RIDE A BIKE IN DECEMBER...

By Bernard Bujold (LeStudio1)-
Journalist William Johnson (83 years) and the mild temperatures with no snow affecting Quebec at this time for the 2014 holiday season have caused my habits and my courage and I took out my bike to tour of Old Montreal ... I thought if Bill bikes, why not me too. Long live winter! Long live the bike! 
Photo 1 and 2: Bernard Bujold ;
Photo 3: Square Victoria in Old Montreal;
Photo 4: William Johnson in Gatineau;
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MERRY CHRISTMAS 2014

By Bernard Bujold (LeStudio1.com) - 
Every year, I like to enjoy Christmas to reflect on life. 
I have read several articles in the past few days in the media telling of the misery or poverty of many and the wealth of a few. We must face the facts, life on earth is a lottery and all of us can not be the grand prize winner (rich, beautiful and healthy) but if we are accepted in the lottery of life, we get all at least a lot, the minimum being a lifetime... 
It is therefore necessary to have the wisdom to enjoy and especially to accept the lot granted to us. The most important asset is obviously youth. The rest will be like traveling with anecdotes and the choices of our youth, free or imposed, will largely decide the destination and options for our various journeys in adulthood. Of course, it goes without saying that health is more important than youth because without health, there is no life. Health is the first wealth which is obtained from birth and it will have to last us a lifetime. So do not waste it... 
Personally I consider myself to be a kind of cat (or dog as my faithful Ulysses) to have had to date at least seven lives... 
First I grew up in a rectory while my family wanted me to become a priest (or bishop...); I then dreamed of being a famous athlete; then to become a journalist believing that I have found a vocation; then I wanted to create a family clan that ended with solitudes; then to the politics thinking that I can change the world; and finally to become a journalist again but knowing that the world cannot be changed except in each of our lives and only on an individual basis. Today, in this life that is now mine, well I try to do my best... 
I also apply the philosophy of the friend Gérard Depardieu: live fully in the now moment, philosophy described in his excellent biography book currently in store and my favorite in 2014: "Ça s'est fait comme ça". 
And because I have known many lives since my childhood, I also know that in each new life, it is always both an end and a new beginning! We need to know how to forget the past and embrace change. Happiness never exist as a destination but it is in the now moment of each of our lives, from and despite the obstacles. Do not be afraid of this and live the present as if it was our last moment on earth! 
Merry Christmas to all and a great year 2015! 
PS. Santa Claus really exists and he came to visit me! The secret: Just believe...
Photo 1: Bernard Bujold;
Photo 2: Ulysse the Dog at LeStudio1;
Photo 3: View of St-Simeon de Bonaventure in Gaspé Peninsula;
Photo 4: Julie and Gérard Depardieu with the biography book cover;
Photo 5: Santa Claus with Goblin;
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CONRAD BLACK AND CANADIAN HISTORY

By Bernard Bujold (LeStudio1.com) - 
I just finished reading the canadian history written by Conrad Black: RISE TO GREATNESS - THE HISTORY OF CANADA. The 1,106-page book is a true overview of 400 years of history and we can conclude that Black has managed the feat! 
Anyone who wants to know Canada will benefit from reading this book. 
The story begins with Samuel de Champlain and ends with Stephen Harper and Philippe Couillard. Anything goes: the wars with the Iroquois; the struggles between France, Britain and the United States to control Canada at birth; the founding of Canada at the time of John A. Macdonald; relations of Canada, led by MacKenzie King, with Hitler before and during the Second War; the evolution of Quebec from Maurice Duplessis through Jean Lesage, René Lévesque and Robert Bourassa; and analysis of the role of all modern Prime Ministers from Pierre E. Trudeau, Jean Chrétien, Brian Mulroney and of course Stephen Harper. 
Conrad Black has probably finished the book before the arrival of Pierre-Karl Peladeau in politics because he does not mention him. He ends his book by saying that Philippe Couillard, that he calls an"estimable"man and an unambiguously federalist, should be "fighting" with Ottawa for a rightful place of Quebec in Canada. Black also suggests that leaders from Ottawa and Quebec should be more imaginative to bring together the country and respect its founding cultures. 
Conrad Black believes in the future of Canada and he is obviously a deeply convinced federalist. 
The book is published only in English, but translation is under discussion. The book deserves to be translated since it directly, in addition to English Canada, address all Francophones from Quebec and France and there is no doubt that the look on the history of Canada will contribute directly to political discourse of the coming years, especially with the new momentum envisaged by the Parti Québécois!
Personally, I loved the Conrad Black's book and I recommend it to everyone, including Pierre-Karl Peladeau...
PHOTO 1 and 2: Conrad Black;
PHOTOS 3 AND 4: Cover of the book; 
SEE VIDEO INTERVIEW AND STORY FROM THE GAZETTE ;

FUN AT THE COTTAGE...

