Without taboo and in a format that he wanted to be “very original”, former mayor Régis Labeaume agreed to speak about his personal history and his political career, in a biography to be published this spring signed by journalist Karine Gagnon.
In The Labeaume Code, secrets of a mayor of Quebecthe life and journey of the ex-mayor are told through 25 chapters “like so many stories”, covering both his “childhood marked by poverty” and his “business success which made him a millionaire” and his “confusing political career,” according to Les Éditions de l’Homme.
“It’s a biography, but the concept is very original,” explains the author, who was at the forefront of the Labeaume administration from 2007 to 2021, as a journalist and columnist at Journal.
From the start, the main interested party wanted a format that was off the beaten track. This is why the work is based not only on many hours of interviews carried out with him, but also the testimonies of several personalities who worked with him at key moments.
Several testimonies
“For me, it was a very journalistic job so straight away, it really interested me a lot,” explains the political columnist and deputy director of information for Quebec Journal.
“Mr. Labeaume considered this project with a lot of openness. There’s nothing we haven’t covered. There was no taboo subject,” she emphasizes.
Jean Charest, Justin Trudeau, Serge Fiori, Philippe Couillard and Agnès Maltais are among the personalities invited to comment on the Labeaume era, allowing us to delve behind the scenes of the events of the time.
“He was keen on it. He didn’t want it to be just him,” according to Karine Gagnon.
Inside, we will find, among other things, a selection of 25 caricatures drawn by Ygreck. “It shows the spirit of the book, in the sense that Mr. Labeaume is not afraid of self-deprecation,” according to her.
-In the same spirit, the title of the book is a nod to the Clotaire Rapaille affair, this marketing guru who was supposed to decipher the “code” of Quebec, but whose CV full of inaccuracies placed the mayor in embarrassment in 2010.
A phenomenon
When announcing his departure from political life in 2021, Régis Labeaume was finishing a difficult fourth term marked by negotiations over the tramway and prostate cancer which forced him to rest.
Four years later, Karine Gagnon believes that the time is right to tell the story of this mayor who left no one indifferent during his 14 years at the head of the City.
Before him, she recalls that Mayor Jean-Paul L’Allier died before being able to complete his memoirs.
“I think it’s a political phenomenon in the modern history of Quebec, but also of Quebec, because I think it crossed the border of Quebec. So I think it’s a work that was essential precisely to bear witness to the history of our beautiful city and our region,” she says.
In brief
- The Labeaume Code, secrets of a mayor of Quebecby Karine Gagnon
- Published on April 2, 2025 by Éditions de l’Homme
- Selection of 25 caricatures drawn by Ygreck
- Editorial texts by Régis Labeaume “imbued with humor and emotion”, notably on the massacre at the Quebec mosque, the Halloween saber killer, the amphitheater and the Nordiques
- Testimonies from several public figures including: Jean Charest, Justin Trudeau, Serge Fiori, Philippe Couillard and Agnès Maltais
Source: Les Éditions de l’Homme
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