University of Ottawa

"Paul Desmarais’s higher education also played a large part in his development, not only because it broadened the scope of his educa¬ tional experience, but because it also exposed him to contacts and friendships that would be important in future. The contacts made in younger days are important; they offer a view of an individual in the making, which lets the watcher know the stuff of which the person is made. Once they’re adults, then, these people know who can be trusted and how far; armed with a measure of one’s partners or ad¬ versaries, business becomes immeasurably easier to conduct. That’s why the children of the powerful or aspiring English are sent to preparatory schools like Upper Canada College before going to universities having the cachet that comes of being populated and patronized by the ruling class, like the University of Western Ontario or Queen’s. For the Franco-Quebecois, the prep schools were Loyola and Brebeuf; the university was Laval. The Franco-Ontariens pre¬ ferred the University of Ottawa, a small, bilingual men’s university that bridged English and French cultures. It was J. N. Desmarais’s alma mater, and Paul’s elder brother Louis studied there for a while before going on to McGill University in Montreal. After graduating from high school in Sudbury in 1947, Paul Desmarais followed his father and brother to the University of Ottawa."

"Success with the company earned Desmarais $100,0003 by 1955, when he was not yet 30. By then married to Jacqueline Maranger, whom he had known in high school and who was trained as a nurse, he resumed law studies at Osgoode Hall, though he kept ownership of Sudbury Bus Lines. But then Pierre Genest, Desmarais’s old room¬ mate at the University of Ottawa, told him that Gatineau Bus Lines, the Ottawa-Hull service, was for sale. Desmarais bought the company and moved to Ottawa to manage his new acquisition. He never got around to completing his law degree."