Jean-Pierre

"For children, separation is hardly easy. The atmosphere of boarding schools seems quite strict compared to that of home. So they always look forward to Sundays, which are either visiting days or parlour days, depending on the case, with impatience. Certainly, the Légers are sometimes too busy to spend the day with their offspring. No matter, they are never far away. When they come to Saint-Hubert street, Claire and Jean-Pierre do puzzles and watch NFB films on television. Fortunately, in the summer, they spend wonderful holidays at their grandparents’ on Île Perrot. As they get older, they start attending cultural events: shows, exhibitions, museums. The Légers never refuse them any opportunity to enrich themselves intellectually. There are also ski weekends at Mount Sutton. Nothing lavish about these getaways. Claire makes sandwiches and takes her little brother down the slopes. Hotelier friends offer discounted lodging to the two teenagers. Never any pocket money or reckless spending. Even when their business prospers, the Légers prefer to let their children fend for themselves. Just because our parents own a rotisserie doesn’t mean we should have everything handed to us!"

"The very next day, the Léger family puts up for sale the furniture in good condition that they have left and permanently leave the apartment on rue Chambord, which the disaster has rendered uninhabitable. Parents and children move in with the bare minimum of furniture to the tiny dwelling located above the rotisserie. Its cost is already included in the lease. So no more additional rent to pay for a roof! Of course, this is far from living like royalty. The family squeezes into two rooms. The parents sleep in the living room. As for the children’s bedroom, its furnishings are limited to a bunk bed. The rest of the space serves… as a storage room. In any case, Claire and Jean-Pierre hardly have the leisure to complain about it. To avoid another tragedy, Hélène and René decide to send their offspring to boarding school: Claire to the convent of Saint-Lambert, Jean-Pierre to Eulalie-Durocher College. It is the best solution for parents who are very busy trying to bail out their business."

"On April 28, 1967, Expo opens its doors: 300,000 Montrealers and impatient tourists storm the site, armed with their “passport” complete with photo and souvenir pages. Over the next 184 days, more than fifty million visitors will pass through the turnstiles of Terre des Hommes. The crowds are so large that the food services “crack” and quickly become saturated. In insufficient numbers, the restaurants and snack bars are packed at all times. At mealtimes, people wait in line for between half an hour and an hour before being served. People grumble, discontent grows. It is an unforgivable logistical problem for an event of this scale. This is something that threatens to tarnish Expo’s shine. A solution must be found, and quickly, the organizers are aware of this. In desperation, Lucien Saulnier, Jean Drapeau’s right-hand man, contacts several companies that, at first glance, seem capable of quickly resolving the crisis on Notre-Dame Island. St-Hubert Bar-B-Q is one of them. The order is ambitious: serve 20,000 meals per day! René Léger remains unfazed: “I can do it without any problem and… within ten days!” This kind of gamble is right up his alley. When the opportunity to surpass himself arises, the water polo champion surfaces again with his slightly provocative drive to win. He also knows he can rely on a solid team. Had he not built it himself, in that combative spirit? Amazed by such flair, Mr. Saulnier grants the concession to the president of St-Hubert. Certainly, time is of the essence. Summer will soon be here, and the return of warm weather will only increase the flow of visitors. From then on, the situation could quickly become unmanageable. This time, René Léger is in a position of strength. This allows him to secure much more advantageous installation conditions than originally. In exchange, St-Hubert Bar-B-Q commits to building another restaurant—this one with two hundred and fifty seats—on the La Ronde site, behind the Aquarium. It will, moreover, be Jean-Pierre who manages it."

"It was in this bright context that Claire and Jean-Pierre finally took their places at the head office. Their parents gradually stepped back to make way for their children. They always trusted young people. The same was true for their children. In any case, why would they worry? They were offering them a growing business “on a silver platter.”"

"When they discover Christian Dior, the Willot brothers are very discreet. They tread on the carpet of the offices on Avenue Montaigne on tiptoes and dare not show themselves too much in the workshops located on the upper floors... They especially do not want to disrupt this fine cash-producing machine and will only make a discreet appearance at the avenue Montaigne store. Jean-Pierre admiringly contemplates the cash flow from this fine conquest."