Paul Desmarais, Sr., PC, CC (born January 4, 1927, in Sudbury,Ontario) is a Canadian financier in Montreal. With an estimated net worth of $US 4.5 billion (as of March 2011), Desmarais was ranked by Forbes as the 4th wealthiest person in Canada and 235th in the world.[1]
Desmarais also owns homes in Palm Beach, Florida and New York. He is CEO of the Power Corporation of Canada (PCC), a Canadian company active in the fields of mass media, pulp and paper and financial services.
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Desmarais has two sons: Paul Jr. and André (who is married to former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's daughter France) and two daughters, Sophie and Louise.[2] Sophie Desmarais’ ex-husband, Eric Le Moyne de Sérigny, is involved in a political financing scandal in France known as the Bettencourt case widely covered by the French media.[3] French President Nicolas Sarkozy came under fire after allegations that his presidential campaign was illegally funded by Liliane Bettencourt, L’Oreal heiress and France’s wealthiest woman.[4] Sérigny is close to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, heads numerous companies, and a member of the board of directors of Imerys, a mining company partially owned by a subsidiary of the Power Corporation of Canada and majority owned by the Desmarais family and tycoon Albert Frère, the richest man in Belgium who was involved in the UN Oil-for-Food scandal.[5][6]
He has a large family estate in Sagard, between San Simeon and Petit-Saguenay: the field Laforest. His area of over 75 square kilometers has an estimated value of more than 50 millions (Canadian dollars). The architecture of the mansion was designed and overseen primarily by Sylvain Larouche, head of his team of 18 prominent architects.[7]
Paul Desmarais or his sons belong to associations denounced by the left, such as the Bilderberg Group, the North American Competitiveness Council, which defines the Partnership for Prosperity and Security, as well as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Rockefeller family.
He is a staunch opponent of the Quebec sovereignty movement. On February 2, 2009, French president Nicolas Sarkozy made comments asking Quebec sovereigntists to focus on unity and not separation from Canada, and to put their goals of sovereignty on hold during tough economic times. This angered many sovereigntists who claimed that Sarkozy was acting under the influence of Desmarais.[8]
After having graduated from University of Ottawa and McGill University, Desmarais began his career at a Montreal accounting firm called Courtois, Fredette et cie, before working at a bankrupt short-line railroad and bus line, Sudbury Bus Lines, established by his grandfather. He then acquired additional bus lines in the Ottawa area and Quebec City (including Quebec Autobus and Provincial Transport).[9] The company was sold to him for a symbolic 1 CAD, because it was almost bankrupt. By 1968 the holding company which Desmarais had acquired three years earlier, Trans-Canada Corporation Fund (TCCF), owned the bus line Provincial Transport, an interest in Toronto-based Imperial Life Assurance and Gesca Ltée, (which had an interest in the Montreal paper La Presse). That year TCCF made a share-exchange offer with the Power Corporation of Canada, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, whereby Paul Desmarais became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Taking advantage of the substantial investment of the Power Corporation of Canada, Desmarais took control of a large stationery, Consolidated Bathurst (built since in Stone-Consolidated, then merged to form Abitibi-Consolidated, Abitibi-Bowater today). Subsequently, CPC has diversified under the leadership of Desmarais. He bought the newspaper La Presse, which enabled him to gain experience in the field of print media in Canada. In addition, he owns about 15% of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, a Belgian holding company, which in 2001 acquired a 25% interest in the German media company Bertelsmann, whose subsidiaries include BMG and Random House (the German company Bertelsmann bought the 25% back in July 2006). Groupe Bruxelles Lambert owns 3.7% of the French oil conglomerate Total. Then he looked for companies in Europe to extend the influence of PCC, he met the Belgian financier Albert Frere to the Board of Directors of Paribas. The two men have discovered an alter ego, applying the same financial techniques: a friendly takeover of healthy firms experiencing financial hardship, but temporary.
In 1974, Desmarais named employee Paul Martin, Jr. as president of a Power Corporation of Canada subsidiary, Canada Steamship Lines Inc. In 1981, he sold the company to Laurence Pathy and Paul Martin, Jr.The latter became Prime Minister of Canada in December 2003. Paul Desmarais is also the former employer of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Jean Chrétien, Brian Mulroney and Maurice Strong, the "father of the Kyoto Accords, which was sacked for taking part in a fraud of 10 billion USD under the food program in Iraq Oil cons.[10]
He was Canada’s 4th richest man in 2007 and his severe drop in wealth in 2008 reflected a 44 percent plunge of the Power Corporation of Canada's shares, when the company’s profits fell 41 percent – its lowest share price since 2002.[11]
PCC is working with the Carlyle Group and the half-brother of Nicolas Sarkozy.
The Desmarais family enjoys close connections to politicians worldwide. Critics charge that the family’s political connections provide it with unfair advantages in business.[12] Desmarais’ relative obscurity outside of Canada has been use to hide his family’s countless political connections and influence in business as well as politics.[13] Over the years political observers have pointed out the enormous and unusually powerful influence Desmarais has over Canadian federal politics. Desmarais has been charged by Canadian reporters as having a direct pipeline into every Prime Minister’s office. A number of Prime Ministers and other influential Canadian elected officials are or have been financially dependent on Desmarais, including 20th Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, who sat on the board of the Power Corporation of Canada.[14]
Paul Desmarais (son) is a member of the Board of Directors of Total SA and Suez. They frequently combine their European operations with the Belgian financier Albert Frere. Paul Desmarais (son) is also a member of the board and the Lafarge Group.
The Desmarais family also maintains relations with the French Dassault industrial dynasties, Peugeot and Rothschild, among others.
Nicolas Sarkozy has privatized companies in which the Power Corporation of Canada has invested. Through the Carlyle Group, several LNG port projects are under development with controversial Rabaska in Quebec and the Northern Medoc in France.[15]
In 1981, to thwart the nationalization of Paribas desired by François Mitterrand, newly elected president, Paul Desmarais launches in the company of Albert Frere and other European businessmen in Operation Noah's Ark . It was to recover the Belgian subsidiaries (Copeba) and Swiss Paribas (Paribas Switzerland), launching a public exchange offer through a Swiss company, Pargesa. The operation fails, but allows Paul Desmarais bind to important financial and European politicians.
According to Le Figaro, Paul Desmarais Sr. is a close associate of President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy. Paul Desmarais Sr. and President Sarkozy were at the party at Fouquet's to celebrate the election of the new president on May 6, 2007.[16]
In 2004, Nicolas Sarkozy has stayed in his estate in Sagard, in Charlevoix, a good distance from the St. Lawrence. "When you walk into the property, it is opening a first gate. Then you have to go miles and miles before arriving at the castle."Nicolas Sarkozy told about the stronghold of his friend Desmarais.[17]
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by G. Alain Frecker |
Chancellor of Memorial University of Newfoundland 1979-1988 |
Succeeded by His Honour the Hon. John Crosbie |