André Arthur | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
| Member of Parliament forPortneuf—Jacques-Cartier | |
| In office 2006–2011 | |
| Preceded by | Guy Côté |
| Succeeded by | Élaine Michaud |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1943-12-21)December 21, 1943 Quebec City,Quebec, Canada |
| Died | May 8, 2022(2022-05-08) (aged 78) Quebec City, Quebec, Canada |
| Political party | Independent |
| Residence | Quebec City |
| Profession | Journalist, radio host |
André Arthur (December 21, 1943 – May 8, 2022)[1] was a Canadian radio host and politician. He was theindependentMember of Parliament for the riding ofPortneuf—Jacques-Cartier from 2006 to 2011. He has been described as the "godfather" ofradio poubelle (trash radio), a style of politically conservative radio popular inQuebec City.[2]
He was known for his outspoken style and anti-statist right-of-center politics in aprovince known for mainly supporting left-of-center policies, but has nonetheless earned widespread popularity, earning the nicknamele Roi Arthur ("King Arthur").[3] Known for controversial comments, Arthur was fired in 2018 after referring to a road in theLGBT district ofQuebec City as "AIDS Boulevard".[4]
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Both Arthur's father, René, and uncle, Gérard Arthur, were radio hosts. René and Gérard wereArmenian immigrant children who came fromConstantinople toMontreal in the 1910s, fleeing theArmenian genocide, with their parents and siblings, via New York City. According to Arthur, the family was mistakenly considered to be Jewish by someMontreal residents at the time, because their last name contained the name Isaac, thus being victims ofantisemitism. Consequently, the family changed its name to Arthur, a French-sounding name, which was also André Arthur's grandfather's first name (he was alternatively known as Arthur Isakian or Arthur DerSahag, Sahag meaning Isaac in Armenian).
Arthur's mother was aQuébécoise by the name of Tanguay, a name that originally came fromBrittany toQuebec in the 17th century.
As a young adult, Arthur worked as ahockey referee. According to Arthur, this experience taught him how to accept being heavily criticized.[citation needed]
Arthur was divorced and has two children.
Arthur began his radio career atCHRC in 1970. He has also appeared onCJRP,CKAC,CKVL,CJMF-FM,CJMS,CHOI-FM and, most recently (until December 22, 2005), atCKNU-FM andCIMI-FM, all French-language stations. In 2007, Arthur was briefly part of a morning show onCHEQ-FM withMarie Saint-Laurent as well as the web radio stationRockik.com.
Arthur's career has been marked by a number of lawsuits. He has been sued for defamation by two Quebec Premiers,Lucien Bouchard andDaniel Johnson Jr. He has also faced penalizing decisions by theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and theCanadian Broadcast Standards Council regarding several on-air statements he made which led to the non-renewal of the licence ofCHOI-FM.[citation needed] His most recent gig, as morning and noon host for CKNU inDonnacona, Quebec, ended on December 22, 2005, soon afterGenex Communications announced it was selling the station toRNC Media, which declined to renew his contract.[citation needed]
On November 17, 1998, during a broadcast on CKVL, Arthur attacked taxi drivers in Montreal, especially those who were "Arab and Haitian". According to the summary of facts presented in the Superior Court, Arthur denounced "their incompetence and filthiness, while suggesting they get their licenses by corruption and are somehow responsible for the deplorable state of this mode of transport in the city."[5] On February 17, 2011, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Arthur.
In January 2018, he was fired from BLVD 102.1 FM for referring to a road in theLGBT district ofQuebec City as "AIDS Boulevard".[4]
For several years, Arthur opened his radio show with thetheme song fromThe Muppet Show.
From 1972 to 1979, in addition to being heard on CHRC, Arthur was anews anchor for the local evening news program at Télé-4 (CFCM-TV, aTVA affiliate) in Quebec City. On August 20, 2008, it was announced that Arthur would host a talk show on theTQS network, starting September 29;[6] however, a federal election was called in the meantime, delaying the starting date. Arthur successfully ran for MP in the2008 election.[7]
TQS announced the show's cancellation on August 5, 2009.[8]
In December 2009, cable channelSéries+ announced it would broadcast in the winter of 2011 a four-part miniseries onRaymond Malenfant, produced by Ricardo Trogi. The role of Raymond Malenfant will be played by Luc Picard and Francis Cantin (Raymond Malenfant young adult). The role of André Arthur (1986, 1991 and 2001) will be played by Jean-François Porlier.[9]
André Arthur was a self-describedlibertarian, and his political views are generally in line with the libertarian ideology. He generally opposed the concept of government intervention in the economy, and supported tax cuts (as opposed tosubsidies) as the most efficient way to promote economic growth and respect individual liberty.
He was also a noted admirer of the United States, which he perceived to be less intrusive in people's lives. Arthur claimed that if he were an American citizen he would never vote forGeorge W. Bush asPresident – one factor being Arthur's opposition to theIraq War. Nonetheless, Arthur considered George W. Bush (as well asCanadian Prime MinisterStephen Harper) to be very consistent, a quality that he admired.
Arthur was afederalist. He is known for his opposition toQuebec sovereignty, not so much because of any profound attachment to Canada, but because he feared independence would increase what he saw as thesocialist tendencies of Quebec as a political entity. According to a number ofParti Québécois analysts, Arthur's influence was a significant cause of the lower-than-expected "Yes" vote in the Quebec City area in the1995 referendum.[10]
Arthur first ran for office as an Independent candidate in theLouis-Hébert district in the1994 Quebec provincial election. He finished second with 29% of the vote, behindParti Québécois candidatePaul Bégin (39%).
