Guite's Testimony

Chuck Guite, the retired bureaucrat who ran the federal sponsorship program, has shown himself to be a man unafraid of naming names.

After being implicated by so many witnesses since the Gomery commission began, it appears Guite has decided that if he's going to go down, he's not going to go down alone.

During his testimony, he offered up names belonging to people in high places who he believes acted inappropriately.

Described the sponsorship program as a "politically driven" operation, Guite pointed the finger at the office of Jean Chretien and then-public works minister Alfonso Gagliano.

But his most damning allegation was levelled against Prime Minister Paul Martin, who was finance minister at the time.

Guite testified that, back in 2000, he was told that Martin had intervened to ensure a Liberal-friendly ad firm wouldn't lose its lucrative contracts with the federal sponsorship program.

Guite had already left the civil service by then, and was lobbying the government on behalf of the Toronto-based advertising agency, Vickers and Benson Ltd.

Hoping to secure the future of his firm's ad contracts with Ottawa, Guite said he had lunch on March 22, 2000, with his former boss Gagliano.

"He said he'd look after it," Guite told the commission.

A week later, Guite says he got a call from Gagliano's chief of staff, Pierre Tremblay.

"The minister had spoken with both ministers and the volume of business would be maintained," Guite testified.

He claimed he was assured Vickers' contracts with two federal departments -- Industry under John Manley and Finance under Paul Martin -- were safe.

Martin and Manley have issued statements denying the allegations.

Contradictions

Corroborating Guite's testimony is complicated by the fact that Tremblay died last year, as well as contradictions in Guite's own statements over the past few years.

Three years ago, he told investigators from the auditor general's office he made all the important decisions about the sponsorship program.

Last spring, he told a parliamentary committee that his political masters gave him "input." But he maintained that he still decided which projects should get funding.

Then, last fall in front of the Gomery commission, he said Gagliano and Chretien chief-of-staff Jean Pelletier actually had final say on those decisions.

The contradictory statements led Guite's critics to question his credibility. Pelletier's lawyer Guy Pratte challenged the former bureaucrat's assertions.

"Why should we believe anything you say now?" said Pratte.

"I've been as truthful and as honest and tried to remember as clearly as possible," replied Guite.

Gagliano's lawyer Pierre Fournier also pressed Guite to explain why he hadn't mentioned some of his claims of political interference before now.

Guite's response: It "didn't come to mind" to raise certain matters during past testimony.

The memo

Guite's testimony and new evidence suggests that key players in the program were apparently discussing sponsorship-like events months before the sponsorship program officially existed.

Chretien's office was apparently advised of the potential projects in April, 1995. The program got into full swing in 1996-97.

A memo labelled "Jacques Corriveau" was sent that month, referring to the fact that a list of projects had been submitted to Jean Carle, Chretien's director of operations.

The list included proposed funding for nine projects, totalling $2.3 million.

Among the proposed recipients were:

• the Montreal Grand Prix;
• the Expos baseball club;
• the Toronto Molson Indy car race;
• and a number of other organizations that later figured prominently in the sponsorship program.

It's not clear if the list was submitted directly by Corriveau or by somebody else.

The events were to be handled by Lafleur Communication -- an ad firm that played a major role in the program.

The origin of the memo was unclear, but it was found in Guite's files. Guite said the memo was likely written by Warren Kinsella, a senior aide to then-public works minister David Dingwall.

Guite said Dingwall had told him to "look after" Jacques Corriveau -- a graphic designer who worked on Chretien's leadership campaigns and was known to be a friend and confidant of the former prime minister.

Corriveau went on collect $6.7 million in sponsorship deals.

"He (Dingwall) said, 'if you ever find somebody in bed between Jean Chretien and his wife, it'll be Jacques Corriveau,''' said Guite.
Corriveau has insisted he and Chretien never discussed the sponsorship program when he was with Pluri Design.

Watches

In the broad sweep of his testimony, Guite even suggested Chretien's wife wielded influence over the sponsorship program.

Guite told the commission that Aline Chretien chose some of the promotional items purchased by the government. Guite said she pointed out her favourite watch, that he promptly ordered.

"We used to refer to those as Madame Chretien's watches."

Other details of Guite's sensational testimony include:

• Corroboration of previous witnesses' depositions, alleging Gagliano had personally requested sponsorship program funding for a plaque-unveiling event in Italy. "I had the request from the minister's office, the minister actually, to get that done with the specific instruction: 'Make sure there's no paper trail'," Guite said, recalling that the $6,850 project did not necessarily fall under the program's purview. "This was a plaque done for the minister's own 'pride,' for lack of better term," he added.
  
• The suggestion that the hiring of his successor was rigged -- at the behest of Gagliano and Pelletier -- to ensure that Pierre Tremblay would get the job. Tremblay, who had been Gagliano's top aide, was unqualified for the position, Guite said. Although he died in 2004, before making his own appearance before the inquiry, Tremblay had previously admitted to federal auditors that the sponsorship program was mismanaged.
  
• An account of sponsorship money being used to fund a Vickers pet project -- the 26-part TV series Dashan & Friends in Canada, that aired in China at a cost of $10 million. "The China project from start to finish was strictly politically-driven in funding," Guite testified, saying that the project was given the go-ahead by two of Chretien's most senior aides.

Besides his sensational allegations, Guite also admitted breaking a lot of rules.

Despite a contract stipulation that he could not profit from government contracts in the first year after he left the civil service, Guite says Vickers paid him $100,000 to lobby his former boss.

"There are different ways to skin the cat," he told the commission, explaining how he advised the company on ways to skirt the rules.

'Saving grace'

Despite the seriousness of Guite's allegations, CTV reporter Jed Kahane says the embattled Liberals might find one "saving grace" in his testimony.

"Guite says the system was even more political when the Conservatives were in power," Kahane said.

Liberal promises to change that, Guite said, wound up producing new ways in which the government could look after its friends.

Alongside Groupaction Marketing founder Jean Brault, Guite is facing trial on six fraud-related counts arising from sponsorship deals.

Jury selection in their trial is slated to get underway in June, but lawyers for the pair have requested the trial be delayed until September.

Concern that testimony from the Gomery inquiry might prejudice potential jurors in their clients' cases, lawyers for Brault and Guite had argued that publication bans should remain until the trials are over.

Based on a report by CTV's Jed Kahane in Montreal