Over the last 20 years, he has produced successful shows like Les pieds dans les plat, avec Daniel Pinard, À la di Stasio, Curieux Bégin, Les francs-tireurs, but also documentaries like Le Goût d’un Pays or Manon, on assisted suicide. He died Tuesday evening.
His son Mathieu Paiement confirmed the news to La Presse on Wednesday. Jean-Pierre Paiement died after four weeks of hospitalization following an infection which led to pulmonary complications. He was 72 years old.
“He was someone who left no one indifferent,” Mathieu Paiement began by telling us, still shaken by the loss of his father. He knew how to surround himself with quality people. He was a team guy, a family man, even though there were a lot of people who called him captain… He was passionate about what he did. »
Jean-Pierre Paiement began working as a producer for the morning radio show hosted by Joël Le Bigot at Radio-Canada, before briefly directing the French service of Radio-Canada, then the sports department. Afterwards, he worked as a producer, launching cooking and public affairs shows.
What was he most proud of? Mathieu Paiement thinks for a few seconds, then responds: “He was a humble person, who above all else had team spirit. His greatest pride was seeing that the people he had worked with had achieved success. To see that a former researcher had become a presenter, for example. »
In fact, host Sophie Fouron was a researcher for five years on the show Les francs-tireurs, “a school,” she tells us. “There was definitely a before and after for me. I discovered another way of making TV,” she told La Presse.
“Jean-Pierre had a lot of flair, he was someone who had an extraordinary family spirit. It was a decisive meeting for me,” Sophie Fouron tells us, who admitted to having felt “great pain” upon learning of his death.
“He had the good idea of bringing together people who were very different. He listened to everyone, he had an extraordinary sense of humor, he was a bon vivant. There was a hierarchy, but so much enthusiasm and passion. There was a family spirit in the team, and it was thanks to Jean-Pierre. It was he, the binder, the patriarch. He always wanted us to get along. He was sensitive, conciliatory, human. I owe him a lot. »
Our colleague Patrick Lagacé, who co-hosted Les francs-tireurs with Richard Martineau for several years, was also shaken by his disappearance.
“Jean-Pierre Paiement was a leader, a visionary. With Les francs-tireurs, he helped establish a television genre unprecedented at the time. He was a steadfast captain when controversy struck, a larger-than-life team leader. He gave birth to several television careers, including mine. The entire diaspora of Francs-tireurs is sad today. »
Christian Bégin was also sad to learn of the death of Jean-Pierre Paiement, who launched Curieux Bégin.
“I owe him a lot,” recognizes the actor and host. He was the one who came to get me for this show. My life has changed in many ways because of Curieux Bégin. He had seen me during an appearance on Josée di Stasio’s show, he found me teasing, irreverent, and he gave me carte blanche. You still had to be reckless to launch a cooking show with someone who had never done that! »
The host of the show, still broadcast on Télé-Québec, praises the qualities of the producer. “He was someone pugnacious, determined, but also open, attentive, available, who took care of us. It’s true that he was a team player and he launched several important broadcasts. »
