2 mars 2004
Move seen as assault on old Chr�tien regime
`Culture shift required in Ottawa,' PM says
SUSAN DELACOURT
OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF
Prime Minister Paul Martin has launched an assault to the heart of Jean Chr�tien's old political regime in Ottawa, firing VIA Rail chairman Jean Pelletier in the name of a radical "culture shift."
Pelletier was abruptly terminated yesterday because of the way he derided former Olympic athlete Myriam B�dard last week, dismissing her whistle-blowing on the sponsorship scandal as a ploy for attention from a "pitiable" single mother.
He subsequently apologized, but it wasn't enough to save him from a fall into the growing gap between Chr�tien's old Ottawa and Martin's new regime.
Martin made clear yesterday that Pelletier, 69, was being punished more for what the remarks represented � an attitude from an expired era in Ottawa.
"The new government came into office, with a vow to do things differently," Martin said. "There is a culture shift required in Ottawa, not only in the institutions but also in the crown corporations."
Pelletier, before he was VIA Rail chairman, was the most powerful man behind the scenes through most of Chr�tien's tenure, serving as his chief of staff from 1991 to 2001.
Yesterday, Pelletier immediately lost his VIA chairman's salary, in the range of $189,700 to $234,300, and received no severance or exit payout, aides in Martin's office said. "He was fired with cause," one explained. Pelletier could not be reached for comment.
The high-profile firing comes as Martin's new government is embroiled in cleanup and controversy over possible criminal misuse of the federal sponsorship program during Chr�tien's time in office, as exposed in a damning Feb. 10 report by Auditor-General Sheila Fraser.
B�dard waded into the fray last week, complaining she lost her job at VIA Rail because she questioned large payments being made to Groupaction.
The company was one of the ad firms at the centre of the scandal. Pelletier was quoted as saying that B�dard's complaints couldn't be taken seriously.
With each day, and especially with Pelletier's firing yesterday, the controversy increasingly pits Martin's new government against Chr�tien's old one.
And this is the second time in a week that the Martin government has reached beyond the findings in the auditor-general's report to punish people intimately linked to Chr�tien's inner circle. Last week, the head of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Michel Vennat, was suspended because of a court ruling that detailed how the bank had pursued a vendetta against an employee who got on the wrong side of Chr�tien and his allies in the late 1990s.
Yesterday was the deadline for Vennat to explain himself to government before his fate is further considered. Industry Minister Lucienne Robillard, whose department is in charge of the BDC, has the information she requires to carry out that consideration, spokesperson Daniel Grenier said.
Similarly, the president of VIA Rail, Marc LeFran�ois, had also been suspended and given a deadline of yesterday to file his case with Transport Minister Tony Valeri. A written submission did arrive from LeFran�ois yesterday, spokespersons for Valeri said, and his fate, too, will be mulled over and ultimately decided by cabinet.
Martin's advisers said yesterday there was a connection between the punishment meted out to Pelletier and Vennat, in that both men � both close friends of Chr�tien � also committed deeds that symbolized arrogance of power and dismissal of critics.
Pelletier had also said that B�dard, while working at VIA Rail, was difficult to work with because she had "her own ideas."
"Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know about the old leadership style around here?" said one Martin confidant in the wake of Pelletier's remarks.
Martin, speaking to reporters yesterday at the United Nations in New York, said that if Ottawa is going to truly clean up its act, whistle-blowers such as B�dard have to feel secure in going public with their complaints.
"When an employee, as in the case of Madam B�dard, had something to say she should have been encouraged � and not had comments made that would discourage her," said Martin. "That's why I acted."
Aides said that Martin made up his mind over the weekend to fire Pelletier, because to do anything else would be to give tacit approval to those initial remarks � and the attitude it represented. B�dard had come forward with her complaints specifically because Martin had appealed for people to speak up about wrongdoing they had witnessed or suspected. He reportedly could not see how he could prove he was serious about the appeal if Pelletier was allowed to remain in his job.
Yesterday morning, Martin sent a high-level emissary to B�dard to assure her her complaints were being taken seriously. Pelletier was fired a few hours after Francis Fox, principal secretary to Martin, met with B�dard in Montreal.
B�dard will also likely be asked to testify in one or more of the inquiries now under way on the sponsorship scandal, and says she's willing to tell all she knows.
"Proper action from the government means to fire him and I accept that," B�dard said. "This is proper, this is correct."
B�dard also received assurances the government is looking into the possibility of getting her job back at VIA.
The company issued a statement yesterday, apologizing to B�dard and promising to look into her allegations about sponsorship improprieties. "We regret the pain that these comments have caused Ms. B�dard, her daughter, her family and friends. We would also like to extend our apologies to all Canadian women for the nature and tone of these remarks."
Martin had reportedly been livid at VIA's tepid, almost dismissive reply to the auditor-general's report. "Recognizing ... that transactions were sometimes marked by a certain lack of rigour, the chairman of the board, Mr. Jean Pelletier, has indicated that procedures for contract monitoring and control have been significantly tightened since then," VIA said in a press release.
For the new Prime Minister, vowing to launch an all-out effort to get to the bottom of the scandal, VIA's response symbolized the essence of power beyond accountability, aides said.
with files from Les Whittington
page mise en ligne le 2 mars 2004 par SVP
