A mafia guy murdered after leaving the cinema where he had just seen… The Godfather 2. A biker named Godasse. Rotten meat sold at Expo 67. A liberal minister who accepts funding from the underworld. A “criminal” who is shot twice and then strangled, but survives.
A mayor of Montreal who appoints as police chief a former morality man who had accepted a bribe.
Phew, it’s not fiction: these are true stories!
It’s a funny coincidence: in the same week, on Quebec TV, we will be able to see a miniseries on criminal bikers AND a documentary-fiction on the Commission of Inquiry into Organized Crime (CECO).
In the 1990s and 1970s, criminals brought terror to Quebec. It’s important to remember this.
The Charbonneaus!
Luc Dionne’s series The Call will be available on Illico + from Thursday and the docu-fiction The ghost power will be presented on Historia on Saturday January 25 at 8 p.m.
The Call recounts the Carcajou Squad’s investigation into bikers in the 1990s, after the murder of two prison guards.
The ghost power takes us back to 1972 with the launch of the Commission of Inquiry into Organized Crime (CECO) by the Bourassa government, after journalist Jean-Pierre Charbonneau from Le Devoir had demonstrated collusion between politics and organized crime.
-We emerge from viewing the Ghost Power with immense admiration for the young journalist Jean-Pierre Charbonneau (who was only 23 years old when he wrote his texts and who was nevertheless pulled to the limit in the middle of the newsroom of the Duty). And we come away from watching The Call with immense admiration for the young lawyer France Charbonneau, hired as legal advisor for the Carcajou squad.
Clearly, I don’t know what’s going on with the Charbonneaus (no relation), but they are professionals who are not afraid when it comes to facing the tough guys!
And the most ironic thing is that France Charbonneau is also known for the famous Commission that she chaired (on collusion in the construction industry) and that the Charbonneau Commission is in a way the continuation… of the CECO! Everything is in everything, as Raoul Duguay would say.
The ghost power is a documentary-fiction, with extracts from the real commission and scenes played by actors. Serge Postigo is excellent in the role of judge Jean Dutil who chaired the CECO. But Luc Guérin is just as fabulous as Claude Ryan, the director of Dutywho defended the scoops of his journalist. It sounds like The Sopranos…but it’s an absolutely scandalous true story!
Corruption / collusion
In 1972, when Judge Dutil decided that the cameras would broadcast the CECO live, the ratings were as good as the Hockey night.
What rejoices me when I see The Call et The ghost power coming out in the same week means that younger generations will be interested in their own history. And they will be able to see how things are changing… or not.
