MONTREAL - Following a week-long break in testimony at the Charbonneau Commission, the proceedings got off to a sputtering return Tuesday as witness Ken Pereira was deemed still unfit after suffering a fall and unable to resume his testimony.
Testimony from another witness was also delayed by the ongoing legal debate over the admissibility of union wiretaps, which is still being contested in court.
Last Friday the Superior Court issued a judgment allowing the wiretaps to be heard, but the union is planning to file an appeal Friday.
Gaetan Morin, the FTQ's first VP of Corporate Development and Investments, finally took the stand at 2 p.m. to testify about the operations of the Fonds de Solidarité-FTQ, also known as the Solidarity Fund QFL, which is operated by a wing of the Quebec Federation of Labour since its inception in 1980.
Morin said that the fund was designed to complement, not replace, lending institutions, as the money put out could help secure other bank loans.
The previous witness, Ken Pereira, suggested there might have been some irregularities in how the fund worked, and in particular pointed out what he considered to be favouritism in how some of the fund's executives were chosen.
