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A day of bombshells for Liberals
Bedard: Drug link; $12M paid to car racer
Elizabeth Thompson
The Montreal Gazette
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Olympic gold medallist Myriam Bedard stunned members of Parliament yesterday by testifying she was told the federal government paid race car driver Jacques Villeneuve $12 million U.S. to wear the word Canada on his racing suit and that she was warned by former Via Rail president Marc LeFrancois that the communications firm Groupaction was involved in the drug trade.
Testifying before members of the House of Commons public accounts committee, Ms. Bedard recounted that she
left Via Rail rather than be forcibly transferred to Groupaction.
"Mr. LeFrancois told me that Groupaction was in the process of building itself a big chateau and they didn't always do things properly and that they were involved in drug trafficking," Ms. Bedard testified under the protection of parliamentary privilege.
During the conversation, several weeks before she left Via Rail, Mr. LeFrancois had encouraged her to start her own communications company because Via Rail would be looking for someone in the future to handle its publicity.
Mr. LeFrancois later called back to tell her to forget everything he had said, she testified.
"He said 'I talked too much last week. You have to forget it.' Is it true, is it not? That's what Mr. LeFrancois told me. ... So when they wanted to send me to Groupaction, I didn't at all agree with going to Groupac-tion if there was doubts that they did illegal things. Above all I didn't want to be associated with things like that."
Ms. Bedard refused to repeat the accusation to journalists after the hearing, explaining that it would not be protected by privilege.
No sooner had she finished testifying than a spokesman for Groupaction described the accusation the company was involved in the drug trade as "insane."
"I am dumbfounded," said Michel Corriveau. "I just asked her former agent, was she taking dope?"
Last night, Jean Brault, president of Groupaction, said in a statement that his company was never involved in drug trafficking and that allegations made by Ms. Bedard yesterday were "entirely false and were said without any evidence and without an iota of truth."
Mr. Brault said he has remained silent for much of the last two years, during which many allegations were levelled against him and his company. But he couldn't sit idly by and let Ms. Bedard make such statements.
"The statement is false and unfounded," said Mr. Brault, adding the allegations are abusive toward him, his family and anyone who has worked for or who still works for Groupaction.
Mr. Brault also took the House of Commons public accounts committee to task for allowing Ms. Bedard to make the statements, calling their actions irresponsible. He added his lawyers are looking into taking legal action over the statements.
Ms. Bedard also took committee members by surprise when she recounted how she was told by her agent in June 1997 or '98 while attending the Montreal Grand Prix that Mr. Villeneuve had been paid millions to wear the word Canada on his racing suit.
Mr. Villeneuve was in Europe yesterday and could not be reached for comment.
Ms. Bedard's testimony before Parliament is the latest bizarre twist in a story that came to light after Prime Minister Paul Martin called on anyone who knew anything about the sponsorship scandal to come forward.
Ms. Bedard took Mr. Martin at his word, firing off a letter recounting how she had worked at Via Rail for a year, but was forced out of the company after she questioned the invoices sent by Group-action.
Her decision to go public ended up costing Via Rail chairman Jean Pelletier his job. Mr. Pelletier was fired by Mr. Martin after he suggested Ms. Bedard's version of events wasn't credible because she was a pitiable single mother who didn't have a husband.
Committee members praised the biathlete yesterday as a "world class straight shooter," and a "Canadian hero" for coming forward to testify.
Ms. Bedard said soon after she started work with Via Rail she realized that the bills coming in from Groupaction for advertising and sponsorships at events like Winterlude in Ottawa, Quebec City's Carnaval and the Francophonie Games were out of proportion with the work that was done. Ms. Bedard said she saw bills for thousands of dollars, but the work consisted of placing the same ads Via Rail had used for some time.
When she suggested Via Rail give the work to another company or she do some of the work herself, Ms. Bedard said she was told by the woman she was supposed to replace, Pascale Villeneuve, that the work had to be done by Groupaction.
On the web for seven-day subscribers: Myriam Bedard's singlemindedness not only guided her in sports, but also in her work for VIA Rail before she was fired. Read an archival profile.www.ottawacitizen.com
© The Ottawa Citizen 2004
Copyright © 2003 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest Global Communications Corp. All rights reserved.
Optimized for browser versions 4.0 and higher.
