Jean Pagé (8 March 1946 – 10 December 2019) was a Canadian sports journalist. Most notably, he was a host for the TV shows ''

La Soirée du hockey ''La Soirée du hockey'' (literally translated to ''The Night of Hockey'') was a Canadian ice hockey television show. It was the French language Radio-Canada equivalent of the English Canadian CBC show ''Hockey Night in Canada''. The show used "T ...

'' and ''110%''.

Biography

Jean Pagé was born in

Chicoutimi Chicoutimi () is the most populous borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay in Quebec, Canada. It is situated at the confluence of the Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and com ...

, the fourth child of Roméo Pagé and Aline Fortin. He attended secondary school at Séminaire de Chicoutimi, then completed his bachelor's degree at

Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montmo ...

. Pagé was hired by

CJMT-DT CJMT-DT (channel 40) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of two flagship stations of the Canadian multilingual network Omni Television. CJMT-DT is owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media alongside sister Omni outl ...

at age 18 to be a news reader. After leaving the TV station, he met Jacques-Henri Gagnon, then one of the bosses at

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, who invited him to audition for a news sports broadcasting role. He was hired in 1973. Pagé covered the

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

tournament at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

with Radio-Canada. He was stationed in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

and hosted the shows ''L'Univers des sports'' and ''Les Héros du dimanche''. Outside of sports, he co-hosted the cultural news program ''Québec Magazine'' in 1980. In 1982, he left Quebec City for

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

to work full time for Radio-Canada. He participated in several sports broadcasts, and hosted the

Formula 1 Grand Prix Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of Open-wheel car, open-wheeled auto racing series managed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name alludes to ...

, tennis tournaments, figure skating, the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

, as well as several

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. Pagé was best known for his appearances on ''

''. He hosted the nightly show from 1987 to 2002, when Radio-Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation stopped airing hockey altogether. After this, he started working for Télévision Quatre-Saisons (TQS), where he became host of ''110%''. In this program, Pagé discussed sports with coaches, players, and journalists. He left TQS when

Remstar Remcorp is a Canadian private investment firm founded by businessman Maxime Rémillard. Its head offices are located in Montreal, Quebec. History The company was founded in 1997. At first involved in the entertainment industry, Remcorp now ma ...

acquired the network and renamed it '' V''. Pagé then covered

IndyCar INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...

and figure skating at

TVA Sports TVA Sports is a Canadian French-language sports specialty channel owned by the Groupe TVA, a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media. The channel is a general-interest sports network, and the first major competitor to RDS, the only other Fre ...

. He also ran the program ''Québec matin week-end'' on

Le Canal Nouvelles Le Canal Nouvelles (LCN) is a Television in Canada, Canadian French language discretionary service 24-hour headline news channel owned by Groupe TVA, a division of Québecor. Its broadcasting headquarters are located in Montreal, Quebec. The chann ...

. In 1995, Pagé was diagnosed with

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

, and he was in remission for 22 years. He became spokesperson for Procure, an organization dedicated to fighting prostate cancer. He co-founded the ''Marche du Courage'' in 2007 and ''Randonnée du Courage Pat Burns'' in 2008 with Procure. Pagé died on 10 December 2019 in his home in

Morin-Heights Morin-Heights is a town in the Laurentian Mountains region of Quebec, Canada. It is west of Saint-Sauveur and north of Lachute; municipally, it is within the Regional County Municipality of Les Pays-d'en-Haut. It is primarily a tourist town, ha ...

. He is survived by his wife, Brigitte Bélanger and four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pagé, Jean 1946 births 2019 deaths Canadian sports journalists Journalists from Quebec Quebec Nordiques announcers National Hockey League broadcasters North American Soccer League (1968–1984) commentators People from Saguenay, Quebec