6 mars 2004
DANIEL LEBLANC and TU THANH HA
With a report from Shawna Richer
OTTAWA and MONTREAL -- Former Via Rail chairman Jean Pelletier charged yesterday that he was the victim of a "summary execution" by a Paul Martin government bent on waging a civil war in the Liberal Party and inflaming the current "climate of hysteria" over the sponsorship scandal.
The blast from Mr. Pelletier, who was fired earlier this week over comments made about Olympic champion Myriam Bédard, came as former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano also denounced his rapid dismissal last month as Canada's ambassador to Denmark.
Mr. Pelletier and Mr. Gagliano argued that they were the victims of a vindictive Martin government that allowed neither of them to counter allegations of wrongdoing.
Both were adversaries of Mr. Martin in the epic Liberal battles of the past decade, including the 1990 leadership race won by Jean Chrétien and the more recent conflict over the timing of Mr. Chrétien's departure from office.
In an open letter sent to The Globe and Mail, Mr. Pelletier said his comments about Ms. Bédard, a former Via employee whom he had referred to as a "pitiful" single mother, were used as an excuse to get rid of him.
Acknowledging he has been "profoundly shaken" by the week's events, Mr. Pelletier said there is only one way to understand how he could lose his job over "a few unfortunately chosen words."
"It is obvious that the real story lies both in the internal Martin-Chrétien struggle, which those who are in power seem to be continuing despite the fact that the leadership race is over, as well as in the context of the sponsorship issue," said Mr. Pelletier, who was Mr. Chrétien's chief of staff from 1993 to 2001.
Mr. Gagliano also complained about the way he had been treated by the Prime Minister.
"Naturally, he wants to get re-elected. He wants to distance himself from the previous government. But he can't. He was part of it," Mr. Gagliano told CTV News last night.
In a report released last month, the Auditor-General said that Mr. Gagliano was directly involved in some of the management of the program, in which $100-million was funnelled to a handful of advertising firms, many of which had close Liberal ties. Much of the funds provided little or no value to Canadians, and the RCMP is investigating allegations of fraud.
"The language of the Auditor-General was overinflated," Mr. Gagliano said yesterday. "But then, the language of the Prime Minister was even overinflated. And all the MPs are going and repeating, 'Those crooks, they stole money.' "
"What do you expect Canadians to do?"
He added that he wasn't responsible for the scandal, putting the blame instead on Chuck Guité, the bureaucrat who managed the sponsorship program. "It seemed he was doing everything. One person had all the powers."
Speaking in Montreal, Mr. Martin denied he was being vindictive, saying he was only fulfilling his promise to get to the bottom of the controversy.
"This has nothing to do with internal divisions within Liberals. There was an issue that had to be dealt with. I've made it clear that we'll get to the bottom of this and we'll settle it," Mr. Martin said.
Ms. Bédard came forward two weeks ago with allegations of financial wrongdoing at Via during her one-year employment at the Crown corporation. She said she witnessed numerous instances of overbilling involving Groupaction Marketing Inc., a company involved in the sponsorship scandal.
When asked about her allegations at the time, Mr. Pelletier responded: "I don't want to be mean, but this is a poor girl who deserves pity, who doesn't have a spouse, as far as I know," Mr. Pelletier told the Montreal daily La Presse.
Faced with a public and political outcry, Mr. Pelletier apologized. A few days later, however, Mr. Martin fired him, saying it was wrong for a Crown head to belittle comments made by a whistleblower.
In his letter, Mr. Pelletier said that his statement was taken "totally out of context," an allegation challenged by La Presse.
"The reporter did not ask any question on Ms. Bédard's personality," said the newspaper's vice-president of information, Philippe Cantin. "Mr. Pelletier said this spontaneously."
In his open letter, Mr. Pelletier said he could not understand why people could not forgive his mistake given his record after 40 years in public life.
Mr. Pelletier said that democracy is coming under assault with the haste at which the government has been reacting to events. Mr. Martin has called a judicial inquiry and dismissed or suspended four senior officials at Crown corporations.
"The haste I have seen during the last few weeks leaves me profoundly worried. . . . Justice has to be rendered in light of proven facts, not insinuations and hysteria. . . . Who in our society deserves a sentence of summary execution and no appeal?" Mr. Pelletier said. "Rather than try to counter the climate of hysteria, the government has seemed intent on inflaming it."
Auditor-General Sheila Fraser said it is too early to start blaming anyone for the scandal.
"There has been a lot of allegations about Mr. Gagliano without any fact and it's important that we follow due process, with someone not being tarnished unfairly in all this," she said in Halifax.
page mise en ligne le 6 mars 2004 par SVP
