Journalist, contributor to L'actualité, Michel Vastel dead at 68

After a long battle with cancer, Montreal journalist Michel Vastel, a frequent contributor to L'actualité has died at the age of 68.

He was best known for his writing in various Montreal dailies including Le Devoir, La Presse and Le Journal de Montreal as well as Quebec City's Le Soleil and Ottawa's Le Droit. He also worked for CKAC radio in Montreal and Radio-Canada and wrote biographies of such noted Canadian politicians as Robert Bourassa, Lucien Bouchard and Pierre Elliott Trudeau. .

L'actualité editor-in-chief Carole Beaulieu wrote in a press release:

"From Jean Chrétien to Stephen Harper with Brian Mulroney, Lucien Bouchard and Robert Bourassa along the way, all of the leaders of the past 30 years fell under the unflinching gaze and sharpened pen of Michel Vastel. The breadth and scale of his work is staggering - particularly considering that for all of those years he was also parliamentary correspondent for one or another of Quebec's major dailies, and regularly provided commentary on breaking political news for both TV and radio."