INDEPTH: SPONSORSHIP SCANDAL
Jean Pelletier
CBC News Online | November 23, 2007
Jean Pelletier (CP file photo)
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Jean Pelletier was fired as chair of Via Rail on March 1, 2004, after insulting former Via marketing executive and Olympic gold medallist Myriam Bedard. Pelletier said she came forward with allegations of excessive sponsorship spending because she was a "pitiful" single mother who was trying to draw attention to herself. Pelletier later apologized under pressure from politicians from all parties, including former prime minister Paul Martin.
Pelletier received some vindication in November 2005, when a federal court overturned his firing, ruling that Pelletier deserved to know why he was fired and should have been given a chance to respond.
Martin stood by his government's original decision, and Pelletier was fired again a month later.
The dispute eventually wound up in the courts. Pelletier successfully sued the federal government for wrongful dismissal in Quebec Superior Court. In November 2007, Ottawa and the Crown corporation were ordered to pay more than $335,000 for lost salary and damage to his reputation.
Considered one of the most powerful men in Canada, Pelletier served as former prime minister Jean Chrétien's chief of staff for 10 years – from 1991 to 1993 while the Liberals were in opposition, and from 1993 to 2001 when Chrétien was in power. Chrétien, who was in law school with Pelletier, appointed his friend as chairman of Via Rail in 2001.
Although Pelletier was not suspended in the original sponsorship firings on February 24, he was criticized by opposition members who suggested that the sponsorship program could not have operated without his knowledge since he was in charge of the Liberal party's unity strategy and took an active role in everything that was going on. Chuck Guité, who ran the sponsorship program, and Alfonso Gagliano, who was head of Public Works at the time, both said they had regular contact with Pelletier.
Pelletier, 69, ran for the Liberal party in 1993 but was defeated by the Bloc Québécois candidate. He was known as the Silent Executioner, the Velvet Executioner and the Elegant Executioner.
Pelletier was born in Chicoutimi and educated at the Collège des Jésuites in Quebec City, the Séminaire de Trois-Rivières, and Université Laval, where he studied law and social sciences. He worked as a broadcast journalist in Quebec City, working for CHRC, CJLR, CFCM-TV and Société Radio-Canada.
In 1959, Pelletier was appointed press secretary to Maurice Duplessis's Union Nationale government in Quebec, and was later executive secretary of the province's Historic Monuments Commission, and adviser to the provincial secretary.
In 1964, he became a securities dealer with Lévesque and Beaubien Ltd. In 1970, Pelletier became vice-president of Dumont Express and from 1973 until 1977, he was director and vice-president of Action sociale Ltée.
Pelletier served as vice-president of the Dominion Theatre Festival, director and treasurer of Théâtre populaire de Québec, director of Théâtre Le Trident on two separate occasions, national president of Scouts Canada, and director general of Centraide Québec. He also chaired the organization of the Quebec Winter Carnival in 1973.
On the municipal front, Pelletier was one of the founders of Quebec's Parti du Progrès civique in 1962. He was elected as a municipal councillor in Quebec City in December 1976, and became mayor in November 1977, a position he held until 1989. While mayor, Pelletier helped to get Quebec City's historic quarter included on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites.
Pelletier is an officer of the Order of Canada and an officer of the Order of Quebec. He is also a commander of France's Legion of Honour. In 2003 he was designated a "Grand Québécois" for his social commitment by la Chambre de Commerce de Québec.
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Gilles Duceppe's response (RealVideo runs 5:59)
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