The organizers of the SuperFrancoFête, which will take place in Quebec on August 31, are still awaiting an answer from the federal government: the expected $500,000 is slow in coming.
Posted at 6:15 a.m.
After months, Canadian Heritage officials came to the conclusion that no program matched this request. Sylvain Parent-Bédard, president of SISMYK, musical division of ComediHa! who is organizing the event, says he is “very, very, very surprised” by this. He now turns to the minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, Pascale St-Onge.
This is an embarrassing situation for Justin Trudeau, who nevertheless said he had suffered a “shock” when he learned of the most recent data indicating a decline in French in the country.
The hype surrounding Ottawa’s absence from the SuperFrancoFête, however, allows us to learn that the budget for this one-night event, which is intended as a “wink” to the 1974 SuperFrancoFête, is 3 million dollars.
Nearly $750,000 comes from Quebec, $300,000 from Quebec City, and the rest comes from broadcasters and sponsors (hotels, airlines, etc.). Three million for a show, even on a large scale, is a lot, confirmed to me contacts who are used to these major events.
PHOTO OLIVIER PONTBRIAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Singer Angélique Kidjo will co-host the SuperFrancoFête in Quebec on August 31 with Garou and Nolwenn Leroy.
Anyway, there will be about thirty artists, and several come from abroad. This evening, hosted by Garou, Angélique Kidjo and Nolwenn Leroy, will bring together Zachary Richard, Patrick Bruel, Louis-Jean Cormier, Robert Charlebois, Stephan Eicher, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Isabelle Boulay, Corneille, Damien Robitaille and others. About twenty musicians and singers will be led by Scott Price.
In fact, what bothers me in this case is that only 5,000 people will be able to attend. The organizers chose the site of the Agora of the Old Port of Quebec, a space which has the advantage of providing a beautiful setting for the event, but which has a limited capacity.
To date, 50,000 people have registered for free tickets. The organizers have promised giant screens around the site to allow a greater number of spectators to live the experience virtually.
Why didn’t the organizers imagine this spectacle that is promised to be “grandiose” on the legendary Plains of Abraham, as was the case in 1974? Why didn’t they see the opportunity to create a real event?
Sylvain Parent-Bédard makes no secret of it: this show is above all a project for television.
The event (which will be broadcast live on radio stations in the Cogeco network) will later be presented on TVA, TV5 Québec-Canada and TV5 Monde. It is said that 200 countries will have access to this show.
The SISMYK team wanted to produce a similar event during the Francophonie Summit to be held in 2020, in Tunisia. The concept was then imagined for the World Expo in Dubai, which was held last year. But the COVID-19 having complicated things, everything was canceled.
The designers therefore decided to carry out this project in Quebec and would now like to export it to other cities.
Nearly 50 years separate the SuperFrancoFête of 1974 (which then did without capital letters) from that of today. The event, held as part of the International Francophone Youth Festival, took place from August 13 to 24 in the Capitale-Nationale.
PHOTO ARCHIVE THE SUN
Gilles Vigneault, Félix Leclerc and Robert Charlebois during the show I saw the wolf, the fox, the lionin 1974
At the time, the opening of this week of festivities was marked by the presentation of the show I saw the wolf, the fox, the lion with Félix Leclerc, Gilles Vigneault and Robert Charlebois, a historic moment that alone brought together 125,000 spectators on the Plains of Abraham.
Before the three sacred monsters of Quebec song perform When men will live on loveby Raymond Lévesque, Prime Ministers Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Robert Bourassa offered a deluge of boos during the opening ceremony held in front of Parliament.
” Sold ! », « Prostitute! “. The insults were not lacking from the demonstrators who did not digest the adoption of law 22 which protected too weakly, according to them, the French language. Stung, Trudeau couldn’t help but be Trudeau and fired back at the protesters.
“Well yes, my friends, freedom is found in the mind and the heart, not in shouters like you. You have just lost your elections, I’ll see you in four or five years. »
The two prime ministers then attended the mythical spectacle which was recorded on disc. They could then hear in the same breath My country, The people of my country, I have one country left and Letter from Ti-Cul Lachance to his first Deputy Ministerfrom Vigneault, My country (it’s not a country, it’s a job) and Quebecof Charlebois, as well as You will get up early (this is your country) and The angry larkby Leclerc.
No need to tell you that Bourassa and Trudeau had to find the time long…
After the show, they went to greet the three artists in their dressing room. A drooling journalist then asked Trudeau if he was an “ordinary” prime minister in reference to the famous Charlebois song. Yellow laughter…
50 years ago, the SuperFrancoFête was part of a vast and vigorous political and social movement. She was the catalyst of a people who were not afraid to come together by the thousands to defend their culture. Today, it is an event intended to feed the world of the media and serve as a tourist showcase for the most beautiful city in the country.
What exactly is the federal government refusing to fund? The defense of a language that is slowly dying or the huge advertising message that this event looks like?
I went back to see the newspapers of August 14, 1974, the day after the show I saw the wolf, the fox, the lion. The sun devoted several pages to the event. In one of the photos, we see Pierre Elliott Trudeau. And who is by his side? You’ll never Gess !
I tell you all the same that it is a little man with curly hair who holds a doggie in his hands.