Retired journalist Michel Villeneuve is deeply touched by the death of Claude Bédard and pays a heartfelt tribute to the former sports director of the Journal de Québec.
Having worked closely with Bédard as a rival during the fifteen years he worked in the radio industry in Quebec, particularly in the Nordiques broadcasting team at CKCV, Villeneuve is inexhaustible when it comes to his old colleague.
“Without him and Claude Larochelle (Le Soleil), Nordiques would never have existed,” he explained. They were united in a common cause for the good of the community. He did not advance any money, but rather put his media and his reputation at the service of the community. He was just as important as the shareholders. Many thought it wouldn’t work. He put pressure on the town hall every day and created a movement that got Colibec shareholders to join the project.”
“Without the support of the two Claudes, the project to pursue the former host of the popular late-night show on TQS 110 percent would not have come about.” He then fought such important battles for the Nordiques to be accepted into the NHL.
A defender of Quebec
Highlighting his important contribution to the creation of the Nordiques in the AMH, Villeneuve identifies another aspect on which Bédard had a great influence. “He did not accept that people from outside were involved in the radio and television broadcast of the Nordiques games,” he said. He had pimples when boys from Montreal arrived in Quebec. This was his main passion, which he ran behind the scenes. This recognition he gained enabled younger people, including me, to benefit later.
Réal Labbé, Bédard’s broadcast partner during the Nordiques’ first season in the AMH, also notes his friend’s great attachment to his city. “He loved his city very much and defended sports institutions,” said the former Le Soleil journalist. He was very proud of his team at the Journal and spoke about it often. He found it difficult to come to terms with the deaths of several former colleagues. We played golf together in the Sherbrooke region three weeks ago during André Rousseau’s (a former journalist at the Journal de Montréal) tournament and he was in great shape.
“One of the last giants”
Bédard was featured on all platforms in the press, on television and on the radio. “There has never been a man in the sports press who has taken up so much space in the coverage of a professional team,” Villeneuve said. He was the first multimedia journalist. It was a real machine. It is a national disgrace that Bédard and Larochelle will not be honored at the Videotron Center.”
“Claude was a forerunner of the journalism we know,” Villeneuve added. He was loud and had strong opinions. He is one of the last giants to leave us.”
According to Villeneuve, Bédard did not hesitate to disrupt the existing order. “The Sports Gallery was in full swing in Quebec and it was a private reserve that had control over everything. Claude was disruptive in the beginning and he broke that circle which opened the door for others. There was no equivalent in Montreal.”
A tough competitor
Behind his good humor, Bédard was a fierce competitor. “Our relationships were much better after our careers,” joked the former head of Le Soleil’s sports site, Maurice Dumas. The competition was fierce and Claude was a hard worker. Nobody wanted to give in and that made everyone better. You had to get up early to compete because he knew his stuff and had good contacts.”
Newspapers took up a lot of space. “Newspapers were a big source of information and you wanted to have the best information and good stories,” said Dumas, who worked under Bédard in 1973 before moving to the competition. Without trying to play nice, the information was of better quality.”
Dumas, a young journalist at La Tribune’s Thetford Mines office, knew Bédard when he was general manager of the Quebec Indians in the provincial baseball league. He tells an anecdote.
“Thetford were caught using an ineligible player and the Indians were suspected of being behind the leak. In my diary I asked the partisans to express their dissatisfaction with Bédard on the occasion of the next Indian visit. A few years later he took me to the Journal de Québec.”