Paul Desmarais
is the son of a lawyer, Jean-Noel
Desmarais, and Lébéa Laforest. He grew up in a prosperous
family. He studied at the University of Ottawa where he obtained a B.A. in
Commerce. When he finished university, he returned to Sudbury where, in 1951,
he took control of a bus company. In 1959, he created the Transportation
Management Corporation Limited; though this, he acquired Provincial Transport
Ltd in 1960, and then obtained effective control of Gelco Entreprises Ltd
in 1962. The following year, he bought the Imperial Life Assurance Company
of Canada. Two years later, it was the turn of the Corporations des valeurs trans-Canada, his first conglomerate.
In 1967, Trans-Canada created Les Journaux
Trans-Canada Ltée, a press company that acquired the great Montreal
daily, La Presse. In 1968,
Mr. Desmarais took control of the Power Corporation
of Canada.
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LORD of the SAGARD |
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Today, the Power Corporation consists of Gesca Ltée,
which publishes La Presse and other dailies and weeklies, and Power Financial
Corporation, which owns the Great-West Life Assurance Company, London Life
Assurance Company, Investors Group Inc. and Pargesa Holding S.A., an
international holding company headquartered in Geneva. |
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Paul Desmarais is Chairman of the Executive
Committee of the Power Corporation of Canada. He is also Chairman of the
Board and Deputy Director of Pargesa Holding S.A. (Switzerland). He
is a director of the following companies: CLT-UFA (Luxembourg), the
Power Financial Corporation, Power Broadcasting Inc.; Electrafina S.A. (Belgium),
the London Assurance Group Inc., Group Investors Inc., London Life
Assurance Company, Pargesa Holding S.A. (Switzerland), the Power Corporation
of Canada, La Presse Ltée, the Telegraph Group Limited (England)
and Total Pina (France). He is also a member of the international advisory
committee of the Barrick Gold Corporation and Chase Manhattan Bank N.A.,
and a member of the Supervisory Council of AXA and the Compagnie
Financière de Paribas
(France).
Mr. Desmarais is honorary president of the
Canada-China Business Couoncil. He is a member of the Privy Council,
a Companion of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the Ordre national du
Québec and an Officer of the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur
and Commander of the Ordre de Léopold II.