B‚dard tells MPs tales of drugs, Iraq and race cars

By DANIEL LEBLANC
From Thursday's Globe and Mail

(Ottawa) Former Olympian Myriam B‚dard provided wildly variable evidence to
a parliamentary inquiry on the sponsorship scandal yesterday, from clear
details on the involvement of senior Liberals to an allegation that Formula
One driver Jacques Villeneuve got $12-million (U.S.) to wear a federal
logo.

In her opening remarks, Ms. B‚dard stunned the inquiry by saying that she
was told by the former head of Via Rail that people at Groupaction
Marketing Inc. were involved in drug trafficking. She also claimed that it
was her husband, Nima Mazhari, who persuaded former prime minister Jean
Chr‚tien to stay out of the Iraq war last year.

Throughout the 1-hour hearing, Ms. B‚dard was treated with respect by a
committee that had questioned previous witnesses aggressively. But while
she provided little fresh evidence on the inner workings of the sponsorship
program, she got MPs' attention when she referred to Mr. Villeneuve.

Ms. B‚dard said that at the Montreal Grand Prix in 1997, she was told by
her then-agent that the star driver was making millions to wear the Canada
logo on his chest. Reached late yesterday, the agent, Jean-Marc St-Pierre,
said he told her merely that it would likely cost any sponsor $10- or
$12-million to place a logo on Mr. Villeneuve.

"From there to put words in my mouth that he had a secret $12-million
secret fund . . . is unbelievable," he said in an interview. "I
can swear on the Bible that I didn't say Jacques Villeneuve got secret
funds of $12-million. . . ."

Ms. B‚dard also said that Marc LeFrancois, the former president of Via
Rail, told her in 2001 that Groupaction was involved in the drug trade and
that Via wanted to get out of its relationship with the advertising firm.
"Later, Mr. LeFrancois told me that he had spoken too much and that I
should forget what he said," Ms. B‚dard testified.

Without elaborating, she also suggested to the inquiry that her husband
influenced Mr. Chrtien's decision about the Iraq war.

"A few days ago, I saw a smiling and proud Jean Chr‚tien, saying he
was happy with his decision last year not to join the war in Iraq. Ladies
and gentlemen, if Canada is not in the war in Iraq it's because Nima
Mazhari gave much advice to the prime minister."

Ms. B‚dard jumped to the forefront of the sponsorship controversy last
month when she made public allegations that Groupaction often overbilled
Via Rail, where she worked in 2001. Ms. B‚dard was immediately slammed for
her comments by Jean Pelletier, then Via Rail chairman, who called her a
"pitiful" single mother.

Ms. B‚dard was then invited before the parliamentary inquiry, where she
appeared yesterday. She spoke of the first ads that she produced for a
fruit-juice company in 1996 in collaboration with Groupaction, and her
subsequent work on ads produced by Groupaction for the 1998 Nagano Winter
Games.

Ms. B‚dard then outlined her efforts to obtain federal funding in 1999 and
2000 for a CD-ROM project called Mimi to educate youngsters on appropriate
safety measures. She said she spoke directly to the public works minister
at the time, Alfonso Gagliano, and to Jean Pelletier, then chief of staff
to Mr. Chr‚tien, about the project.

The testimony suggested that political approval was necessary on large
sponsorship deals, since the project did receive $1.3-million in federal
funding.

Ms. B‚dard joined Via Rail in 2001, but she said she was ignored whenever
she raised questions about the hefty invoices from Groupaction. She said
the company proposed the same ads year after year, but kept charging the
corporation. "I was told we always had to go through Groupaction even
if we're not satisfied or if they did not have the time to do the work and
even if it was too expensive," Ms. B‚dard said.


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