View topic - Jean Pelletier back to work at Via Rail :: Free Dominion - Principled Conservative - Party and Canadian Politics

Posted: 12/ 21/ 05 9:04 am Post subject: Jean Pelletier back to work at Via Rail

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051202/jean_pelletier_051221/20051221?hub=Canada
Jean Pelletier back to work at Via Rail: report
Canadian Press

MONTREAL — Jean Chretien's former chief of staff, Jean Pelletier, has started showing up for work again at Via Rail following a November court decision that found his firing was improper, the TVA television network reported Tuesday.

Pelletier was fired from his position as chairman of the Crown corporation after making disparaging remarks about Myriam Bedard, a champion biathlete who testified about the sponsorship scandal last year.

But TVA said Pelletier has started to return to his old office in Via Rail's Montreal offices.

A Federal Court decision last month overturned Pelletier's firing, ruling that the former mayor of Quebec City wasn't given a fair warning before he was let go.

Transport Minister Jean Lapierre has said that Pelletier would be fired again for the very same reason _ although this time he would receive a fair warning.

Pelletier's was one of a rash of firings of Chretien associates after Prime Minister Paul Martin took office in December 2003.

Shortly after November's court decision, Lapierre said he sent Pelletier a letter notifying him that he faces suspension or firing.
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Posted: 12/ 21/ 05 9:23 am Post subject:

I thought Pelltier was involved in the sponsorship scandal> Was he?

Posted: 12/ 21/ 05 11:36 am Post subject:

Posted: 12/ 23/ 05 1:35 am Post subject:

Jean Pelletier fired for second time as chairman of VIA Rail board
MARIA BABBAGE

OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government has fired Jean Pelletier - for the second time - as chairman of Via Rail's board of directors.

Transport Minister Jean Lapierre, in a written statement issued late Thursday, said the termination was effective immediately. He said Pelletier won't receive any compensation, since he's already engaged in legal proceedings aimed at recovering lost salary, benefits and damages.

Pelletier was making between $189,700 and $234,300 a year as chairman. His contract was set to expire in 2006.

The former chief of staff to Jean Chretien was initially dismissed by the Paul Martin government last year. Federal Court overturned that decision in November, but Lapierre reiterated at the time that the government had lost confidence in the former chairman.

Shortly after the ruling, Lapierre said Pelletier would be fired a second time, but added that this time he'd sent Pelletier a letter with advance warning that he faced suspension or dismissal.

A government official confirmed Thursday the intent of the letter was to ensure that legal due process was followed.

Pelletier was harshly criticized by Justice John Gomery, in a report released in November, for failing to provide adequate oversight to the federal sponsorship program during his time as Chretien's chief of staff.

However, the government is not using the Gomery findings as grounds for Pelletier's second dismissal.

Sources close to Pelletier say he is likely to restart his lawsuit for wrongful dismissal. He does not agree with the government view that due process was followed in firing him a second time.

The federal judge who overturned Pelletier's original dismissal said he was fired out of the blue, with no chance to defend himself.

Lapierre's chief of staff, Leslie Swartman said the timing of the second dismissal has nothing to do with the current election campaign, in which Martin has tried to distance himself from the sponsorship scandal.

"Not at all," said Swartman. "We did not control the timing of the Federal Court decision. The government has since taken the time to undertake due process."

This time the federal cabinet gave Pelletier the opportunity to provide written or oral submissions in his own defence before it took action, said Swartman.

"The government reviewed those submissions before taking this decision."

The decision to fire Pelletier was made by a cabinet committee during a conference call Thursday, Swartman said. Lapierre was on the call, but Martin was not.

The decision was announced just as Via faced a labour relations crisis, with 350 locomotive engineers and train conductors threatening to walk out on Christmas eve if they can't reach a contract.

Labour Minister Joe Fontana urged the two sides Thursday to continue working toward a deal and try to avert holiday havoc.

Pelletier was initially fired in March 2004 after he made belittling remarks about Myriam Bedard, an two-time Olympic medalist and former Via staffer who had made a series of damaging allegations about the operations of the rail corporation.

The termination came amid the first rumblings of the sponsorship scandal, when Martin decided to clean house among high-level Chretien appointees tainted by the affair.

Michel Vennat, president of the Business Development Bank of Canada, and Marc LeFrancois, president of Via Rail, were fired along with Pelletier, prompting some to suggest that it was a Martin purge of Chretienites. Martin denied he was targetting any specific group.

The Via job was an appointment formally made by the cabinet. Normally, such appointees serve "at pleasure," meaning they can be fired without the kind of cause normally required to discharge an employee.

source
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Posted: 12/ 23/ 05 2:55 am Post subject:

Liberals are getting tougher. Maybe they'll rip his contract up and throw it in his face like BC Liberal premier Gordon Campbell did to the Health Employees Union.

Posted: 12/ 23/ 05 7:41 am Post subject:

These contracts will be the problem when HArper is the PM and wanting to get rid of these porkers

Posted: 12/ 24/ 05 1:06 am Post subject:

So the defunct Pellitier has been redeployed. The retierment package was not satifactory or satisfactacliberal.

Posted: 12/ 24/ 05 6:14 am Post subject:

Kenney is right. The Three Stooges are running the Liberals to-day. Or maybe two are asleep and leaving it to ONE.

Sometimes I feel sorry for Martin. It seems like he's been put out to pasture without even a MAP!
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