Network: Société Radio-Canada (SRC) TV Network
Broadcast Run: 1956
Broadcast Medium: Television
On October 28, 1956, at the age of 34 years old, René Lévesque, who would later become Premier of the Province of Quebec, jumped feet first into hosting a live weekly magazine-type TV program, Point de Mire, which examined the hottest subjects that were making the headlines. With the help of maps, film clips, and sometimes a guest specialist, the journalist thoroughly analyzed various key international and national events. Thanks to his persuasive nature and boundless curiosity, René Lévesque succeeded in elucidating numerous complex subjects within the half-hour that he was on the air.
This exercise enabled Quebec TV viewers to become more aware of several problems affecting the planet. The very first episode of Point de Mire dealt with the Suez Canal crisis.
At first, the program aired on late Sunday evening, after the Téléjournal (News) and the Nouvelles sportives, from 23:15 to 23:45. Later, Point de Mire was moved elsewhere on the programming schedule, but was still broadcast in the late evening, which did not prevent it from gaining popularity, until it left the air in 1959.
Born in New Carlisle, in the Gaspésie, René Lévesque interrupted his university studies in law to become a U.S. army war correspondent, in 1944. He joined Radio-Canada’s International Service in 1946 and continued his career as a journalist as a correspondent in Korea, then later as a News Reports Department Head from 1952 to 1956.
Written by Yvon Chouinard – January, 2006