It is quite possible that the government of François Legault did not invite the Montreal Canadiens as a company and institution to the inauguration of the Guy Lafleur freeway.
• Also read: The Canadian was not invited to the ceremony of his former glory
As a spokesman said, it was a civil marriage.
Although I would like to point out to François 1er that the same government was very happy to approach the Canadian for the organization of Lafleur’s national funeral. A religious and civil ceremony.
At the Canadian we are not offended. We are tormented. We deigned to warn them on the day of the ceremony, but without inviting them.
But what’s outrageous and rude is that Guy Lafleur’s brothers in arms, his brave warrior brothers who won Stanley Cups and faced enemies in Boston or New York, weren’t there.
Next to Lise and the two guys from Flower.
Émilie Nadeau/PM Cabinet Émilie Nadeau/PM Cabinet
FOR LISE LAFLEUR
How do you think Lise Barré lived her 20’s and 30’s as the wife of the world’s biggest hockey star in the 70’s?
When she was alone, it was Micheline Houle who chatted with her. When Guy was hurt, it was Ginette Cournoyer who comforted her.
And Réjean Houle, Yvon Lambert, Serge Savard, Guy Lapointe, Yvan Cournoyer, Larry Robinson, Steve Shutt or Ken Dryden, who would have cycled from Toronto, have always been in Guy and Lise’s lives. Steve and Ninon Shutt vacationed in France with the Lafleurs.
Savard, Robinson and Pointu have always taken care of their flamboyant brother. And often they made Lise and the children smile and laugh.
They have always been with them for the past forty years.
And we dared to invite four good MPs from the CAQ and leave at home boys who spent decades forging Quebec pride?
An angry tongue told me yesterday that the last polls were disastrous for François Legault. And that with LCN, TVA and RDI he wanted to be sure that he had all the cameras on his face.
They were the methods of Maurice Duplessis, whose photograph hung on the living room wall of our house in Falardeau. I knew the style well, my father was an organizer for the National Union.
A REAL HIGHWAY
Guy Lafleur joins two other Quebec giants. The 20 is officially the Jean-Lesage highway. Mr. Lesage, for hugs, is the father of the silent revolution. The very revolution that ended Union Nationale rule and ushered Quebec into modernity.
The 40 on the north bank of the Saint Lawrence River is the Félix-Leclerc motorway. If you read Leclerc’s poetry, you’ll find that he even wrote words that could be rapped. He and Maurice Richard were the awakeners of deep Quebec. Those who prepared the playground of the current generation.
50 is not perfect. It has only three lanes, sometimes two, but it traverses awe-inspiring scenery and connects two beautiful regions of Quebec.
And besides, Guy Lafleur never claimed he was perfect.
To tell you what an important honor it is for a Quebecer, know that even René Lévesque only has a small piece of the 20 named after him.
Ditto for Joseph-Armand Bombardier, who has part of the 55 in his name.
And the Beauce honored Judge Robert Cliche with her Highway 73.
CLAUDE BÉCHARD, REALLY?
In Montreal you have the Décarie highway, undoubtedly in honor of Samuel and Antonin (!) Décarie, the 440, the Jean-Noël-Lavoie highway, former deputy of Laval and man of letters. But they are “autoroulettes” like the three-digit highways.
At some point I had doubts. With the Guy Lafleur highway, Flower is the first ice hockey player to be honored in this way. Unless a corner of Alma has been renamed the Mario-Tremblay Highway, Lafleur is on its own.
But the 85, the Claude-Béchard motorway, what is it? In honor of former National League linesman Claude Béchard? A whistle veteran who has shared more fights than Muhammad Ali has delivered?
I checked. The 47 kilometers of the 85 were named in honor of Claude Béchard, former MP and Liberal minister in the Charest government. A man of honour.
Jean-Charles Lajoie added his grain of salt yesterday morning. In honor of Flower, the famous number 10, couldn’t we modernize it a bit?
And set the speed limit to… 110!
FLORIDA IS PANTHERS!
Oh! There it is! Florida is panthers.
On Thursday night I walked back from dinner on 2nd Street towards Atlantic, Del Ray’s new trendy street.
It was hot, the terraces were crowded and the windows of the restaurants were all open. Apparently, four out of five TVs in every restaurant or bar were showing the Panthers game against the Maple Leafs in Toronto.
I saw a few rare screens showing basketball and a TV that let three or four fans watch a baseball game. The rest, on the 2nd, on the 3rd, on Stanton, on Atlantic, it was Panther, Panther and Panther.
It will not last. The Quebec Snowbirds can still buy $35 tickets to a Panthers game next January. And applaud their glorious darlings who will still miss the series.
But in the meantime, the Panthers are having a hell of a ride. And ticket prices are getting serious.
That’s in the waters of $325 for a good seat.
As long as they beat the Choqueux Bleus…
