Olympian thrust into ad-scandal skirmish

By DANIEL LEBLANC
From Saturday's Globe and Mail

(Ottawa) Relenting to pressure and outrage from his government bosses, Via
Rail chairman Jean Pelletier apologized yesterday for calling two-time
Olympic gold medalist Myriam B‚dard a "pitiful" single mom.

Mr. Pelletier, the former chief of staff to former prime minister Jean
Chr‚tien, was already under pressure over the involvement of Via Rail in
the sponsorship scandal. The pot almost boiled over after the publication
of a story yesterday in which Mr. Pelletier made demeaning comments about
Ms. B‚dard. The former Olympian worked for Via in 2001, and she is now
making allegations of misspending at the Crown corporation involving
contracts with Groupaction Marketing Inc., a company at the heart of the
sponsorship scandal.

When told of her allegations by the Montreal daily La Presse this week, Mr.
Pelletier accused Ms. B‚dard of lying. "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," he said. "She is struggling as a single mother with
economic responsibilities. Deep down, I think she is pitiful."

Ms. B‚dard shot back yesterday that the comments were vulgar and proof of
Mr. Pelletier's "limited intellect." The Olympic biathlete, who
has a nine year old daughter from a first marriage and who remarried more
than two years ago, said she simply wants to return to her job in Via's
marketing department. She said she was forced to leave in early 2002 after
complaining of possible overbilling.

"What's the problem with being a single mom? Because you're a single
mom, you're not a good person? I don't understand that. This is from the
top people in society who speak like that. Can you imagine all the single
women who read the paper this morning, how they felt? I found that very,
very low," she told reporters in Montreal. "How could [Mr.
Pelletier] think like that. You're supposed to protect the citizen, not to
crush them."

Outside the House yesterday, the Conservative Party called for Mr.
Pelletier's firing. "Not only did [Ms. B‚dard] serve this country
proudly, she comes back to Canada, goes to work for the government in this
capacity, finds something amiss, and when she tries to do something about
it, she is subsequently fired and insulted before the country. It's
outrageous," Mr. MacKay said.

Speaking in Vancouver, Prime Minister Paul Martin said that the comments by
the head of Via were "completely unacceptable."

"I would expect that he will want to withdraw the comments and I would
expect that he will want to apologize," Mr. Martin said.

Mr. Pelletier apologized in a statement released in late afternoon.
"During a media interview [on Thursday], I made certain comments
concerning Ms. Myriam B‚dard that I now realize were inappropriate. I
regret making those comments and want to apologize sincerely to Ms. B‚dard
for any embarrassment or hurt I may have caused her."

Ms. B‚dard won two gold medals for Canada at the Lillehammer Olympics in
1994 in the biathlon, a competition that combines cross-country skiing and
target shooting. In 2001, she joined Via's marketing division, where she
said she complained that Groupaction would charge thousands of dollars for
small tasks.

At one point, she said she was asked to work in the offices of Groupaction,
while still being paid by Via. She said she resigned after she was told
that she would have to start working at Groupaction officially. Mr.
Pelletier countered that Ms. B‚dard was not a team player at Via and that
she often criticized her boss.

Ms. B‚dard outlined her complaints in a letter to Prime Minister Paul
Martin on Feb. 13, one day after the release of an explosive report on the
sponsorship program by the Auditor-General. Transport Minister Tony Valeri
said he received a copy of Ms. B‚dard's letter and passed it to the interim
president of Via for investigation. Mr. Valeri said the government would
"take action" if it was warranted, including possibly firing or
suspending Mr. Pelletier. He wouldn't speculate on what effect, if any, Mr.
Pelletier's comments would have on his ability to hang on to his job.
"I think the conduct of public officials should be very high,"
Mr. Valeri said.

The government has suspended three heads of Crown corporations over the
sponsorship scandal, in relation to large commissions given to advertising
firms for transferring cash between federal agencies. Ms. B‚dard is now
likely to appear before the parliamentary inquiry into the scandal.

John Williams, the Conservative MP who chairs the federal public accounts
committee, said he and the other committee members would like to hear
details of Ms. B‚dard's allegations. "We are in favour of her coming
forward," Mr. Williams said. "By the sounds of it, she was fired,
her reputation was trashed, because she wanted to do the right thing and
the people at the top who wanted to do the wrong thing were able to turf
her out the door and that cannot be tolerated."

Mr. Williams said he is also looking forward to hearing from Mr. Pelletier.
"We just have to read the Auditor-General's report to know he has much
to say with regard to this scandal," he said.

Opposition members repeatedly asked Treasury Board Chairman Reg Alcock
yesterday to explain why the Liberal government did not act on a 1996 audit
of the Advertising and Public Research Sector that some say proves the
activities highlighted by the Auditor-General go back many years. The 1996
audit found multiple instances of non-compliance with government policies
and procedures in the program's contracting process.

Mr. Alcock said the auditors found "no instance where non-compliance
might have led to situations of personal gain or benefit." But Mr.
Williams said Mr. Alcock was merely quoting one line that absolved the
Liberals on one particular issue.


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