Sponsorship scandal player to pay back $1M

A former ad executive implicated in the federal sponsorship scandal has agreed to pay Ottawa $1 million to avoid an expensive civil lawsuit.

Lawyers for Claude Boulay, former president of Groupe Everest, recently reached an out of court settlement with the federal government for $1 million.

Boulay is one of several key players in the scandal who faced a civil lawsuit launched by the Conservative government.

Ottawa is trying to recoup money officials said was funneled through the federal program for work that was never done. Boulay and his company were originally sued for $1.5 million.

During his lengthy testimony at the Gomery Commission, Boulay insisted his company never accepted payment for imaginary work and was adamant the government got its money's worth from Groupe Everest. Justice John Gomery released his final report on Feb. 1, 2006, after 18 months of hearings and research.

The federal government is seeking a total of $60 million from various sponsorship program figures. So far, Ottawa has recouped about $4 million, including Boulay's settlement.

The sponsorship program, now defunct, was designed to raise the federal government's profile in the wake of the 1995 sovereignty referendum in Quebec. Over its life, Liberal-friendly ad firms in that province took in millions of taxpayers' dollars.

Some of the money ended up in the pockets of high-ranking Liberal organizers in Quebec, allowing the opposition to paint the government of former prime minister Jean Chrétien as corrupt.