Montreal-- Francis Fox is denying a dead man's allegation that the Prime Minister's Office was briefed on the progress of Montreal 2005, the committee organizing the World Championships of aquatics, to be held next month at Parc Jean Drapeau.
"The PMO was never briefed on that stuff," Fox said. "He [Prime Minister Paul Martin] never micromanages."
Fox, now with the law firm of Fasken, Martineau, refuted a claim in a letter by Montreal 2005's late director general Yvon Desrochers that the PMO was informed that an internal audit in Feb. 2004 did not go well.
In a letter to Heritage Canada prior to his death, Desrochers accused the federal government of meddling in the committee's affairs, noting that the PMO was informed about the audit even before it had taken place.
Fox resigned as president of Montreal 2005 the year before he became the head of Paul Martin's transition team.
On Monday, Fox denied that he was "the Prime Minister's Councillor" referred to in Desrochers's letter.
"I have no idea what he's talking about in that letter," Fox said. "We maybe had an occasional phone call, but not about that matter and he never asked me to make any representations for Montreal 2005 [to the Prime Minister]."
Even though Desrochers and Fox were longtime acquaintances, Fox said he did not communicate with Desrochers on the subject of Montreal 2005 after he quit as the organizing committee's president in early 2002.
Desrochers committed suicide this past February, after the championships were initially pulled from Montreal, then reinstated after Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay offered to cover any deficit and installed a new management team.
The cancellation took place amid allegations that the original management team, which included volunteers with close ties to the federal Liberals, had mishandled $13 million in federal money.
"I don't think [it's suspicious]," Fox said. "I think it's a great thing. These people should be applauded. They volunteered their time to organize a world-class event."
Information on how the federal money has been spent has been shrouded in secrecy. However, documents obtained under a Suburban access-to-information request have filled in some of the blanks in files censored by Canadian Heritage.
For example, several letters from Desrochers written in 2003 and 2004, asked, then demanded that the federal government free up $263,000.
The federal government increased its contribution from $10 million to $16 million after a 2003 feasibility study but froze $263,000 until March, 2004 because it had concerns about how the organization was handling the money and wanted the board to be redrawn. When the $263,000 was reinstated, there were no major changes to Montreal 2005's board.
The provincial government upped its contribution to $19 million.
Desrochers's financial deal with Montreal 2005 is also restricted. He was reportedly paid an annual salary of $185,000 plus a 15-percent commission on all sponsorships.
Montreal 2005's replacement board mandated new director general René Guimond in March to investigate Desrochers's salary and commission. Guimond was also asked to investigate any sums paid by the organization to Productions Nadis and a numbered company, both owned by Desrochers, but lawyers for the Desrochers family obtained a gag order prohibiting public release of that information.
Fox said he wasn't familiar with Desrochers's contract, since he took office after Desrochers became the organization's director general.
another mystery is the involvement of communications firms, which were named in the sponsorship scandal.
The minutes of an august 2002 meeting, where a communications firm was ostensibly chosen to design a logo for Montreal 2005, the event's organizing board have also not been disclosed.
Minutes of a meeting of the organizing board dated June 25, 2002 show that Groupe Everest, Groupaction, Martin, Gilles Paquette, agence DaDa, Publitel, Coffin and Desjardins were invited to bid on a contract to design a logo for the event. Many of those companies have been investigated in the Gomery Commission looking into the advertising sponsorship scandal.
by Jason Magder, The Suburban
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Montreal, Que-- Prime Minister Paul Martin's staff was briefed on the financial situation of Montreal 2005, the organizing committee for the World aquatics championships, The Suburban has learned through an access to information request.
by Jason Magder, The Suburban
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Montreal, Que-- Television and radio broadcasters have offered thousands of dollars in free publicity for the 2005 World aquatics Championships, The Suburban has learned.
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