A Federal Court judge has reinstated Jean Pelletier as chairman of Via Rail, saying the government was unfair in the way it fired him in March 2004.
Justice Simon Noel said Pelletier – a Jean Chretien loyalist who was fired in connection with the sponsorship scandal – deserved to know why has was dismissed and should have been given a chance to respond.
The judge set aside the firing order and referred the whole matter back to the federal cabinet.
Pelletier was chief of staff to Chretien for 1993 to 2001 and was appointed to a five-year term as chairman of Via in 2001.
He was fired after Olympic medalist Myriam Bedard wrote to Prime Minister Paul Martin in February 2004 complaining she had been forced to resign from a Via job
(Background on Pelletier.)
Justice Simon has been in the news before.
And, how much is this fiasco going to cost the taxpayer. Maybe Martin and the rest of the stupid idiots in his government would be prepared to cough up the lolly for this. Not _ _ _ ing likely!
Perhaps the CBC can concoct a documentary based on the court transcripts – why not the entire Gomery Commission by the way? – to run in tandem with their “Secret Mulroney Tapes” program they so fortuitously timed so as to run in early December just prior to the next election.
Better yet, leave it to “This Hour Has 22 Minutes…”
This puts another sticky bun on Paul Martin’s full plate.
So, does Martin enrage Chretienites by launching an appeal to the SCC, or does he seek to avoid further legal taint by firing Pelletier a second time? If the latter route is favoured, Martin could certainly cite breaches of fiduciary oversight pointed out by Justice Gomery. Because if Pelletier can’t run an ad program, how could he possibly run a 19th century business?
Oh, right, he can’t fire Pelletier using Gomery as a stick because then we all turn our eyes back to the green volumes that discuss the sins of the Liberal Party…
If PMPM needs to find just cause to fire Pelletier a second time, he only has to allow the Auditor General access to Via Rail’s books. He will not want to do that however, because he doesn’t want to expose another scandal just before an election. Could this be why the Gun Registry Audit, which was supposed to be out in November, has been delayed at least until February, but more likely March?
Jeancula, alias Jean Chretien: Gotcha — da revenge is sweet — da proof is da proof…
Noel appointed by Chretien >
NEWS RELEASE – FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA JUDICIAL APPOINTMENT, THE HONOURABLE SIMON NO�L
Department of Justice
FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA JUDICIAL APPOINTMENT ANNOUNCED
OTTAWA, August 8, 2002 — The Honourable Martin Cauchon, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointment:
Simon No�l, of Hull, is appointed a judge of the Federal Court of Canada – Trial Division. He replaces Mr. Justice Marc Nadon who was appointed to the Federal Court of Canada – Appeal Division >>
http://www.fct-cf.gc.ca/bulletins/media/noel_e.shtml
I’d read the fine print on this one before jumping on Pelletier. From what I recall of the situation when Pelletier got spitcanned, it didn’t look to me like they had grounds to off him. I remember thinking to myself at the time “Wow, Martin just threw Pelletier under the bus. Pelletier will sue and definitely win, but by then it will be two years after the fact and no one will notice.”
I’m not surprised to see this and I do believe that despite the harm Pelleltier and his Liberal goons have done to Canada the federal government did not do right by firing Pelletier from his job. Even the most vile Liberal gets the benefit of rule of law in my book.
Making a list-checking it twice- gonna find out who’s naughty & nice. Stephen Harpur’s coming, to tooooowwwwwwwnnnnnnn! Bwahahahaha!
The real problem here is that the government is running trains. Once you presume that taxpayers must be forced to support a service that virtually nobody wants, but if anyone ever did want it, it could easily be provided by the free market, you are guaranteed to reap a harvest of waste, corruption and patronage scandals.
I hope that none of you are thinking that you can take over the commie system that the Liberals and the old PCs have created in Canada, except you’ll run the commie system better than the old regime. If you could get over that, you will probably find it a lot easier to understand this country’s problems and then solve them.
