A Quebec court has ruled in favour of former Via Rail chair Jean Pelletier in his wrongful dismissal suit and ordered Ottawa and the Crown corporation to pay more than $335,000 for lost salary and damage to his reputation.

Jean Pelletier sued Via Rail and the federal government for wrongful dismissal in the wake of the federal sponsorship scandal.
(Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)

In her 45-page ruling Thursday, Quebec Superior Court Justice Hélène Langlois said the federal government acted in a cavalier fashion by firing Pelletier in 2004 in a manner that harmed his reputation and impressive background.

Langlois determined Pelletier was owed $ 235,161 in lost income, including interest, as well as $100,000 for damage to his reputation.

Pelletier was fired by then-Prime Minister Paul Martin after insulting former Olympic gold medallist Myriam Bédard. 

Bédard, one of Pelletier's ex-employees, claimed at the time that she was forced out of her marketing job at Via after she allegedly raised questions about excessive billing by one of the companies at the heart of the federal sponsorship scandal.

Pelletier said she came forward with allegations because she was a "pitiful" single mother who was trying to draw attention to herself.

Pelletier, who previously served as chief of staff to former prime minister Jean Chrétien for 10 years, later apologized for the comments.

Pelletier was ordered reinstated 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.  

After the ruling, Martin and the federal government fired Pelletier again, saying the government followed proper procedure in his original dismissal.

Pelletier is also seeking to overturn the findings of Justice John Gomery's inquiry into the federal sponsorship scandal.

Gomery's findings, released in reports in late 2005 and early 2006, did not find any evidence of specific wrongdoing on Pelletier's part, but blamed him for not exercising better political control of the sponsorship program.

With files from the Canadian Press