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Captain of industry André Chagnon targets child poverty in Quebec
Many Quebecers can identify André Chagnon at a glance: elegant, white-haired and always smiling. In person, he is taller than one might expect, but apart from that, the camera hasn't lied. He exudes an air of calm and contentment. And why shouldn't he be a happy man? In 2000, he walked away with $1.8 billion after selling the company he founded, cable-television giant Groupe Vidéotron, to Quebecor for $5.4 billion. He suddenly appeared on rich lists, the section reserved for billionaires, in Canadian Business and Forbes. Part of Quebec Inc., the charmed circle of businessmen whom the Quebec government turned to in the 1980s to build up the province's private-sector economy, Chagnon seemed proof that the strategy worked.
Chagnon's offices in downtown Montreal, near McGill University, have a subdued charm to them, much like the man himself. There is a conference table in yellowy-beige travertine and chairs sheathed in soft leather. Massive windows look out over the mountain. The one item that reflects his past is a small, antique television housed in a case of such highly burnished wood that the piece seems to glow. These tasteful surroundings are an unlikely launch pad for Chagnon's assault on child poverty in Quebec, but at age 77, that is now his life's work. He wants to reduce the poverty level among Quebec children by 25% within 20 years. "I hope I live to see the results," he says, smiling.
This project is arguably his most ambitious in a career spent in the successful pursuit of big goals. Consider that one of the city's poorest neighbourhoods is Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, where Maurice (Mom) Boucher, the murderous head of Quebec's Hells Angels; grew up. Its few small parks serve more as outdoor brothels than playgrounds. Kids are left to trail about the streets on their own after school. It would never occur to their parents to make demands either of the schools or the municipal government to provide any afterschool services for their children; such middle-class feelings of entitlement are absent here. Where others might find this situation discouraging, Chagnon, himself the father of five, sees families that...