Jean Chrétien wins $200K payout from Ottawa

The Federal Court has ordered the government to pay $200,000 each to former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien and his late chief of staff — compensation for some of the legal costs they racked up fighting the findings of an inquiry into the sponsorship scandal.

The lump-sum payments, awarded last week by Judge Francois Lemieux, is the last chapter in a drawn-out court battle Chrétien and Jean Pelletier waged against Justice John Gomery and the report he wrote on the scandal in 2005.

Pelletier died in 2009 due to complications from colon cancer, but his estate continued to pursue the case in court.

'We call on Jean Chrétien to give this $200,000 back to taxpayers on behalf of the Liberal Party' —Carl Vallée, spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office

A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the government was disappointed with the award ruling.

"It is our belief that the Liberal Party must pay back the millions of dollars stolen from taxpayers through the sponsorship scandal," said Carl Vallée.

"We call on Jean Chrétien to give this $200,000 back to taxpayers on behalf of the Liberal Party."

Gomery accused of bias

The two men had challenged Gomery's conclusion that the former prime minister and his top aide bore some responsibility for the system of illegal kickbacks that sprouted from the sponsorship program. Gomery never said Chrétien and Pelletier knew about the wrongdoing, but said safeguards could have been put in place to prevent it.

Gomery, however, made comments to the media about the inquiry, calling it a "spectacle" and predicting there would be "juicy" evidence to come. He also commented that signature-embossed golf balls Chrétien had given out in his hometown were "small-town cheap."

In 2008, Chrétien and Pelletier won their bid in Federal Court to have the findings about them in the report struck down, on the basis that Gomery had betrayed a bias.

"The nature of the comments made to the media are such that no reasonable person looking realistically and practically at the issue, and thinking the matter through, could possibly conclude that the commissioner would decide the issues fairly," Federal Court Judge Max Teitelbaum said at the time.

The federal government appealed that decision to the Federal Court of Appeal and lost in 2010. In February 2011, Chrétien was awarded $25,000 in compensation for legal costs associated with fighting the federal appeal, although he had asked for $70,000.

This next $200,000 is associated with the original Federal Court judicial review. Chrétien had asked for $300,000, detailing the nearly $400,000 he had spent on lawyers' fees over the years.

The attorney general of Canada argued it should only be $36,205, pointing to federal guidelines for compensating parties for legal expenses.

Reputation at issue

But Lemieux used his discretion, echoing the view of a Federal Court of Appeal justice who said the case was one of public importance involving the reputation of a former prime minister.

A source close to Chrétien said he would not be commenting on the award ruling.

In Pelletier's case, the government had already awarded him $101,125 to cover some of his legal costs associated with the initial judicial review. He got nothing for money spent fighting the government's appeal because his estate had taken too long to file a claim with the Federal Court of Appeal.

But Pelletier's estate said he had spent $478,496 in lawyer's fees fighting the judicial review, and like Chrétien sought a $300,000 compromise. The attorney general argued Pelletier should get $11,282.

The judge also decided to award Pelletier's estate $200,000.