Chantal Hébert

Chantal Hébert born c.1955 in Ottawa, Ontario is a Canadian columnist and political commentator.

In 1966 her family moved to Toronto where the 11-year-old was enrolled in "École secondaire catholique Monseigneur-de-Charbonnel." After high school, Ms Hébert obtained a B.A. degree in 1976 in Political science from the bilingual Glendon College at York University. She is a Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto.

Chantal Hébert began her media career at the regional television and radio newsroom of Radio-Canada in Toronto. She eventually became their reporter covering provincial politics at Queen's Park. After Radio-Canada appointed Ms Hébert to cover federal politics on Parliament Hill, she worked as bureau chief for Montreal's Le Devoir and La Presse. Widely respected for her straight forward and factual approach to political issues, over the years her columns have also been published by the London Free Press, Ottawa Citizen, and National Post newspapers.

The Lobster Trap story

In 1995, Chantal Hébert broke the story in La Presse that the 1995 Quebec referendum question guarantee of an offer of partnership with the rest of Canada before declaring sovereignty following a "Yes" vote was a sham. Hébert wrote that in a June 13th meeting with fifteen foreign diplomats, Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau had stated that what mattered most was to get a majority vote from Quebec citizens for the proposal to secede from Canada because with that, Quebecers would be trapped "like lobsters thrown in boiling water."

At the time, Parizeau was in France and in his place, Quebec's deputy premier, Bernard Landry, who was not present at the meeting, declaring categorically that the report was false. However, Ms Hébert confirmed her sources, stating that the information had been given to a Canadian departnment of foreign affairs in an official briefing by Jan Fietelaars, the Ambassador from The Netherlands who had been a participant at the meeting. In addition, Ms Hébert had backed up the claim by having it confirmed by three others: the Ambassador from Belgium, Christian Fellens who was also present at the meeting, plus two others diplomatic attendees who spoke off the record.

Pundit and author

Currently, Chantal Hébert is a national affairs writer with the Toronto Star as well as a guest columnist for the Le Devoir. She frequently appears on CBC Television's The National as a member of the political panel and is a regular participant in various other French and English-language television and radio current affairs programs.

In February 2006 the Public Policy Forum voted her the Hyman Solomon Award for Excellence in Public Policy Journalism. Starting in June, Hébert took a 10 month leave of absence from the Toronto Star to write a book.

References

• Radio Canada interview (In French)
• Canadian Encyclopedia – Lobster Flap
• Clip 5/9 CBC - Lobster
• Biography for Chantal Hébert at Speakers' Spotlight
• Columns at the Toronto Star