I look forward to the ruling that the Liberal government fell last year during one of the ignored confidence votes and that Stephen Harper should be instated as interim Prime Minister.
Of course, they’ll just refer it back to the Liberal Cabinet for consideration.
The Lie-beral system must be put to rest for the good of the country and the new system to replace it must have the necessary checks and balances. The PMO will no longer be appointing the judiciary, commissioners, ambassadors, crown corporation boards or executive. The Auditor General must have access to ALL of government, no exceptions. Canadian’s deserve better than what we have now and what we’ve had in the past.
Ah ah ah!
Dave that is great! CPC should make a campaign video out of that. I can just see it…
He know if you been bad or good…….He bring the RCMP and the Auditors….Stephen Harper coming to town….
Did Chretien make a phone call to this judge? This is pretty serious, if you ask me. Given that they’re all parasites by any definition, it appears that there is no impartiality where judges are concerned. Or maybe this was done behind the scenes with the full knowledge of PMPM to avoid a major lawsuit during the election or something like that. This has a real odour to it, that’s for sure.
Pelletier was appointed by teh PM at the time, he wasn’t/isn’t qualified for the job, there was no competition for the position. Any normal rules of employment shouldn’t apply.
This pig has slopped for years at the public trough. Enough is enough.
First thing – ALL his expenses should be AUDITED – a real one, not a Scott Brison review/audit. He should be paying back BUG BUCK to teh taxpayers for all the treats he gave himself.
Liberals – our money, their entitlements, their friends.
Is this going to cost us more in severence than Dingbat?
Most of the people responsible for adscam can’t be touched because of Statute of Limiitations (2 years) maybe this goof has worn out his (WELCOME) statute for suing. No, the Tax Payers have lots of money to fork over to Martin and his ILK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Solution Capt. Bob, new government, change the law, make it retroactive, prosecute, recover funds, throw the bastard’s in jail!
“…change the law, make it retroactive,…” has been cited.
Is this not making ex post facto laws?
Hayek warns against this:
THE CASE AGAINST CIVIL EX POST FACTO LAWS
Steve Selinger
In The Constitution of Liberty, F. A. Hayek (1960: 205-20) notes that some coercion, while unavoidable in a civil society, can be minimized by requiring that coercive actions comply with general rules that are known in advance by individuals. If individuals know the law, they can base their actions upon established rules and minimize the ill effects of coercion. Hayek states that not all legislative enactments will satisfy the three criteria of what he calls “true law”–generality, certainty, and equality. He argues that true law provides the general rules which minimize coercion and that legislative enactments which do not satisfy these criteria are objectionable. He writes that the law must be general, that it must be known and certain, and that it should apply equally to all. A necessary condition for the law to be known and certain is a prohibition on ex post facto laws. After all, the law can hardly be known and certain if new laws can be made to apply retroactively to actions already performed.
From a policy standpoint, as Hayek’s analysis indicates, ex post facto laws are riddled with problems. > more
http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj15n2-3-4.html
It would be nice if the 2 year statute of limitations applied to all of us and not just the thieving politicians.
Politicians shouldn’t be exmpted by this two year limitation, because it was those thieving bastard’s that made that law in the first place. If we still had capital punishment for treason in this country we’d have a few less corrupt politicians and the others wouldn’t be so fast to put their hand in the till.
It would be fitting, and delicious, if this turned out to be a deliberate event designed to ensure the Liberals are defeated on PMPM’s watch, thus setting the stage for PMPM to get the hook, and the new Crown Prince(ss) to be annointed by the Montreal Star Chamber. Given the demonstrated capability of Liberal Party underhandedness, I would not be surprised in the least.
PMPM might consider posting lookouts on the bridge looking for torpedoes on both sides of the ship.
Since when do political appointees have a right to their appointments? Is the resposibility of a senior crown employee limited only to their specific job duties?
