OTTAWA - The former chair of the Old Port of Montreal says he was unceremoniously dumped without ever being told the reason, replaced by another Conservative with ties to powerful Conservative Senator Leo Housakos.
Bernard Roy, a high-profile Montreal lawyer and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's former principal secretary, says it's a "fiction'' that the Old Port's parent, Canada Lands Co. Ltd., makes the appointments for its federal subsidiary.
Roy says political figures really decide who should get the jobs.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already faced questions during the election campaign about why his office pushed for the appointment of a candidate to another agency, the Montreal Port Authority.
"I thought that we had done a good job as a team, we had worked well as a team, and so that's why the news of my mandate not being renewed came as a shock and a surprise,'' said Roy, who also acted as Justice John Gomery's chief counsel during the inquiry into the Liberal sponsorship scandal.
"I can only surmise that for whatever reasons, political or otherwise, I became expendable, and someone more deserving and someone closer to the powers that be should get the appointment.''
Roy's predecessor had held the position at the Old Port for 14 years before he retired, but Roy had only officially been on the job for two years when his replacement was announced.
Gerry Weiner, former minister of multiculturalism and citizenship under Mulroney and a pharmacist by trade, stepped into the role. Weiner has ties to Housakos, who worked in his ministerial office in Montreal as a young up-and-comer.
Only a month before his appointment was made public, Weiner was one of the VIPs at a special cocktail reception co-organized by Housakos in Montreal, with a bevy of other construction bosses, cabinet ministers and personal friends of the senator.
Other figures at that reception with personal, political and business links to Housakos went on to receive government appointments, including former Montreal city councillor Marcel Tremblay and former partner Nick Katalifos.
In a recent email exchange, Weiner did not respond directly to a question about whether his relationship with Housakos played a role in his appointment.
"I have nothing to do with appointments. I am not in the government,'' he wrote to The Canadian Press.
Weiner refers to his job at the Old Port of Montreal in a promotional video for his other position as director of investment relations for Pace Global Advantage, a company that helps immigrant investors. He speaks of the "valuable network of contacts'' he has developed.
"I can call upon these contacts to assist in the establishment of a business and-or residence in Canada,'' says Weiner, a former mayor of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a city on the island of Montreal.
"I strive to use my experience and expertise to provide our clients with a unique service and access that few other firms can match. I am currently the chair of the board of directors of the Old Port of Montreal.''
Figures connected to the nearby Montreal Port Authority, a separate organization from the Old Port, have said they were approached by Harper's senior aide, Dimitri Soudas, about appointing businessman Robert Abdallah as president. Soudas has acknowledged that the government indicated a preference for Abdallah, but notes he was ultimately not selected.
Last week, mysterious recordings surfaced purporting to be the voices of two Quebec construction bosses and Housakos discussing Abdallah's appointment. The two executives referred to Soudas as the real "boss'' of Quebec.
The recordings have not been verified, but construction executive Bernard Poulin called them private telephone conversations that were intercepted without his permission. Abdallah went on to an executive position at a company partly owned by another construction boss, Tony Accurso.
Housakos has not returned calls or messages from The Canadian Press.
Soudas referred all inquiries to the Canada Lands Co. Ltd. and Transport Canada. During an interview in the fall of 2009, Soudas would not answer direct questions about whether he indicated a preference at the Old Port of Montreal.
"That was announced by Canada Lands Corporation Limited, and that's an appointment that Canada Lands makes, it's not a GIC (cabinet appointment),'' Soudas said in 2009.
The Canada Lands Co. Ltd. told The Canadian Press that chief spokesman Gordon McIvor was too busy and not available for comment. President Mark Laroche did not return a message.
Roy described the appointments process at Canada Lands as "hocus pocus,'' with the names of board members and the chairman coming from political offices rather than the federal agency. In his case, former Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon's office approached him and offered him the job in 2006.
He said he spent his time at the Old Port trying to get a long overdue business plan approved by the government, to no avail. He says he finally received word he would not be renewed, but was never directly told why.
Two sources with direct involvement at the Old Port said there was never any indication that Roy had done anything wrong in the job, and was respected inside the organization.
"I said look, when you're appointed by the government, the government is free to decide whether they're going to appoint you or reappoint you,'' said Roy.
"But presumably at some point in time somebody is going to call me with the reason why I'm not being reappointed, but to this day no one has ever called me to say why I was not reappointed.
"Of course, I was very disappointed and since then I've heard all kinds of things. One of the rumours was that Weiner, with whom I'd had good relations ..., that he had been reappointed to replace me, and the rumour had it that he was close to Soudas and the senator, Housakos, and had been angling for a position of some sort and they found it convenient to appoint him to the Old Port.''
