4 mars 2004
Myriam B�dard and her sculptor partner were unprepared for the public firestorm sparked by a throwaway reference to the sponsorship scandal in a newspaper article that never got published
DAVE STUBBS
On Sunday, Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand won an Oscar for his celebrated movie Les Invasions barbares, having already scored impressive victories at home, at Cannes and in Paris.
One day later, his film indirectly claimed another trophy - the head of Via chairperson Jean Pelletier.
It was an article lauding Arcand - a few hundred words penned before the Academy Awards by Myriam B�dard and her partner, Nima Mazhari - that unexpectedly detoured down another track and ultimately led to Pelletier's firing in the federal sponsorship scandal that's growing by the day.
The article, submitted to La Presse on Feb. 24 but never published, praised Arcand's filmmaking hand while lamenting the ugly if exaggerated qualities of Canadian society he featured. And it concluded with this sentence, written tongue-in-cheek:
"If he were making the movie today, Arcand need not illustrate society's primitive side by showing a plane hitting the World Trade Centre, he could simply show a few photos of the head offices of Via Rail, Canada Post and Groupaction."
A reporter pursued this line and B�dard's murky 2002 dismissal from Via's marketing department, then took returned calls from Pelletier, who suggested the 1994 double Olympic biathlon champion was a single mother in need of money and pity, and from Via president Marc LeFran�ois, who wondered whether she was on drugs.
Pelletier, former prime minister Jean Chr�tien's chief of staff for a decade, apologized for his remarks last Friday, the day the story broke, but on Monday he was fired by PM Paul Martin. LeFran�ois had earlier been suspended pending his appearance before a parliamentary inquiry to explain Via's role in the sponsorship affair.
B�dard was preparing her 9-year-old daughter, Maude, for school last Friday when together they caught the tail end of a television report relating Pelletier's comments, unaware until then that this was a story at all.
By the end of the day, B�dard estimates she had done 40 interviews, and says that she's been running ever since.
"I haven't seen anything crazy like this in my entire life, including the Olympics," B�dard said wearily Tuesday night, sitting in Mazhari's downtown sculpture studio.
"I'm shocked by how big this has become. If (Pelletier and LeFran�ois) hadn't called back, this story would have been on the back page of the papers, if a story at all.
"My firing from Via didn't create this, it's their answers. Jean Pelletier is intellectually and psychologically limited. You have to be limited to talk like that. I hesitate in English sometimes because I might not be sure of a word, but I think he doesn't even understand his mother tongue.
"Talking like this shows a lack of thought or judgment. Where did he get his information? Is he following me on the street? How can he make comments about my personal life? I don't know what he's doing at night, who he's meeting, where his wife is. How does he know that I have a husband or not?"
On Pelletier's firing, B�dard said, "It's not my decision, but it's the right one. Can you imagine working for him at Via now? You're a woman, a single parent, you open your mouth and he's going to crush you like a simple mosquito, like you're a plague or a microbe?
"This sends a message that you can't do things like this, like you could in the past, and get away with it by making a small apology or having a good lawyer. If this is your culture, say it in the shower but keep it to yourself."
Nor could B�dard fathom the comments of LeFran�ois.
"What's his problem?" she asked. "What was he thinking about, asking if I take pills? It took me seven years to be able to handle a thyroid problem without drugs. I won't even take aspirin for a headache."
Mazhari was stunned when his studio phone began to ring at 4 a.m. on Friday; his cellular has been receiving calls at a rate of five a minute for days.
"I think that Pelletier and LeFran�ois thought they would destroy Myriam's reputation and that would be the end of it," he said.
"But what we have are four big elements - Myriam, Via Rail, Pelletier and the sponsorship scandal - all coming together at once, almost by accident.
"We're getting calls from Europe and faxes from people we don't even know, offering their support."
B�dard mailed, then faxed, a one-page letter to Martin on Dec. 13, the day after the PM asked for people to come forward with information about the scandal.
"Friday the 13th," she mused.
In it, she said she had been the victim of the scandal, fired for asking questions about bills from Groupaction to Via, and asked about getting her job back.
She received a reply dated Feb. 19 from Alexandre Mattard-Michaud, an official in Martin's office, saying it would be forwarded to the appropriate people, then received a letter dated Feb. 27 from Transport Minister Tony Valeri, copied to Via's acting president, Paul C�t�, stating her letter to Martin was in hand.
On Monday, B�dard met for 30 minutes in Old Montreal with Francis Fox, Martin's principal secretary. She was told the government wants to wipe this slate clean and was encouraged to appear before an inquiry if she so desired.
"I'll appear if I can bring light to their questions," she said.
And B�dard says she'd return to a job at Via, eager to pick up a number of projects left unfinished when she was let go.
"The people in marketing would take a 10-minute walk to see me when I was isolated in the building for asking questions (about Groupaction)," she said.
Indeed, B�dard seems not to hold a grudge against Via. On her desk in Mazhari's studio sits a Via locomotive, a cardboard-cutout that's part of a children's travel package she had produced on behalf of the railway.
A month ago, she thought she'd never experience a greater stress than what she endured in Lillehammer.
"Five days before the Olympics, I didn't know I'd win two gold medals and see my life change so completely," she said. "Five days ago, I didn't know my life would be like this. This is not something you plan for your own benefit. This is not fun."
A week ago, B�dard and Mazhari had planned to see Denys Arcand's Les Invasions barbares again. As of yesterday they still hadn't found the time.
page mise en ligne le 4 mars 2004 par SVP