I do understand that there may be legal claim to severance, but the next gov’t should fight one of these cases in court to ensure that we really are paying the absolute minimum to political appointees whose recklessness has harmed the crown.
Pelletier’s ‘win’ is proving that Gomery was the whitewash. No?
More ammo for Harper’s ethics package to be embraced. Nobody with political connections should be allowed anywhere near crown corporations or politicians generally. Too much to ask, too much at stake. Kinsella was on with Mike Duffy today, loving every minute of this stuff. Next up, Alphonso Gagliano. Chretien is probably calling judges and will use these decisions as ammo against Gomery.
Here’s a thought….As reports come out daily that PMPM & Co. are less than “clean”, who do you see as a viable option to steer the good ship Liberal, should PMPM ever have to vacate his position as skipper? Screechin’ Annie? Bling-Bling ‘Blinda? Pool Boy Brison?
Disclaimer: When I say “viable option”, I’m not implying that I actually give a shit, just curious as to who would want to actually bend over and pick up that Liberal turd if they were faced with a “leadership crisis”…..
Maybe Sheila Copps should have hired the same judge. She wouldn’t be darkening the Sun Media columnist pages.
Spencer: Leave the RCMP out of this, svp- I think this is a job for the JTF2, (They would probably enjoy a few ‘snatch jobs’ in places like The Turks & Caicos, Bermuda, Florida, and of course- France. And we need a place to house them when we bring ’em home, too.)
“Anselm” is right. The Gomery Inquiry is the whitewash brush dripping with the deceit/duplicity brewed by the witches/wizards of Martin’s Earnscliffe gang. The whitewash is for Martin who pinned the blame/responsibility for AdScam solely, through the Gomery Report, on Chretien & his gang.
Chretien’s Revenge:
Are there two Liberal Prime Ministers in Canada? Martin/Chretien? Is the Liberal Party a two-headed monstrous, evil empire? The spoils include millions, perhaps, billions of Canadian
tax dollars; beyond that, is the power, the power, the Power.
Pelletier’s resurrection, a direct challenge to Martin’s authority, is a symptom of a struggle being waged within the Liberal Party for control of the Librano$. One cannot fathom their motives; speculation reigns; only the consequences are visible to the public. Pelletier’s/Chretien’s revenge is a consequence. Surely there will be more consequences as the election nears & perhaps during the election. Woe to Martin; are the daggers ready? The daggers have already been honed & the first blow has fallen on Martin’s regime. Woe to Martin/Earnscliffe.
Is the Liberal house divided? It is said that a house divided cannot stand. Will the Liberal house fall? Will great be the fall thereof?
WK on ex-PM JC and PM PM: (Warning:Rough Language)
# Liz Thompson’s CanWest story on Jean Pelletier’s victory, here – and my comment therein: “It will be tough enough as it is to get people to help you out, trudging through snow banks and knocking on doors in the middle of a snowstorm,” said Warren Kinsella, a Chr�tien loyalist and former aide. “Now to have the civil war starting up again where cabinet is considering re-firing this recipient of the Order of Canada – it’s crazy. They should be ashamed of themselves.”
# As I told Mike Duffy on his show last night, the federal cabinet received a written opinion from the Department of Justice stating that their planned firing of Jean Pelletier would be illegal. They did it anyway. Despite that, despite being kicked in the nuts by the Federal Court yesterday, here’s Dithers sounding like he’s going to do it all over again. Result: more civil war, more division, more millions in lawyers’ fees to be picked up by the taxpayer. What a bunch of turkeys. >>>>
http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings.htm
Hi Kate,
Thank you for the link to http://fightforjustice.blogspot.com about the Justice Simon Noel. I am considered about the state of affairs in Canada. I do not want Canada to be seen as the safe haven, national security is still debated with millions having been spent. It is not changing and we are no safer than any other country! Canadian’s will be in for a shock when we are the next target for a terrorist attack!
Sincerely Holly Desimone