By Bernard Bujold (LeStudio1.com) - 
The pleasures of the cottage in winter are different from those in the summer but they are just as enjoyable. Nature offers a performance that approaches the photograph in black and white contrasting to the bright colors of summer. Of course, if you are at the cottage during December, and before the 24 of December... one must be willing to share with our friend always in color: The Goblin! 
Photo 1: Bernard Bujold (LeStudio1.com);
Photos 2, 3 and 4: Chalet;
Photo 5: GOBLIN at the cottage;
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PIERRE KARL PÉLADEAU AND QUEBEC POLITICS

By Bernard Bujold (LeStudio1) - 
The political climate in Quebec may return to the atmosphere from 1995 to the time when the referendum occupied all the media and public space. It will be recalled that the clans baffles were deep and harsh. One was for or against, but never neutral! 
Today in 2014, we can already feel, and increasingly around the path of Pierre-Karl Peladeau, that cleavage is being established again between the pro-independence and pro-federalists in Quebec.
I have already started receiving several calls in private or on my various social websites, reminding me that I should or I should not, support the son of Pierre Peladeau in his new political project for independence. Some of my correspondents are strongly in favor of PKP, others are deeply against him. Many are also quite curious about the secrets that I might have about the son of the founder of Quebecor... 
First let me be clear that I am not an enemy of PKP, nor his friend. So I look at his journey from the stands. 
I have always said that Pierre-Karl Peladeau is smarter than the average person and has successfully established himself in the management of Quebecor although those who had taken the place of Pierre Peladeau after his death did not want to give him the power. I am thinking of the old guard like Jean Neveu and Charles Albert Poissant. This is also in this war that I found myself when just days after the death of Pierre Peladeau, Jean Neveu had summoned me to his office to confirm that he wanted absolutely no business with me at the "new" Quebecor! Not even to take care of the parking garage... 
There's the part of the story about my little secret, among others, for the curious! 
Now on Pierre-Karl Peladeau, if I had been PKP, it is certain that I would have stayed in the management of Quebecor because he was the boss at a private empire. He chose politics and there is a whole world between business and politics. His father refused to solicit printing contracts with the government and he often said that democracy had nothing to do with business. 
I could see that for myself when I entered his service. I arrived from Ottawa being with Brian Mulroney. In politics, we get up in the morning and our agenda is influenced by the media and the news of the day. In business, the agenda is controlled by the one who owns the door handles... 
In politics, journalists always want to show that what the politician says is false; in business, journalists usually publish without questioning the company press releases. 
But the son of the founder of Quebecor decided to get into the political arena and he will fight. It will be a very exciting event to watch because PKP is in as aspiring champion. A high-level sports competition is always an enjoyable event to follow. 
As for my secret about PKP and Quebecor, it is the Omerta, at least for now... 
To be continued!! 
Photo 1 and 2: Pierre Karl Peladeau; Photo 3: Pierre Karl Peladeau, Julie Snyder and Jean Neveu; Photo 4: Pierre Peladeau and Bernard Bujold; Photo 5: Social Quebecor Headquarters;

PIERRE KARL PÉLADEAU AND RACE FOR THE PARTI QUÉBÉCOIS...

By Bernard Bujold (LeStudio1) - 
The race for the leadership of the Parti Québécois is on! 
It is obvious that PKP would make an excellent prime minister, but as I said on Radio-Canada, he may not have chosen the right party to implement his talent and his economic ideas. 
The Parti Québécois is a party of ideas, say "romantic" more than a party of "pragmatic" actions ... " 
PKP is a lawyer and he did his Bar in Quebec. He is a businessman by inheritance and so he is not like his father an entrepreneur but rather an empire manager and a very pragmatic one for whom the profit line essentially account. 
As I am not a political activist neither PQ or any party, I will not be an actor but a spectator in the stands with regard to PKP race. Personally, I am apolitical in the sense that I do not support any particular party neither PQ nor Liberal nor CAQ. I support of individuals. I like a Justin Trudeau, a Ruth Ellen Brosseau, a Nicolas Sarkozy, or once a Brian Mulroney, a René Lévesque, etc... 
I've never been a friend of Pierre Karl but I have known him in the past when I was an assistant to his father who was, too, apolitical from political party and he supported men according to their individual value. He did not like Pierre Elliott Trudeau but he was a close friend of Brian Mulroney as well with Robert Bourassa and René Lévesque of course but always at the individual level and never at the party level. He also supported Pierre Bourque for mayor of Montreal. 
In the case of Pierre Karl Peladeau, his story is just beginning and is to follow. PKP took over Quebecor in 1997 the then world leader in printing. He added Vidéotron empire to his wallet but since it was too heavy financially, he began selling printing plants to only keep at the end Videotron. In 2014 we all know that Quebecor Printing is broke and Videotron has become a jewel because of the internet. PKP had pledged the house and, lucky he won but he could have lost everything. I think he will do the same thing politically. He pledged the house! Hope for him that he won again but everyone know that if you win the jackpot once at the casino, the only way to come out ahead is to stop playing and leave the casino running with the jackpot. QUEBECOR was his big prize in the past. Will he win another jackpot in the history of his life? To be continued! 
Photo 1: CBC news bulletin with Pascale Nadeau;
Photo 2: Pierre Karl Peladeau at the launch of his campaign;
Photo 3: Bernard Bujold in the studio of Radio-Canada;
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