Via Rail

Ottawa fires Via Rail head
MONTREAL - The federal government fired Via Rail president Jean Pelletier Monday afternoon over comments he made last week about a sponsorship scandal whistleblower.



Jean Pelletier

Last week, Pelletier, who was also chief-of-staff to former prime minister Jean Chrétien, called Quebec Olympic champion Myriam Bédard a 'pitiful' single mom following her allegations of misspending at Via Rail.

FROM FEB. 27, 2004: Fired by Via over scandal, says biathlete
On Monday morning, Bédard met with Francis Fox, Prime Minister Paul Martin's principal secretary.

"He was wishing to tell me that Mr. Martin does think it's not appropriate and he wanted to be sure I received the message personally," said Bédard.


Myriam Bédard

Bédard, a gold medal winner in the 1994 winter Olympics, said she believes the firing of Pelletier was the only solution to the comments he made last week.

"I think there were many people hurt by those comments, including me, my husband, my daughter and all single mothers," she said.

One day after the release of the federal auditor's report, Bédard sent a letter to the prime minister, saying that she was forced from her marketing job at Via Rail in 2002 after she complained about contracts involving Groupaction Marketing Inc.

INDEPTH: Groupaction
The Quebec advertising agency at the centre of the sponsorship scandal.

Bédard said she is willing to appear before the parliamentary inquiry into the scandal if she is provided with proper protection.

Credit CBC Montreal

http://groups.msn.com/CobourgRailfans

 

Pelletier is gone because of his inappropriate comments about Bedard. He was actually "saved" from the scandal fallout because he was not at VIA during the time the funds were "misspent".

PM Martin seems to be on track to punish those who were actually in the know, and not scape goats. 'Course, he was Finance Minister at the time, arguably the most powerful Minister, so what did he know is the real question.

In this case, I really think that the "liitle guy" will come out ahead.

Andrew

 

No. GC 002/04
For release March 5, 2004

GOVERNMENT OF CANADA TERMINATES
APPOINTMENT OF VIA RAIL PRESIDENT AND CEO
OTTAWA - On behalf of the Government of Canada, Transport Minister Tony Valeri today announced the termination of the appointment of Marc LeFrançois as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VIA Rail Canada Inc.

The termination of the appointment of Mr. LeFrançois takes effect immediately.

“Senior federal appointees managing public funds must be held to the highest standards of conduct and performance,” said Mr. Valeri. “This government is committed to ensuring those high standards are respected.”

On February 24, 2004, the Government of Canada suspended Mr. LeFrançois without pay after the Auditor General's Report raised serious concerns about transactions involving VIA Rail and the Government of Canada's sponsorship program.

At that time, Mr. LeFrançois was invited to demonstrate by March 1 why his appointment should not be terminated.

Mr. Valeri received a written submission from Mr. LeFrançois March 1 and subsequently met with him on March 4, and as a result of the review of the response and the meeting, brought forward a recommendation.

“After careful consideration, we've determined in light of the finding of the Auditor General's report, a change is necessary at the highest levels of VIA management in order to restore public confidence, and therefore we have taken action,” said Prime Minister Paul Martin.

Mr. Valeri also announced today that the Government of Canada has appointed Mr. Paul Côté, VIA Rail's current Chief Operating Officer, to the position of President and CEO on an interim basis. A permanent replacement will be nominated in due course and will be subject to parliamentary review.