Via president fired

By DARREN YOURK and ALLISON DUNFIELD
Globe and Mail Update

Via Rail president Marc LeFranois was fired by the federal government
Friday over his role in the federal sponsorship scandal.

"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," Prime Minister Paul Martin said in a
statement.

Mr. LeFranois was informed of his termination on Friday, Christina Van
Loon, a spokesman for Transport Minister Tony Valeri, told
globeandmail.com. The move marks a second blow for Via this week, after
chairman Jean Pelletier was fired over dismissive comments about Olympic
medallist Myriam B‚dard, who alleged that she was forced out of her job at
Via for questioning the company's sponsorship and advertising activities.

Mr. LeFranois is the first official named in Auditor-General Sheila
Fraser's report on the sponsorship scandal to be fired. Mr. Valeri
announced the termination and appointed Paul C“t‚, Via Rail's current chief
operating officer, to the position of president and CEO on an interim
basis. "Senior federal appointees managing public funds must be held
to the highest standards of conduct and performance," Mr. Valeri said
in a statement. "This government is committed to ensuring those high
standards are respected."

A spokeswoman from the Privy Council Office told globeandmail.com that Mr.
LeFranois did not receive any severance pay. Sources said that Prime
Minister Paul Martin was handed a recommendation that Mr. LeFranois be
dismissed Thursday and decided to act on it, but the official cabinet order
for the dismissal had not been concluded.

In her report, Ms. Fraser found that $100-million of the sponsorship
program's $250-million went in fees and commissions to ad firms, often for
little or no work. Most of the firms had ties to the Liberal Party. Ms.
Fraser said she was most shocked over false invoices that government bodies
issued -- notably one from Via for $750,000. She reported that Mr.
LeFranois, then Via's chairman, was involved in an unusual series of
transactions that effectively lent money to the government's sponsorship
program when its annual budget was low that included the issuing of a false
invoice.

Mr. LeFranois was suspended without pay and given until last Friday to
provide reasons he should not be fired. He made a written case. "He
put forward his views as to what had happened at Via Rail with respect to
how the Auditor-General had characterized it," Mr. Valeri told
reporters in Stoney Creek, Ont. "Based on that information and the
Auditor-General's report we made the decision today."

Asked if there could be more firings at Via, Mr. Valeri said the government
will be ready to react to whatever information the parliamentary public
accounts committee and the upcoming judicial inquiry uncover. "Those
that are responsible for what has happened will be held accountable,"
he said. "It may include suspension, it may include firing, it may
include none of the above. It really is going to be dependent on what the
inquiry and what the public accounts committee uncovers."

Canada Post chairman Andr‚ Ouellet and Business Development Bank of Canada
president Michel Vennat are still awaiting decisions on their fate.


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