A day of bombshells for Liberals
Bedard: Drug link; $12M paid to car racer
Elizabeth Thompson
The Montreal Gazette
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Olympic gold medallist Myriam Bedard stunned members of Parliament yesterday by testifying she was told the federal government paid race car driver Jacques Villeneuve $12 million U.S. to wear the word Canada on his racing suit and that she was warned by former Via Rail president Marc LeFrancois that the communications firm Groupaction was involved in the drug trade.
Testifying before members of the House of Commons public accounts committee, Ms. Bedard recounted that she
left Via Rail rather than be forcibly transferred to Groupaction.
"Mr. LeFrancois told me that Groupaction was in the process of building itself a big chateau and they didn't always do things properly and that they were involved in drug trafficking," Ms. Bedard testified under the protection of parliamentary privilege.
During the conversation, several weeks before she left Via Rail, Mr. LeFrancois had encouraged her to start her own communications company because Via Rail would be looking for someone in the future to handle its publicity.
Mr. LeFrancois later called back to tell her to forget everything he had said, she testified.
"He said 'I talked too much last week. You have to forget it.' Is it true, is it not? That's what Mr. LeFrancois told me. ... So when they wanted to send me to Groupaction, I didn't at all agree with going to Groupac-tion if there was doubts that they did illegal things. Above all I didn't want to be associated with things like that."
Ms. Bedard refused to repeat the accusation to journalists after the hearing, explaining that it would not be protected by privilege.
No sooner had she finished testifying than a spokesman for Groupaction described the accusation the company was involved in the drug trade as "insane."
"I am dumbfounded," said Michel Corriveau. "I just asked her former agent, was she taking dope?"
Last night, Jean Brault, president of Groupaction, said in a statement that his company was never involved in drug trafficking and that allegations made by Ms. Bedard yesterday were "entirely false and were said without any evidence and without an iota of truth."
Mr. Brault said he has remained silent for much of the last two years, during which many allegations were levelled against him and his company. But he couldn't sit idly by and let Ms. Bedard make such statements.
"The statement is false and unfounded," said Mr. Brault, adding the allegations are abusive toward him, his family and anyone who has worked for or who still works for Groupaction.
Mr. Brault also took the House of Commons public accounts committee to task for allowing Ms. Bedard to make the statements, calling their actions irresponsible. He added his lawyers are looking into taking legal action over the statements.
Ms. Bedard also took committee members by surprise when she recounted how she was told by her agent in June 1997 or '98 while attending the Montreal Grand Prix that Mr. Villeneuve had been paid millions to wear the word Canada on his racing suit.
Mr. Villeneuve was in Europe yesterday and could not be reached for comment.
Ms. Bedard's testimony before Parliament is the latest bizarre twist in a story that came to light after Prime Minister Paul Martin called on anyone who knew anything about the sponsorship scandal to come forward.
Ms. Bedard took Mr. Martin at his word, firing off a letter recounting how she had worked at Via Rail for a year, but was forced out of the company after she questioned the invoices sent by Group-action.
Her decision to go public ended up costing Via Rail chairman Jean Pelletier his job. Mr. Pelletier was fired by Mr. Martin after he suggested Ms. Bedard's version of events wasn't credible because she was a pitiable single mother who didn't have a husband.
Committee members praised the biathlete yesterday as a "world class straight shooter," and a "Canadian hero" for coming forward to testify.
Ms. Bedard said soon after she started work with Via Rail she realized that the bills coming in from Groupaction for advertising and sponsorships at events like Winterlude in Ottawa, Quebec City's Carnaval and the Francophonie Games were out of proportion with the work that was done. Ms. Bedard said she saw bills for thousands of dollars, but the work consisted of placing the same ads Via Rail had used for some time.
When she suggested Via Rail give the work to another company or she do some of the work herself, Ms. Bedard said she was told by the woman she was supposed to replace, Pascale Villeneuve, that the work had to be done by Groupaction.
On the web for seven-day subscribers: Myriam Bedard's singlemindedness not only guided her in sports, but also in her work for VIA Rail before she was fired. Read an archival profile.www.ottawacitizen.com
© The Ottawa Citizen 2004
Copyright © 2003 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest Global Communications Corp. All rights reserved.
Optimized for browser versions 4.0 and higher.