April 28, 2004
Myriam Bedard dismisses Via-backed report
that questions her credibility
Brian Daly
MONTREAL (CP) - Olympic champion Myriam Bedard accused Via Rail Tuesday of rigging a report that accuses her of conflict of interest as payback for implicating the Crown corporation in the federal sponsorship scandal.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Bedard produced paperwork she said proves she had no say in a $20,000 contract awarded to a company she co-owns with her partner, Nima Mazheri. Her comments followed an arbitrator's report that found Bedard's stint at the railway was marked by irregularities.
Michel Picher, who was hired by Via, said Bedard approved the contracts to her In Marche firm without informing Via of her own involvement in the company.
Bedard insisted her former bosses at Via Rail approved the contract.
"I did not approve any bills," she said, noting she had already been let go from Via when her company received the money in 2002.
"I did not have this power at Via Rail to award contracts. This was not my job."
She added Via had full knowledge she owned the company.
"How did they not know? They approved everything, they signed everything."
Via Rail has said it supports Picher's findings, adding Tuesday that the matter is closed and that it wouldn't comment further.
Picher's report also contradicted Bedard's claim she was let go from Via in January 2002 after asking too many questions about the sponsorship contracts.
The arbitrator also concluded the double gold medallist from the 1994 Lillehammer Games left her job voluntarily and wasn't fired.
Bedard said she raised the red flag when Via Rail paid Groupaction - a Liberal-friendly ad firm at the centre of the scandal - thousands of dollars for work completed in just a few seconds.
She reiterated her claim that former president Marc LeFrancois fired her, adding several witnesses corroborated her story in Picher's report.
"He said to me that I had to leave immediately and that if I was not going to leave immediately, (former chairman) Jean Pelletier would transfer me to Groupaction permanently," she said.
When asked bluntly if she believed she was fired, Bedard said: "Yes, forced to transfer to another place or leave, one of the two."
Bedard also refused to rule out a lawsuit against Via Rail, saying she is looking at her options. However, she also repeated that she would like to get her job back at Via.
Bedard initially endorsed Picher's selection as arbitrator, but she later said she lost confidence in him after he called Montreal La Presse for a copy of its interview with Pelletier.
Pelletier was fired after telling the newspaper that Bedard was a "pitiful" single mother seeking publicity. He apologized for the remark but it was too late to save his job.
Bedard is the highest-profile respondent to a call by Prime Minister Paul Martin for information from anyone with knowledge of alleged wrongdoing in the sponsorship program.
In explosive testimony before a parliamentary committee last month, Bedard alleged that race car driver Jacques Villeneuve was paid $12 million to wear the Canada logo on his uniform.
She also claimed that Groupaction, the Montreal ad firm at the centre of the scandal, was involved in drug-trafficking.
Both Villeneuve and Groupaction spokesmen have denied the claims.
The scandal is linked to the government's initiative to raise Canada's visibility in Quebec following the 1995 sovereignty referendum.
Auditor General Sheila Fraser revealed in February that $100 million of the $250 million program was funnelled to Liberal-friendly ad firms, mainly in Quebec.
Via's role in several sponsorship deals was questioned in the report.
Martin later fired Pelletier and LeFrancois, prompting the former executives to file defamation and wrongful dismissal lawsuits against the government.
The Liberal government has been hurt in the polls, especially in Quebec, since the scandal broke.
Making matter worse for Martin was testimony last week from former bureaucrat Chuck Guite, who told the committee Martin's office pressured him to hand research contracts to a firm employing some of Martin's closest friends.
Martin's office vehemently denied the charge.
The scandal will be the subject of a judicial inquiry and the RCMP is expected to charge a handful of people shortly as part of a large-scale probe of the program.
page mise en ligne le 28 avril 2004 par SVP
