Jean Pelletier

Jean Pelletier is a Canadian political operative and former head of VIA Rail. An important member and a leading organizer of the Liberal Party of Canada.

He began his political career with the Union Nationale and was elected mayor of Quebec City in 1977 a position he held until 1988. With the demise of the Union Nationale he moved to the Liberals and was a failed Liberal candidate in the 1993 election.

He has long been a close ally and a very close friend of Jean Chretien. They have known each other for fifty years, having first met at boarding school while still youths. They attended law school together and earned similar reputations as aggressive fighters When Chretien became Prime Minister in 1993 Pelletier became the Chief of Staff in the Prime Ministers Office.

He was known as the person who would aggressively fight for the PMs interests. He was nicknamed the "Silent Executioner" for the ease he could end problems, and sometimes others' political careers, without causing any fracas in the media. He was often considered the second most powerful man in Canada, after Chretien. He was a leader in the unsuccessful battle to keep Paul Martin from taking over the party in 2003.

On May 4, 2001, not long before Chretien retired from politics he appointed Pelletier to the head of VIA Rail, a Crown corporation. Pelletier was a life long train aficionado and the appointment was a reward for his years of service. Soon after Chretien promised an extra 700 million to improve VIA's service. Pelletier was also made an officer of the Order of Canada.

In 2004 Pelletier became embroiled in the Liberal Party sponsorship scandal. VIA was accused of skipping mandated procedures in order to hand out contracts to Liberal friendly firms and individuals. Pelletier was not at VIA for most of these occurrences, however. He was fired March 1 by Prime Minister Martin after he attacked popular Olympic athlete Myriam Bedard in an interview to Montreal's La Presse newspaper. Talking about Bedard, who had been an employee at VIA and had gone to the media with stories of corruption, he said "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 later reiterated that "She is struggling as a single mother with economic responsibilities. Deep down, I think she is pitiful."