At 17, after dropping off his resume at McDonald’s, Paul Arcand knocked with a friend on the door of the radio station in his native Saint-Hyacinthe, CKBS. Their show project was refused, but young Paul was hired.
Episode 7: Paul Arcand
“I think we disturb, more than we influence,” says Paul Arcand. Approaching its last edition of Since you have to get upthe host talks about his debut on the microphone at 17, his relationships with elected officials and the influence of his mother on his work ethic.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Host Paul Arcand with journalist Dominic Tardif during the recording of the podcast Just between you and me
Three quotes from our interview
About the return to politics of his former colleague Bernard Drainville
“When he told me: ‘I’m going back, I’m running for the CAQ,’ I replied: ‘Are you sure? Seems to me that life isn’t so bad when you do what you do. In summer, we are quiet. You go wandering through shopping centers, going door to door.” But at the same time, there are some who are bitten. It’s like hockey coaches who always want to come back. »
About his show Secret conversation
“Your colleague from The Press [Hugo Dumas] had made a list: you should invite so-and-so. We had thought of everyone on our list, but people don’t want to. Marcel Aubut said no, Guy Cloutier said no. […] Anyone who has a story deserves to be interviewed, it’s then a matter of determining how it’s done, it’s not a free ride. I have already refused to do interviews because I was not comfortable with the person or because they wanted to put obstacles in my way. »
On his reputation as a ruthless interviewer
” I remember [qu’à l’époque de l’émission Arcand à TVA], we had the idea of welcoming Lise Dion and Yvon Deschamps. And Lise Dion said to my team: “But I didn’t do anything wrong, why would I go on his show?” […] People always think we’re one style, but I’m not going to interview a victim of crime the same way a politician asks me to elect them to manage the public’s money. The tone varies. »
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