28 f�vrier 2004
VIA chair calls whistleblower `pitiable'
Later apologizes to Myriam Bedard
Susan Delacourt
Prime Minister Paul Martin has rushed to defend a former Olympic champion who complained about sponsorship-program abuse at VIA Rail, only to be dismissed as a "pitiable thing" by VIA chairman Jean Pelletier.
Martin waded angrily into the dispute yesterday after Myriam Bedard, a former biathlete champion from Quebec, said she was forced to leave VIA Rail in 2002 because she objected to the way sponsorship money was being used at the crown corporation.
Pelletier, in turn, was quoted by La Presse newspaper as saying that Bedard was a "poor, single girl, a pitiable thing who doesn't have a husband."
Pelletier also said Bedard was a non-team player who was trying to use the scandal to get attention.
"They (Bedard's complaints) are allegations that have to be taken seriously," Martin said in an exclusive interview with the Star yesterday. The Prime Minister said he was shocked by the comments attributed to Pelletier, whom he knew better as a former chief of staff to ex-prime minister Jean Chr�tien.
"If he really said that, that is just completely unacceptable and I would expect that he will want to withdraw the comments and I would expect that he will want to apologize," Martin told reporters in Vancouver yesterday after he saw the report.
In a prepared statement yesterday, Pelletier issued an apology after a storm of indignation.
Bedard, who won two gold medals at the 1994 Olympics and was the first North American to win an Olympic biathlon gold medal, had written a letter to Martin describing her experiences as a marketing department employee of VIA Rail.
She told La Presse that she was first obliged to work at Groupaction, one of the firms investigated by the auditor-general in connection with the sponsorship scandal.
After she complained that Groupaction was sending inflated bills to VIA that did not correspond with the work that had been done, she was fired.
When Pelletier was first asked about her comments, he responded by calling them "lies," but said that he did not know if she had been transferred to Groupaction.
Then he unloaded on her.
"I don't want to be nasty, but she's a poor girl, a pitiable thing who doesn't have a husband, as far as I know," LaPresse quoted Pelletier as saying.
"She has the tension of being a single mother who has financial responsibilities. Basically, I think she's pitiable."
The president of VIA, Marc LeFran�ois � who has been suspended without pay until he can explain by Monday why he should keep his job after the criticisms of his role in the sponsorship scandal by the auditor-general � said that he found B�dard's comments "unbelievable," adding, "Are these people dreaming? Do they take pills? I don't know."
The government had trouble enough with B�dard's accusation of collusion between VIA Rail and Groupaction � an accusation that would keep the sponsorship scandal alive.
But suddenly, those allegations were overshadowed by Pelletier's comments.
In a television interview yesterday, B�dard said that she had been involved in VIA publicity.
"Every time I complained about something illegal, they shoved me aside," she said, adding that she had written to Martin after his public appeal to anyone who knew of any wrongdoing.
"I was referring to things that are illegal, and I'm just a victim of that," Bedard told reporters in Montreal.
At the end of the day yesterday, VIA issued a statement saying that B�dard had not been fired.
"It is not correct that Ms. B�dard was asked to leave VIA," the statement said. "Ms. B�dard was hired by VIA's marketing department in January, 2001, but it soon became clear that the working relationship did not suit her needs and she resigned voluntarily from the corporation to pursue a career as an independent consultant on Jan. 18, 2002."
B�dard said she was deeply disappointed by Pelletier's remarks.
"I find it very disappointing that the former chief of staff to the Prime Minister, the chairman of the board of VIA Rail, is unable to speak in a correct, decent fashion that is not vulgar," she said. "First of all, it is completely false � I have had a husband for the last two years. And what does a private life have to do with any of this? They have gone very low. That shows their level, and it shows that probably these people were not in the right place."
Transport Minister Tony Valeri told reporters that Pelletier's comments, if correct, were "not acceptable comments at all" and that the government would take "whatever the appropriate action might be, including suspension, including disciplinary action, including whatever other action might be required."
He said that he asked the acting CEO of VIA Rail, Paul C�t�, to investigate, and that the comments were inappropriate for a public officeholder.
Industry Minister Lucienne Robillard said that if the remarks were accurately reported, they are completely inappropriate.
"First, one shouldn't air in public someone's private life, whoever they are," she said. `But I must tell you, as a woman, I do not appreciate at all the comments that were made."
Yesterday, Pelletier issued a statement apologizing for his remarks.
"During a media interview yesterday, I made certain comments concerning Ms. Myriam B�dard that I now realize were inappropriate," he said. "I regret making those comments and want to apologize sincerely to Ms. B�dard for any embarrassment or hurt I may have caused her."
Conservative MP Peter MacKay said Pelletier should be fired.
"I find those type of comments completely unacceptable," he said. "They're belittling, they're degrading to women, they're belittling in this case to an Olympic athlete who was trying to do the right thing."
He said that when she saw something amiss and tried to do something about it, she was fired and insulted publicly.
"I think it is outrageous if the government doesn't fire Jean Pelletier over this," he said.
He said that B�dard would be reinstated if she wants her job at VIA back.
Bloc Qu�b�cois Leader Gilles Duceppe called on Pelletier to resign, saying that his apology was inadequate.
"His reaction is inexcusable, and unworthy of the position he holds," he said in a statement.
page mise en ligne le 28 f�vrier 2004 par SVP
