Many of our readers know David Heurtel as a political commentator on CTV television, CJAD radio, and Radio Canada radio and television. His knowledge and political connections stem in part from his experience as an elected member of Quebec’s National Assembly where he rose quickly to be a Cabinet Minister. David has also enjoyed success in a variety of business roles and political endeavours. He brought elements of that business success to his role in politics. “I believe that elected members of any level of government should bring experience from their private sector activity, so that they can make a positive contribution with their real-world experience. I believe that we have too many career politicians who lack real world business experience.”

David Heurtel has enjoyed success as an attorney, marketing executive, politician and broadcaster

David Heurtel has enjoyed success as an attorney, marketing executive, politician and broadcaster

“I grew up in Town of Mount Royal during the 70s and 80s, after my parents moved there from Cote-des-Neiges.  We were a Francophone family living in a predominately Anglophone environment. I learned English partly while playing ball hockey and other sports with my friends in the neighbourhood.  I was an early riser and I watched a lot of American TV, from morning CBS morning news and political shows to Captain Kangaroo. I also watched a lot of football; and I played soccer and basketball. I was a student athlete and played basketball at a high level. Going to College Jean-de-Brébeuf, I was exposed to the Jesuit mantra of ‘A strong mind and a strong body’. “

“Politics was always a big topic of conversation around our dining room table. Even as a kid, I watched the Sunday morning political shows. I guess I was this weird political geek. During the 1980 referendum I was in sixth grade and I wore a Non Merci! pin. After school, I’d rush home to watch the constitutional negotiations while my friends were out playing ball hockey. I was a student of politics.”

“When I was 15, I noticed that the Parti-Québécois was actively recruiting on our school campus. I called the Liberal Party of Quebec and told them that the PQ was at my school, and said that they should have a presence. I got a call the next evening! They asked me volunteer as an organizer for the Quebec Liberal Party Youth Wing. I had to say that I was 16 to participate as a volunteer. I quickly became part of the National Executive with the position of Regional Director for the party’s Youth Wing.”

The 1988 Supreme Court decision on Bill 101 caused some Liberal cabinet ministers to resign, and the formation of the Equality Party, which elected four members to the National Assembly. “It was an intense political time on Quebec.”

“In 1990 I was in my first year of Law school. I was what was described as a Bourassa Liberal; that economic development was important to pay for social programs. The failure of the Meech Lake Accord in June 1990 was a blow to me as a Federalist Francophone. Support for sovereignty soared to 60%. I was turning 19 and started to –re-evaluate my philosophy. I stepped back from my political involvement – I just stopped. I focused on my law studies, where I was specializing in environmental law.”

David would come back to political involvement during the 1995 referendum. Still disillusioned by the failure of Meech Lake, David voted “Yes”.

David worked with the law firm Lavery from 1994 to 1998.

In 1998 and 1999, tobacco sponsorships of cultural events were banned. Festivals had become an important engine of economic growth and tourism revenues for the City of Montreal and Quebec. The lost tobacco revenues had to be replaced to ensure the financial viability of festivals like the Montreal International Jazz Festival and Juste Pour Rire/Just For Laughs. “In 1999 I was hired by Just For Laughs/Juste Pour Rire as Director of Governmental Affairs. My job was to ask three levels of government for financial assistance, to replace the lost tobacco revenues. The politicians were receptive because they had seen the significant revenues generated by the festivals. I worked closely with Andy Nulman and Bruce Hills.

“The Bouchard government recognized the economic importance of the festivals, and established an organization for the festivals to share information and represent the festivals to the three levels of government. I was a young participant, and to this day, that organization still exists.”

“Through my work in the festival organization, I got to know Bernard Landry, then Minister of Finance. After Lucien Bouchard’s sudden resignation, Landry became Premier of Quebec, and I was a political adviser for a year. I then did some consulting in the cultural and festival world.”

