I Wrote the Theme Song for the Quebec Referendum

STORY BY: Mark Labelle
YEAR: 1980
LOCATION: Montreal, QC

Mark saw BOOM X, and shares a story about the first Quebec Referendum in 1980. Living in Toronto at the time, he wrote the theme song for the "NO" side, called "Do Not Leave Us if You Love Us/Ne nous quittes pas si tu nous aimes", because he felt that no one was expressing this sentiment at the time. Mark ended getting arrested at Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau's residence for trying to drop off a record. The NO committee heard about it, then brought him in that day to sing for Claude Ryan's birthday (Ryan was leader of the Quebec Liberal Party from 1978 to 1982). Mark says, with a laugh, "I got hit with a bottle at that one - that was beautiful". He then sung his song for Trudeau at Paul Sauvé arena, and many years later, when Mark met the former Prime Minister, Trudeau said, "Yeah, I heard about some guy being picked up at my house... I heard you paid us a visit". Thanks for sharing, Mark.