Prime Minister Paul Martin at a news conference at UN headquarters in New York Monday. (Mary Altaffer/AP)
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Prime Minister Paul Martin fired Via Rail chairman Jean Pelletier Monday, days after he called Olympian and former Via employee Myriam Bédard a "pitiful" single mom after she came forward with allegations of misspending at the Crown corporation.
Transport Minister Tony Valeri announced the firing Monday afternoon. In the same announcement, Mr. Martin called the comments "completely unacceptable."
"It is completely inappropriate for the chairman of a Crown corporation to make comments of this nature about someone identifying wrongdoing in the work place," Mr. Valeri said.
Paul Cote, the interim president and chief executive officer of Via Rail Canada, said Monday he has launched a review of Ms. Bedard's allegations and will report to him "in the shortest possible time" on the findings.
"Via Rail Canada would like to offer its sincerest apologies to Ms. Myriam Bédard for the comments about her that we're reported in the press last week," Mr. Cote said in a statement. "We regret the pain that these comments have caused Ms. Bedard, her daughter, her family and friends. We would also like to extend our apologies to all Canadian women for the nature and tone of these remarks."
Mr. Pelletier, the former chief of staff to former prime minister Jean Chrétien, was already under pressure over the involvement Via Rail in the sponsorship scandal when he made the comments to a Montreal paper.
Ms. Bédard, who worked for Via in 2001, says she was forced to leave her job in Via's marketing department after complaining of possible overbilling on contracts with Groupaction Marketing Inc., a company at the heart of the scandal.
In the Montreal daily La Presse Mr. Pelletier accused Ms. Bédard 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."
Mr. Pelletier apologized in a statement released Friday afternoon.
Mr. Martin, who is at the United Nations Monday, said the firing is proof that his government is committed to protect those who come forward with information.
"The new government came into office with a vow to do things differently," he said. "There is a culture shift required in Ottawa, no only within the existing institutions, but within the Crown corporations."
"We made it very clear that those people who wanted to come forward with information on past practices in terms of sponsorship should be encouraged to do so. That means that when they do so they cannot be condemned for having done that."
Ms. Bédard, who met with Mr. Martin's principal secretary Francis Fox Monday, called the firing "good news."
"I was told by Mr. Fox that the Prime Minister felt very strongly about what happened on Friday and that this was unacceptable," she told CBC Newsworld. "They told me action would be taken ... I think this is proper and this is correct."
Conservative MP Peter MacKay said it was "refreshing to finally see positive action taken to punish Mr. Pelletier."
"Three years ago, Madame Bédard was fired from her VIA Rail job for refusing to participate in a scheme that squandered hard-earned tax dollars," Mr. MacKay said. "Today's firing of VIA Rail president indicates Canadians are demanding action to end this Liberal regime of corruption and fiscal abuses."
Ms. Bédard, a two-time Olympic gold-medallist in biathlon, says she wants to return to her job at Via.
The company says Ms. Bédard was not forced out but resigned voluntarily from the corporation to pursue a career as an independent consultant.
Ms. Bédard has not been contacted to appear as a witness before the public accounts committee of the Commons, which is investigating the sponsorship scandal.
Two other Crown corporation heads may also lose their jobs in connection with the sponsorship scandal.
Marc LeFrançois , president of Via, and Michel Vennat of the Business Development Bank face a Monday deadline to defend their recent actions or also face dismissal.
