The show Everything can happen, hosted on Saturday evenings by Marie-Louise Arsenault at ICI Première, brings contentious, important and powerful subjects to our attention. The host often steals the show, not because it takes up too much space, but because it knows how to cook its guests well. Saturday evening, Guy Cormier, director of the Caisses populaire Desjardins, was more than interesting: we learned that within the company, through the decades, difficult decisions but linked to the times were taken by the directors . Today, to face competitors, credit unions must close many essential services, but little used by the majority. Too bad for the old man from Caplan in Gaspésie who doesn’t know how to use a “smart” phone. The Caisses Pop focus on what is most urgent: remaining competitive with the banks.
The interview was going well… this friendly man told us that he plays hockey every week. However, towards the end, Marie-Louise drops the “bomb” of Mr. Cormier’s salary: $4.5 million, $86,000 per week, or almost 86 times more than the average salary of a Quebecer. So, all the admiration I had for this friendly hard worker fell away… thinking of the “ordinary” people who sweat profusely to pay for groceries, the apartment, daycare, with an annual salary of $50,000 — or that of his cashier, who will soon have to find something else to live on.
This brilliant, funny, coherent man – this position is made for him, it’s clear – slips at the end of the interview… Faced with Marie-Louise’s insistence on justifying such a large amount, he claims to deserve it because he started as a young cashier in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu with a poor annual salary of $23,000… which he appreciates and knows how to recognize (what?)… That it’s team work… that he shares the tasks… In fact, it is not clear at all, because there is no good reason to justify such a salary. Except in countries where dictatorship is law.
Finally, Mr. Cormier manages to change the subject by talking about hockey… But it’s the word “immorality” that clears my throat when I hear him laughing about all that. And I challenge him to share up to half of his salary through charity, and then make it public.