This is the last post in the 11 part series on the 20 most trusted people in Québec (based on an Ipsos Reid poll).

#20  Richard Martineau –

You just read my not-so-nice review on the direction I feel Anne-Marie Dusseault has taken her show, 24/60.   This next (and last person on our list), Richard Martineau, also throws around his opinions and views.

BUT, I am going to be a lot nicer in this post.  I am not going to be overly critical of Richard Martineau for one reason, and one reason alone:

Richard Martineau is an opinion-columnists (as a major celebrity TV, radio, and written press columnist), whereas Anne-Marie Dussault purports to be an objective reporter/interviewer, but I feel she comes across as anything but.

If Anne-Marie Dussault relabelled her program (24/60) as an opinion-maker columnist-formatted program, I would have nothing to gripe about.  Yet, she does not – She and Radio-Canada publicize her show as an objective program.  That is misleading, and can be dangerous when the public forms their views based on what they believe to be “objective” information.

With that now said, in his role as an opinion-columnist, I do not necessarily agree with a number of Richard Martineau’s views.  Many of his economic views I do agree with and I can relate to.  Yet, a good number of his social views sometimes rub me the wrong way.

BUT, like I said above, he is very upfront by saying he is an opinion-maker columnist, and that his goal is to provide a different perspective for the purpose of rounding out everyone’s views (and he even admits that his views change on occasion as others present new perspectives to him).   That honesty and approach is a quality which gets my respect (regardless if I agree with him or not).

The public sees, hears, and reads Richard Martineau everywhere.  He has been front-and-centre in Québec for many many years.

• He has a major newspaper column in Le Journal de Montréal,
• He is the host of les Francs-tireurs television program (one of the most watched journalistic-styled opinion-maker television programs in Montréwood). I wrote a previous post on Les Francs-tireurs.  Click the link.
• He is the regular invited guest on several radio stations across Québec – providing commentaries on a host of issues,
• Until this week, he was LCN’s main breakfast morning show host (I believe it is the most-watched morning show in Québec). However, Martineau just announced (May 11^th, 2015) that he would be stepping down (lots of mystery surrounding this one).

With that said, what are Richard Martineau’s particular views which he brings to the table (to add to the pot of open debate)?

• He is generally right of centre, both socially and economically.
• Economically, I believe he is pro-balanced budgets, for reduced debt load, for greater government accountability, for economic development with respect to the resource industry (including Hydro, pipelines, fisheries), and for lower tax burdens,
• Socially, he has much to say about immigrant integration and reasonable accommodations. He believes that there should be much more emphasis placed on integration (and less on accommodations) than what multiculturalism & interculturalism currently provide (he was for numerous aspects of the PQ’s Charte).
• Martineau, I believe, is one of the more influential voices in this debate in Québec (I believe he plays a role in forming public opinion).  Yet, despite his stated concerns with current multiculturalism & interculturalism policies, after many years of listening to him, I have yet to hear what specific aspects of multiculturalism & interculturalism he does not like (keeping in mind that both concepts are quite flexible, and both allow for a large degree of leeway to incorporate greater, or lesser degrees of integration… it’s simply a matter of having the political will to tweak them at a policy level both in Ottawa and Québec City).
• Environmentally, I believe he’s kind of a middle-of-the-road kind of guy. He’s not anti-pipeline, nor anti-oil industry, and he’s generally happy if environmental safeguards are in place.  But it’s all relative… so that can mean a million things at the end of the day.  Nonetheless, I get the feeling people further to the left on environmental issues do not  like him.

• If I were to make a political comparison… I see aspects of Conservative, CAQ, and “blue Liberal” policy in many of the things he writes and comments about.

Richard Martineau comments most on matters pertaining to provincial economics, social policies and politics.  He is first and foremost a “Québec-oriented” columnist.   But he wanders into Federal territory often enough.

On the topic of Federal matters, Martineau rarely wanders into debate surrounding the sovereignist movement.

• I have only ever twice seen him overtly discuss his own viewpoints.

• The first time was in 2006 on Tout le monde en parle, when he said he was very much on the fence (a political “wanderer” if you will). He stated the deal-breaker at that point would be if federal multiculturalism remained incompatible with Québec’s integration needs (he was adamant at the time that the two concepts were incompatible… a point on which I personally do not agree with him – see my previous post Multiculturalism & Interculturalism: Lost in definition… POST 1 of 3 (#180)

• The second time was on the TV program Bazzo.tv.  On that show, the National Post columnist, Barbara Kay, quite disgracefully and continuously Québec-bashed (on air) with very intolerant views of Québécois as a people. It was shameful (I just about died when I saw the show — with my face buried in my hands).   It provoked a strong, emotional on-air backlash from Martineau (one of the talk-show panel members).  He said that Barbara Kay’s intolerant prejudices made him want to seek sovereignty for Québec because he felt she was speaking for all of Canada.

It was awful to watch something so petty play out on television (and especially on one of the flagship television programs of Télé-Québec).   I’m sure that after Martineau calmed down off air, his views perhaps tempered… but nonetheless, that was the day I lost total and complete respect for anything related to Barbara Kay (who I did not really know until that point).  I wrote about it in a post on Québec’s columnists and opinion makers.  I even provided a translated transcript.  You can read here: Québec’s network of opinion-makers (#111).   (I’m more than certain that the vast majority of English Canada would be outraged against Barbara Kay if they knew about the contemptuous intolerance she was spewing from her mouth).

• So where does Martineau truly stand when he’s not being provoked on constitutional matters?   I don’t know.  Honestly, I get the feeling he’s open to anything, so long as it can be justified and makes sense in his mind.   The key word in this last sentence is he is “open”.

Why do people list Richard Martineau as one of the people they trust the most?

I believe it relates to his upfront manner in expressing his views, and the fact that he does not attempt to monopolize those views.  He regularly, and wholeheartedly engages in public debate – but every single time, he gives more than enough breathing space to opposing views.  He never pretends that his views are the only views, or the correct views.  He is honest about the fact that his role is that of a columnist, and not an objective journalist.

People respect that… and at the end of the day, people trust him for it.

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And with that, we have just concluded the list of the 20 most trusted people in Québec.   It has been interesting, hasn’t it?  It probably gives you a little more insight into what people in Québec are talking about, listening to, watching, and value.   Understanding these sorts of topics are key to helping to bring down the Two Solitudes.

There is lots of online information about the people and topics discussed.  I’d encourage you to take in YouTube videos, online written resources (Wikipedia, news articles, etc.) and to form some of your own opinions.  More than that, I’d encourage you to explore a little deeper and do a little additional learning.   Knowledge makes a huge difference in the end – and knowledge can be quite powerful.