This guy Pierre Turgeon watches over a great secret story that happened here in Montreal. He wants to tell you about a bizarre character who changed the history of Quebec. The courts forbid him. He has been censored from telling one amazing yarn.Here's how his unique conundrum unfolded. In December 1992 the boss of Reno Depot - Pierre Michaud - hired Turgeon to pen the life story of his great uncle Paul Herve Desrosiers, founder of what would become the massive chain now owned by Rona.
Desrosiers opened a hardware store named Val Royal on Jean Talon (pronounced Gene Tallin) and cultivated a close relationship with the powerful Premier Duplessis.
So fascinated was Turgeon with the private archives dealing with Desrosiers that he decided that the story was too good for a mere sanitized corporate text.
Turgeon sought to return the $33,000 advance. He signed a contract to write Desrosiers biography with another publisher.
Apparently it would have been a great story too. According to Turgeon, Quebec's highly unconventional hardware king held a hypnotic grip on the levers of power for a long period from Duplessis to Bourassa.
The Reno Depot people cried foul and went to court against Turgeon's authorized biography turned unauthorized biography. The case went through various levels of courts and Turgeon was not permitted to write his book and since then the case has been considered a black mark on the freedom of expression in Canada.
Wasn't Val Royal on Gene Tallin and Alexandra (between Park and St. Laurent)....I believe Rona has offices there now?
ReplyDeleteJimmy Zoubris
I thought the Hardware King was Mr. Pascal (or
ReplyDeletemaybe there wasn't actually someone with that name?).
I don't remember hearing of these others until
Pascal's went bankrupt about 20 years ago.
Michael
Yeah, Pascals, totally. I've been reading some old articles about the way they went bankrupt. I'll eventually try to post some sort of resume of what I read.
ReplyDeleteAs I remember it, Pascals, like Steinbergs, didn't go bankrupt because their main retail businesses went bad. They over invested in other areas and that was what brought them down.
ReplyDeleteRe. Steinberg's: was there the lack of a succession plan, which meant that the surviving daughters did not have a coherent plan for investments and usage of assets?
ReplyDeleteI was living in Toronto in the
1990's and remember seeing Orchard King (the Steinberg's store brand) for sale in various dollar stores after the chain folded.