1980. […]
Torn in his relationship with his editorial writers, but intellectually honest, Michel Roy decided on May 10 on the newspaper’s course of action, after thirty months as deputy director, in a procedure entitled: ” The duty and the referendum. He specified there: “The consensus does not appear to be achievable among the editorialists… It is up to each one to present his analyzes and his conclusions. »
And indeed, on Monday, May 12, 1980, the four editorial writers signed their opus one after the other. The acting director led the way, entitling his editorial at the top of the page: “The substantive question”. He wrote: “I will answer No”. Lise Bissonnette followed and entitled hers: “A blocked society” where she concluded: “We must answer Yes”. Jean-Claude Leclerc headlined his: “A step forward” where he argued: “The Yes to the little homeland can claim as much legitimacy as the No in Canada, which now reserves for us a reduced and subordinate importance. »
Michel Nadeau brought up the rear of this historic editorial page, proposing: “The best economic choice”. Always open, Michel began his editorial with this observation: “Quebecers hesitate”. Indeed, in the neighboring pages, the polls gave, that day, 40% for the No and 37% for the Yes. So there was 20% undecided. Michel Nadeau regretted this: “The referendum debate was not economical. He drew the conclusion from what he had seen since 1973: “Montréal is becoming a metropolis of regional offices. And he recalled: “A good part of the old business elites have left Montreal.” » […]
Michel will be approached in 1984 by Jean Campeau, then president of the Caisse de depot et placement du Québec, being offered the position of director of communications, but he will instead ask Mr. Campeau to be in direct contact with the investment machine. in Montreal securities, wanting to enhance the role of the Montreal Stock Exchange and the place of financial analysts in Montreal, as well as that of the Caisse de dépôt, to make Montreal a more important financial center than Toronto for Quebecers. For him, it was necessary to “boost” the financial capacities of Montreal to prepare for the independence of Quebec.
Ten years later, in the shadows, he masterfully assumed this essential role at the time of the 1995 referendum. Mr. Parizeau wanted Quebec to be well prepared to face a financial shock after a Yes vote. It was Michel Nadeau who prepared this, in a very professional manner, for a good day after the referendum on the financial markets. He has set up a whole team for the night of the referendum, ready to intervene in the financial centers of Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, Paris, and finally Wall Street, for daybreak, this October 31, in America. […]
Michel Nadeau had Quebec pegged to the body. It was true in 1974 when he entered the Duty, it was true in 1980 when he defended the Yes vote in the René Lévesque referendum, with Michel Roy, then with Quebecers, it was true as the leader of Montreal’s financial institutions, at their forefront, for the defense of the financial center of Quebec, the day when independence would have the approval of the Quebec people, this evening of October 30, 1995.
Peace to you, Michel, forever. You fought the same fight as René Lévesque, you fought the same fight as Jacques Parizeau!
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