Culture Minister Mathieu Lacombe said Wednesday that Passe-Partout’s original costume had been “seriously damaged” due to the water main break in Montreal, something the public channel declined to confirm.
The basements of Télé-Québec’s offices were flooded last Friday due to a broken water pipe. The public television channel announced that some of its archives had been flooded.
Upon his arrival on Parliament Hill on Wednesday, Minister Lacombe declared that the clothes of Passe-Partout, the central character in the show of the same name broadcast on Télé-Québec, were currently being restored.
“The original costume was badly damaged. The CEO of Télé-Québec took care of it personally. She does business with a restoration company, so we don’t know yet if it will be saved, but we are working on it,” he said. “It’s true that it’s part of the heritage,” he said later about actress Marie Eykel’s pastel pink outfits.
Joined by The DutyTélé-Québec spokesperson Catherine Leboeuf said that the minister had wanted to “make a joke,” and she would not confirm his comments. Minister Lacombe’s press secretary, Amélia Benattia, then clarified that Télé-Québec had reported some damaged costumes, and that the minister had wanted to “illustrate” the situation by talking about Passe-Partout’s costume.
Minister Lacombe visited the offices of Télé-Québec on Tuesday. From Québec, he praised the work of the public channel’s employees. “Marie Collin is an extraordinary CEO. She has been there since the beginning. She is on the ground,” he stressed. “I even saw Télé-Québec employees with their own suits, going into the basement. We have an employee who came back from Europe when he saw what was happening, he cut his vacation short.”
Ms. Leboeuf instead stated that the employees who went to the scene then “called in professionals” to pump out the water and empty the equipment located in the basement.
Three to seven feet of water
The Télé-Québec spokesperson confirmed that some of the channel’s archives and artifacts had been damaged. The height of the water in the basements of the head office sometimes reached “three to seven feet,” she illustrated.
“I wouldn’t be able to name items [touchés]. But we can talk about archives, artifacts, costumes and others,” she listed. Due to the water main break, the basement windows of the Télé-Québec offices shattered.
“It was a race against time that we experienced. We didn’t want the humidity to take hold, so the archives were taken out, certain cleaning measures were taken and we will take stock of the situation [plus tard] ” she summed up.
According to Minister Lacombe, the television archives were spared. “The archives in terms of content, fortunately, with our move, it had been digitized, so nothing was affected there,” confirmed Mr.me Leboeuf: In addition to costumes, the basements house storage spaces and systems, including ventilation, she added.
Télé-Québec employees must work from home as much as possible. Quebec is not considering helping the channel with funding at this time. “Indeed, all of this will cost millions of dollars, but it is work that is currently being done with insurance,” said Minister Lacombe.