André Arthur
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| Born | December 21, 1943 Quebec City<tr><th>Residence</th><td>Quebec City</td></tr><tr><th>Political party</th> <td> Independent </td></tr><tr><th>Profession(s)</th><td>Journalist, radio host</td></tr> |
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André Arthur M.P. (born December 21, 1943 in Quebec City), is a Canadian radio host and politician. He was elected as an Independent Member of Parliament in the riding of Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier in the 2006 Canadian federal election. His father René Arthur and uncle Gérard Arthur were also radiohosts in their days. Both were Armenian immigrants who came to Canada as children with their parents under the name Isakian. The family later took the name Arthur, which was the father's first name.
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[edit] Radio career
Arthur began his radio career at CHRC in 1970. He has also appeared on CJRP, CKAC, CKVL, CJMF-FM, CJMS and, most recently (until December 22, 2005), at CKNU-FM and CIMI-FM, all French-language stations. He is known for his outspoken style and anti-statist politics in a province known for mainly supporting left-of-centre policies, but has nonetheless earned widespread popularity, and earned the nickname le Roi Arthur ("King Arthur"). He has 2 children.
His career has been marked by a number of lawsuits. He has been sued for defamation by two Quebec Premiers, Lucien Bouchard and Daniel Johnson Jr. He has also faced penalizing decisions by the CRTC and the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, perhaps most notably regarding several on-air statements he has made (see quote below), leading to the non-renewal of the licence of CHOI-FM. His most recent gig, as morning and noon host for CKNU in Donnacona, Quebec, ended on December 22, 2005, soon after Genex Communications announced it was selling the station to Radio Nord, which declined to renew his contract.
For several years, he opened his radio show with The Muppets' theme song.
[edit] Politics
André Arthur is a self-described libertarian, and his political views are generally in line with the libertarian ideology. He generally opposes the concept of government intervention in the economy, and supports tax cuts (as opposed to subsidies) as the most efficient way to promote economic growth and respect individual liberty.
He is also a noted admirer of the United States, which he perceives to be less intrusive in people's lives. Arthur claims that if he were an American citizen he would never vote for George W. Bush as President. Unlike Bush, Arthur opposes the Iraq War. Nonetheless, Arthur considers George W. Bush (as well as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper) to be very consistent, a quality that he admires.
Arthur is a federalist. He is known for his opposition to Quebec sovereignty, not so much because of any profound attachment to Canada, but because he fears independence would increase what he sees as the socialist tendencies of Quebec as a political entity. There has been speculation that he was one of the causes for the lower than average support for the "yes" in the Québec City area in the 1995 referendum.
He was elected in the 2006 Canadian federal election as an Independent Member of Parliament for the Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier district of Quebec. In winning the riding, Arthur became the first truly independent and non-incumbent candidate to be elected to the House of Commons since Tony Roman won an Ontario district in 1984. Mr Arthur became officially a candidate on January 2nd 2006, three weeks before Election Day. Having the advantage of name recognition and running an intensive pre-campaign every day for about 2 months during his morning and noon shows, he used no campaign paraphernalia and spent $924 for his campaign. He boasts being "the cheapest Member of Parliament in Canada", claiming to have spent less than any other elected candidate at this election.
On January 25, 2006, in an interview with Anna Maria Tremonti, host of CBC Radio One's morning news program The Current, Arthur stated that he will not join any political party during his term, but he did note that the policies of the governing Conservative Party of Canada best reflect his personal political beliefs and stances on many major issues. He also stated that he enters politics as an independent with the influence and record of non-affiliated MP Chuck Cadman, the last elected independent in the House of Commons, in mind. It was reported in May that he might considering joining the Conservatives<ref>"Shock jock may join Tories", CANOE, 2006-05-23.</ref>, however he later denied this saying his comments had been misinterpreted.<ref>"Independent denies Tory overtures", National Post, 2006-05-25.</ref>
Arthur's 2006 bid was not his first attempt to win political office. He ran as an Independent candidate from the Louis-Hébert district in the 1994 Quebec provincial election. He finished second with 29% of the vote, behind Parti Québécois candidate Paul Bégin (39%).
In 1997, Arthur ran against incumbent Mayor Andrée Boucher of Sainte-Foy. Boucher was re-elected and Arthur finished second with 33% of the vote.
On November 30, 2006 Arthur announced in a press conference that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and will receive traitement at Quebec City's Hotel-Dieu hospital in the coming weeks. He also mentionned that the despite the cancer, he will keep his riding seat of Portneuf-Jacques-Cartier. <ref> "André Arthur atteint d'un cancer", LCN/TVA, 2006-11-30. </ref>
[edit] Ethnic Background
Arthur's father and uncle, René and Gérard, were Armenian immigrant children who came from Constantinople to Montreal in the 1910's, fleeing the Armenian genocide, with their parents and sibblings, via New York. According to Arthur, the family was mistakenly considered to be Jewish by some Montreal residents at the time, because their last name contained the name Isaac, thus being victims of antisemitism. Consequently, the family changed its name to Arthur, a French-sounding name, which was also André Arthur's grand-father's first name (he was alternatively known as Arthur Isakian or Arthur DerSahag--Sahag meaning Isaac in Armenian).
Arthur's mother was a French-Canadian by the name of Tanguay, a name that originally came from Bretagne to Quebec in the 17th century.
[edit] Quote
The following is a translation provided by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission of an opinion expressed by André Arthur on 3 November 2003 during a simultaneous broadcast on CHOI-FM and CKNU-FM.
"All that aside, we're always saying how global we are and taking in foreign students in Quebec at the university, especially students from North Africa. Laval University is one of the biggest universities in North Africa."
"The problem is, people forget that in Africa, in Muslim countries and countries in Black Africa, the ones who are sent abroad to study are the sons of people who are disgusting, the sons of the people who own the country so that they can govern it better. They're the sons of plunderers, cannibals who control certain Third World countries and can afford to send their children to Quebec to go to school, if it's not outright corruption by companies that want to get access to natural resources in Africa and will pay to have the sons of the disgusting people who govern those countries study in Quebec."
"But they're still proud in Laval to accept foreign students. They forget to say that those foreign students, by definition, with some exceptions, are all children of the most disgusting political leaders in the world, people who are sucking their countries dry, people who kill to gain power and torture to keep it. People we call cannibals, people who are extremely cruel."<ref>Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2004-271, articles 56 to 60. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (2004-07-13).</ref>
[edit] References
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[edit] External links
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See also: List of articles about Quebec City · History of Quebec City |
| Preceded by: Guy Côté, Bloc Québécois | Member of Parliament for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier 2006- | Succeeded by: Incumbent |
Categories: 1943 births | Armenian Canadians | Canadian radio personalities | Current Members of the Canadian House of Commons | French Quebecers | Independent MPs in the Canadian House of Commons | Libertarians | Living people | Members of the Canadian House of Commons from Quebec | People from Quebec City
