The response of a Parti Québécois government under René Lévesque to the recession of the early 1980s included harsh cutbacks to civil service pay which angered labour union members, a core part of the constituency of the PQ and sovereignty movement.

In November 1981, members of Claude Charron's staff had been exposed by a television network for using the Legislative Assembly's video equipment to view and to duplicate pornographic films.

[3] Initial reception by critics was harsh, largely because the film had been hastily constructed as a low-budget montage which interleaved mainstream cinema and low-brow humour with footage which (while moderate by modern standards) would have been considered crudely pornographic in the era this movie was made.

[7] Although it was universally panned by critics, the film still managed to secure a Genie Award nomination for its theme song, Call Girl, performed by Nanette Workman.

A version was released on VHS and the movie was dubbed to English for national broadcast on various fledgling Canadian pay television premium channels which began operation in 1983.