David Heurtel

Journées de ministre is a candid behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of government (en Francais)

“In 2002 I went back to Just For Laughs to head up their International Sales Department. This was to sell their television programming around the world. It was while travelling in my sales capacity that I met my wife. I moved the Seattle, Washington in 2004 and got a job as Director of Marketing and Communications for the Seattle Center, that area surrounding the tower.” While living in Seattle, David rose rapidly in the city’s marketing community: Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Seattle in 2007, 2008; Director of marketing, Communications and Development for the Seattle International Film Festival in 2007, 2008; consultant for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, in Washington DC in 2007, 2008.

“After my divorce, I moved back to Montreal in 2009 and re-joined Just For Laughs as Vice-President of Corporate and Public Affairs. I also served as Director General for the Just For laughs Museum from 2009 to 2011. In 2011 I worked at evenko as Director of Corporate and Public Affairs. From 2001 to 2011 I was not involved in politics.” This gave me a chance to reflect on how I saw Quebec and Canada politically. I came back to be a Federalist, believing that the best way for Quebec to thrive was within the Canadian federation.”

Nicole Menard, the Quebec Tourism Minister in 2011, named David to be the President and Director-General of the Olympic Park. IN an interesting anecdote, Premier Jean Charest asked; ‘Isn’t David a Péquiste?’ The answer from Minister Menard was; He’s evolved’. “I initiated an overhaul of the park. We started offering free outdoor concerts, including those of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, which are still part of the summer programming. We did a lot of outreach to the local community, to bring them in to the facilities offered at the Olympic Park. Within two years we hosted a lot of events and revived the energy of the facility.”

In addition to rebuilding attendance and participation, David’s work at the Olympic Park was noticed. “In 2013, led by Philippe Couillard, the Liberals called, and asked me to consider running in the Viau riding, which is primarily the borough of St. Michel.

Elected again in 2014, David served in the cabinet as Minister of Sustainable Development, The Environment and The Fight Against Climate Change from April 2014 to October 2017. He was Minister of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusion from October 2017 to October 2018.

Even though he had been an effective and successful Cabinet Minister, David decided not to run again in 2018. “I was exhausted. I had spent 4 ½ years in highly demanding and pressure-packed working situations. I was privileged to have served my riding and the citizens of Quebec. But… I knew that I had to take care of myself.”

“I started my next ‘career’ as a political commentator when Tom Mulcair took a day off! I did a lot of commentary during the pandemic. I’ve been on Power and Politics. I did the 2018 and 2022 elections on CTV with Mitsumi Takahashi. I was a regular on CJAD radio and that morphed into regular duties as a fill-in host. I learned quickly that it takes a lot of time to prepare a three-hour show. So it wasn’t just the on-air time that I was losing to my legal practice with Fasken.”

“I had to make a choice between being a fill-in host and my legal practice. Radio involved an irregular schedule. I had dealt with media extensively in my private sector and cabinet minister roles; so it I wasn’t intimidated by the studio experience.”

“I was profoundly touched by the comments of listeners on social media. It was an unexpected gift of love and respect.”

As our conversation comes to a conclusion, David offers some observations he made during a presentation to the Montreal West Rotary Club.

“We are witnessing a distrust in the general population of our public institutions. I believe that’s because we have too many career politicians, people who don’t have real-world business experience. We have too many people who want to hold onto their political job. They don’t bring something from their career to benefit the government. The result is that government isn’t working the people at all three levels; municipal, provincial and federal. This opens the door for extremist viewpoints and actions.”

“When you don’t vote, you open the door for political parties with a particular and possibly extreme agenda. For example, in the last Montreal municipal election, 65% of Montrealers did not vote. The results were decided by 35% of the eligible voters. Valerie Plante and Projet Montreal were elected by less than 20% of the voters. Consequently, we now have political parties who cater only to their supporters, because like Projet Montreal and the CAQ, they can be elected by their activist voters who do go out and vote.”

“When I was asked to run for the leadership of Ensemble Montréal, I came to the conclusion that many Montrealers may not be satisfied with the two options of Projet Montréal and Ensemble Montréal. Is there a third option? I said that I didn’t want to be the leader of Ensemble Montréal…  I didn’t say that I didn’t want to run for Mayor.”

David Heurtel is a man of principle with a vast experience in business, the legal profession and politics. We need more people like him in all three levels of government.