In 1997, Arthur ran for the office of mayor ofSainte-Foy against incumbentAndrée Boucher. Boucher was re-elected and Arthur finished second, with 33% of the vote.
| 2011 Canadian federal election:Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | Élaine Michaud | 22,387 | 42.7 | +30.0 | ||||
| Independent | André Arthur | 14,594 | 27.8 | -5.8 | ||||
| Bloc Québécois | Richard Côté | 10,745 | 20.5 | -11.5 | ||||
| Liberal | Réjean Thériault | 3,463 | 6.6 | -9.7 | ||||
| Green | Claudine Delorme | 1,279 | 2.4 | -1.2 | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 52,468 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 946 | 1.8 | -0.6 | |||||
| Turnout | 53,414 | 66.2 | +5.4 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 80,694 | – | – | |||||
| 2008 Canadian federal election:Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Independent | André Arthur | 15,063 | 33.5 | -6.4 | $8,458 | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Richard Côté | 14,401 | 32.0 | +6.1 | $41,700 | |||
| Liberal | Stéphane Asselin | 7,320 | 16.3 | +11.4 | $4,855 | |||
| New Democratic | André Turgeon | 5,707 | 12.7 | +8.8 | $1,955 | |||
| Green | Nathan John Weatherdon | 1,452 | 3.2 | +0.4 | ||||
| Independent | Jean Paradis | 1,039 | 2.3 | – | $1,833 | |||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 44,982 | 100.0 | $85,693 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 1,113 | 2.4 | ||||||
| Turnout | 46,095 | 60.8 | ||||||
| Independenthold | Swing | -6.2 | ||||||
| 2006 Canadian federal election:Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Independent | André Arthur | 20,158 | 39.8 | – | $1,093 | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Guy Côté | 13,094 | 25.9 | -17.0 | $47,797 | |||
| Conservative | Howard Bruce | 11,472 | 22.7 | +1.2 | $60,326 | |||
| Liberal | Gilles Landry | 2,489 | 4.9 | -22.6 | $16,487 | |||
| New Democratic | Jean-Marie Fiset | 1,956 | 3.9 | +0.3 | $1,579 | |||
| Green | Jérôme Beaulieu | 1,431 | 2.8 | -1.6 | ||||
| Total valid votes/expense limit | 50,600 | 100.0 | $79,151 | |||||
Arthur's first successful bid for office was in the2006 Canadian federal election, when he was elected as an Independent Member of Parliament for the Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier district of Quebec. Arthur officially became a candidate on January 2, 2006, three weeks before Election Day. Having the advantage of name recognition and running an intensive pre-campaign every day for about two months during his morning and noon shows, he used nocampaign paraphernalia and spent only $924 on his campaign. Arthur boasted of being "the cheapestMember of Parliament inCanada", claiming to have spent less than any other elected candidate at this election.
While the 2006 federal election was not Arthur's first attempt to win political office, he claimed that bid was the only time he really wanted to be elected. According to Arthur, his goal in previous elections had been to divide the results.[citation needed]
In winning the riding, Arthur became the first truly independent and non-incumbent candidate to be elected to the House of Commons sinceTony Roman won anOntario district in1984.
On January 25, 2006, in an interview withAnna Maria Tremonti, host ofCBC Radio One's morning news programThe Current, Arthur stated that he would not join anypolitical party during the then-current parliament, but he did note that the policies of the governingConservative Party of Canada best reflected his personal political beliefs and stances on many major issues. He also stated that he entered politics as an independent with the influence and record of non-affiliated MPChuck Cadman, the most recent MP to be elected to the House of Commons as an independent, in mind. It was reported in May 2006 that he might consider joining the Conservatives,[11] however he later denied this saying his comments had been misunderstood.[12]
On November 30, 2006, Arthur announced in a press conference that he had been diagnosed withprostate cancer and would be receiving treatment at Quebec City's Hotel-Dieu hospital in the coming weeks. He also mentioned that despite the cancer, he would remain in his post as the MP for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier.[13]
Arthur consistently voted to support the government on confidence matters. As a result, the Conservative Party decided not to run a candidate against him in the2008 and2011 federal elections.[14] This decision proved to be decisive in his 2008 re-election; Arthur retained the seat with only 33.5% of the vote, against 32% for Richard Coté of the Bloc Québécois.
In 2011,Globe and Mail noted in an interview that aired onCHOI-FM in Quebec City on Aug. 23, 2007, shortly after a Tory cabinet shuffle, directed some of his well-known on-air venom toward Stephen Harper's new team. He calledPeter MacKay, dismissing him as "a loser" and "a ridiculous character". Stated thatJim Prentice was "not a bad" minister who spent all his time solving problems for the Prime Minister andBev Oda "lamentable – unable to find her behind with her two hands". However, Quebec MPMaxime Bernier, defended his party choice not to field a candidate during the 2011 election by stating "Absolutely not. He is an independent and he has his freedom of speech," and "Who doesn't make mistakes in life?"[15] Arthur was defeated in 2011 by theNew Democratic Party candidate,Élaine Michaud.[16]
While a Member of Parliament, Arthur worked as atour bus driver forIntercar. He claimed that his position as an independent MP freed him from the obligation to attend caucuses and partisan social events, going as far as suggesting all MPs should get a second job to put them in touch with ordinary people. This earned him the criticism from his opponents, who noted Arthur had been absent from Parliament for nearly one-third of the votes since 2006, something for which Arthur was unapologetic.[17]
