Justice John Gomery has imposed a publication ban on testimony before his commission from three long-awaited witnesses who face criminal charges related to the federal sponsorship program.

The ban on distributing testimony from the man who ran the program, Chuck Guité, and two former advertising executives who received millions in sponsorship contracts, Jean Brault and Paul Coffin, will remain in effect until the juries hearing their charges are sequestered to deliberate.

Guité, Brault and Coffin are scheduled to appear before the Gomery commission next month.

Justice John Gomery imposed the publication ban on testimony from three witnesses who face criminal charges.
Justice John Gomery imposed the publication ban on testimony from three witnesses who face criminal charges.

All three are facing criminal charges, with their trials scheduled to begin within weeks of their appearance before the commission. Their lawyers are worried that with so many Quebecers following the inquiry, it will be hard to find an unbiased jury in Montreal without the ban.

Gomery said media lawyers, who challenged the ban, will be able to ask him again at the end of each day to overturn the ban for portions of that day's testimony.

Gomery referred regularly in his decision to a publication ban made by the judge hearing evidence into the 1992 Westray coal mine disaster in Nova Scotia.

He said "this matter is a classic case where a balance must be found between two constitutionally protected rights," those of freedom of speech and the right to a fair trial.

Gomery said the publication ban was necessary "in order to prevent a serious risk to the proper administration of justice."

Two jury trials – one for Guité and Brault, and a separate one for Coffin – are scheduled to start in Quebec Superior Court on May 2 and to run for about six weeks.

Brault and Guité are charged with defrauding the federal government of almost $2 million. Coffin is charged with falsifying bills and seeking almost $2 million in payments.

While the accused men's testimony before Gomery's commission of inquiry cannot be published or broadcast live next month, the proceedings will be videotaped for release after the juries start to deliberate.

Live proceedings of the Gomery commission have become the most popular television show in Quebec in recent weeks.

In his decision on the publication ban Tuesday, Gomery said the public has shown a "high degree of indignation" in the details of the sponsorship scandal that his commission has uncovered.

"Applying common judicial experience and common sense, these factors probably make it more difficult than previously to empanel an impartial and dispassionate jury."

The inquiry continued on Tuesday with testimony from a former accountant for Gosselin Communications Stratégiques, which received $20 million in contracts from the sponsorship program.

The inquiry also heard from Huguette Tremblay, a federal bureaucrat who worked for Guité when he ran the sponsorship program.

She said she helped to hide a paper trail related to two sponsored events and received her orders from former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano through Guité.