Angry in the Great White North

Louis Pichette

Mr. Pichette, a former Liberal Party of Canada organizer, resigned from [Quebec Premier Jean] Charest's office on Friday after testimony at the Gomery inquiry named him as one of five federal Liberals to receive payments from the Quebec City firm Commando Marketing. The firm's owner, Bernard Thiboutot, told the inquiry that the company was used by Jean Brault, president of Groupaction, to camouflage payments to the Liberal Party and to Liberal organizers.

Mr. Pichette received $8,000 in 2000 from Commando Marketing. Quebec Liberals hired Mr. Pichette in 2003 as an assistant to help plan operations and advances for Mr. Charest's trips.

Guy Bisson

The former Liberal organizer in Outaouais,...received a cheque of $6400 of an advertising agency at the beginning of election campaign of November 2000. He affirms to have gained this sum by carrying out a survey for the Liberal Party the preceding summer

Jacques Roy

A payment of $11,500 was also made to Jacques Roy [by Bernard Thiboutot's agency, Commando Communication Marketing], who worked as an organizer for the Liberals, according to a report in The Globe and Mail.

[Thiboutot] testified Thursday he was asked by Groupaction president Jean Brault to make donations to the Liberal Party and Liberal organizers, the Gomery inquiry heard.

Frano Iacano

Thiboutot's agency, Commando Communication Marketing, wrote a cheque for $9,200 to Frano Iacano, a former aide to former ministers Gagliano and John Manley.

Serge Gosselin

[Jean] Brault testified that during a meeting on April 16, 1996, Corriveau asked him to "take under my wing for a period of a year, one person who was well liked" by the party, Serge Gosselin.

Brault testified that Gosselin, a communications expert, never had an office at Groupaction and did little or no work. Nevertheless, Brault agreed to pay him more than $80,000. He was paid a monthly retainer of $7,000, recalled the former head of Groupaction. Gosselin may have used his time to write a book on Gagliano, Brault said.

Thalie Tremblay

The disguised payments continued in 1998 when Groupaction paid $22,000 for what was invoiced as a corporate video.

Shot by Cameo, the production house of Thalie Tremblay, daughter of long-time Gagliano supporter Michèle Tremblay, the video was in fact made for the benefit of the Liberal Party, but Mr. [Jean] Brault footed the bill, the inquiry heard.

Michel Beliveau

Senior Liberal organizers allegedly showered about $300,000 in cash on Quebec ridings held by the opposition during the 1997 federal election campaign, The Globe and Mail has learned.

Michel Beliveau, a close supporter of former prime minister Jean Chretien, made the allegation in preliminary interviews with members of the Gomery inquiry into the sponsorship program.

Mr. Beliveau is scheduled to testify today about allegedly receiving the cash from Jacques Corriveau, another Liberal supporter and close friend of Mr. Chretien, who got millions through the sponsorship program in the 1990s.

Claire Brouillet

Among the people named in [Jean] Brault's testimony is Claire Brouillet, who Brault said was paid $5,380 by one of his business partners for work actually done for Liberals in the 1997 election campaign.

Carolina Gallo-Laflèche

Also, [Jean] Brault said, he used other invoices from [Groupaction associate Richard] Boudreault to hide payments totalling $14,790 to three Liberal election workers, Monique Thomas, Claire Brouillet and Carolina Gallo.

Ms. Gallo is a member of the Liberals' organization committee, where she worked alongside organizers Jacques Roy and Guy Bisson.

Monique Thomas

[see Carolina Gallo-Laflèche]

Benoît Corbeil

In an exclusive interview with Radio-Canada last week, Benoît Corbeil, former Director General of the federal Liberal Party in Quebec, stated that a Liberal network controlled federal grants, contributions and contracts. Mr. Corbeil said that he received tens of thousands of dollars from Groupaction Marketing to pay Liberal organizers for the 2000 federal election. According to Mr. Corbeil, of the approximately twenty lawyers who worked on the 2000 election campaign, seven or eight of them have been appointed as judges.

During his interview, Mr. Corbeil was asked about Mr. Gagliano’s knowledge of the financial arrangements, he replied, “Everybody was aware.”

Mr. Corbeil is expected to testify before the Gomery Commission and reveal the name of the person who pointed him towards Groupaction and Jean Brault to get the money.

Daniel Dezainde

[Claire] Brouillet's husband, Daniel Dezainde, is also on the Gomery witness list and will likely answer questions about his stint as executive director of the party's Quebec wing from 2001 to 2003.

Dezainde says his wife was always under the impression she was being paid by the party. He's currently press secretary to Jacques Saada, federal regional minister for Quebec.

Giuseppe Morselli

A Liberal activist in Quebec since the 1970’s.

After the 2000 Election was named vice-president of the Liberal Party’s finance committee.

In September 2001 [Jean] Brault asked Mr. Morselli if he could secure the delay the close of bidding for a contract for the Liberal’s Gun Registry.

Several days later Mr. Morselli told Brault that the contract could be delayed for a cash payment of $100,000. Brault offered to pay the cash in installments and the second $25,000 payment was delivered to Morselli at a fundraiser of Alphonso Gagliano at Buffet Rizz.

Antonio Mignacca

Towards the later part of the sponsorship program, the friends and associates of Public Works Minister and former ambassador to Denmark Alfonso Gagliano, some of whom have been linked to organized crime, played a larger role in the schemes.

At one point, Gagliano associate Tony Mignacca told Brault that if he didn't rehire Renaud (who had left Groupaction to start a new company), he would lose his newly acquired contract with Via Rail -- Canada's state-run passenger rail service. [Jean] Brault broke down in tears after he recounted this testimony. At a meeting in 2001 with Joe Morselli, Brault said that he arranged to have the meeting in an overheated room in a restaurant -- so that Brault could ask Morselli to take off his coat and ensure that he wasn't carrying a body pack.

Clement Joly

Liberal Party of Canada (Quebec) chair of the Finance Committee

Beryl Wajsman

A source at the inquiry said Tuesday the upcoming witness, Beryl Wajsman, is the same person Brault says he paid $20,000 or $25,000 in cash, including the $5,000 at the restaurant, to covertly fund Liberal Party of Canada activities.

Justice Minister Irwin Cotler confirmed last month that Wajsman worked with him for "less than a year" in 2000 when Cotler was a rookie Montreal MP fresh off a career as a human-rights lawyer.

"Beryl served as an executive assistant for me five years ago," said Cotler.

John Welch

[Jean] Brault says a friend of Jean Chretien pressed him to hire Welch, who performed party work exclusively while on Groupaction's payroll. Following Brault's testimony, Welch took leave of absence as chief of staff to Heritage Minister Liza Frulla.