A report full of exaggerations and untruths produced for a French television station portrays Quebec as one of the most dangerous places in the world for drivers and its citizens.
Wind speeds of over 100 km/h, temperatures of -50 degrees, the kingdom of drunk drivers and hit-and-runs and the maniacs shooting at each other: It’s all in this approximately fifty-minute video, which is mainly about Route 132. between Montreal and Gaspé as the deadliest road in Canada.
From the beginning of the documentary titled: Roads of Canada, alert to the Quebec blizzard, the journalists drive there “at full speed” with misleading images.
“Every year, from December to April, the snowstorm leads to numerous and impressive accidents. Like this one filmed live… With no view, dozens of cars and trucks crash one after the other,” says the narrator, while we show on the screen images of a pile-up that happened in the United States from Gaspésie and the 132nd
Screenshot, Youtube
In several places in the report, false images show a completely different reality than that of Quebec and Canada.
- Listen to the Know-It-All segment in 24 minutes with Alexandre Moranville-Ouellet on QUB radio:
“Especially since in Canada, some motorists drive at astronomical speeds and refuse to obey when the police are chasing them, like this motorcyclist who is slaloming at more than 200 km/h on the freeway,” he says of a manhunt in the United States .
Screenshot, Youtube
“Run over crimes are commonplace in Quebec, about sixty a day. Very high-speed chases that sometimes end very badly,” says the narrator against the background of another muscle arrest in the USA.
Screenshot, Youtube
Additionally, the report presents Quebec as a place where road users lose control and don’t hesitate to shoot you to settle the score.
As we show on-screen a man pulling his body out the window of a moving car to shoot at the car behind him, the presenter says, “In Canada, scenes like this are worthy of action movies, middle of the road aren’t rarely.
To make this claim, the journalist relies on the increase in firearms crimes that have increased in Canada over the past 10 years. However, no details on the shots aimed at cars.
Produced by TV Orange, this report was shown on French channel W9, one of the 10 most watched French channels in 2022. This is the Quebec equivalent of ZTélé or other specialized channels of this type.
The two journalists spent two months in the province following various stakeholders in the field to complete this project.
The dramatic tone and some misleading images overshadow the first responders and workers who have their say in the report.
This applies in particular to Tony D’Anjou, owner of Remorquage provincial in Rimouski, and Martin Pelletier and Sidney Dagenais of Groupe Laberge Remorquage in Montreal, who are called to the scene of accidents on Quebec’s roads.