N.B. Tory candidate sued
Ouellet says he doesn’t owe couple $15,000 from failed business deal
by Stephen Maher
As originally posted on: TheChronicleHerald.ca
July 25, 2008
OTTAWA — A Conservative candidate in New Brunswick is being sued by two investors who allege that he owes them $15,000 from a failed business deal in the 1990s.
Gerard and Martine Dube, a retired Edmundston couple, say that Jean-Pierre Ouellet, the nominated candidate for Madawaska-Restigouche, promised them their 1992 investment was guaranteed but avoided them for years and refused to pay them until January 2006, when he was running for Parliament.
At that point, says the Dubes’ statement of claim, Mr. Ouellet gave them $400 as a first payment. Then, when he lost a tight election to the Liberal candidate, he changed his telephone number and the Dubes have not been able to contact him.
In a defence filed by Mr. Ouellet’s lawyer, Mr. Ouellet denies that he owes them money and maintains the Dubes are trying to take advantage of the justice system to obtain a sum to which they are not entitled.
Mr. Ouellet, who was a minister in Richard Hatfield’s provincial government, maintains that he did not, as the Dubes claim, promise that the investment was guaranteed. Further, he argues that since he declared bankruptcy in 1993, his debts are cleared.
In the Dubes’ statement of claim, they say that Mr. Ouellet came to them in 1992 seeking money to refurbish an aircraft, telling them they would make $65,000 from the project.
"The defendant was insistent, sure of his business and (said) that if the project didn’t happen, a third person in Ottawa would guarantee the loan, and if there was ever any difficulty with the loan, the defendant would reimburse the amount invested and cover the interest in a reasonable fashion," says the statement of claim.
Mr. Ouellet’s statement of defence states that he did not promise to reimburse them if there was a difficulty with the loan.
The Dubes’ statement says the couple borrowed $15,000 from the local credit union and invested it in the enterprise on May 25, 1992. A year later, having not heard from Mr. Ouellet, they managed to track him down, the statement said. He told them the project had not proceeded but a third party would reimburse them. The Dubes eventually received $4,000 in compensation but kept seeking the rest of the money they believed they were owed.
Mr. Ouellet’s defence denies that they contacted him during this period.
According to the Dubes’ statement of claim, in January 2006, when Mr. Ouellet was on the campaign trail against Liberal MP Jean Claude D’Amours, he paid the Dubes a visit and gave them "a first payment of $400 on the outstanding balance to be paid."
Mr. Ouellet’s statement says the $400 was in no sense a recognition of a debt, but "at most a donation connected to an expression of sympathy toward an old friend in the person of the plaintiff, Gerard Dube."
Mr. Ouellet lost the election by 885 votes.
In 2007, he was granted the Conservative nomination in the riding without a nomination meeting, after local Tory officials surveyed party members and found no other candidates wanted to seek the nomination. Former federal cabinet minister Bernard Valcourt later told the local paper, L’Acadie Nouvelle, that he was considering re-entering federal politics and had not agreed to stand aside for Mr. Ouellet.
Mr. Dube is a retired school principal. Martine Dube worked at a credit union. They would not agree to an interview without the permission of their lawyer, Francois Poitras, who did not return calls.
Mr. Ouellet could not be reached for comment. His lawyer, Gerald Levesque, did not respond to repeated interview requests. Neither Jean LeBlanc, the New Brunswick Conservative national council representative, nor MLA Percy Mockler, who helped Mr. Ouellet campaign in 2005, responded to telephone messages.
Don Plett, president of the Conservative Party of Canada, referred calls to party spokesman Ryan Sparrow.
Mr. Sparrow says the Conservative party is aware that Mr. Ouellet declared personal bankruptcy in 1993, and they are backing their candidate.
"It’s all been previously disclosed to us as part of a background check," said Mr. Sparrow. "The matter was settled 15 years ago and we view the matter closed."
Mr. Sparrow would not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit.
In Mr. Ouellet’s statement of defence, he acknowledges that the Dubes did not appear on the list of creditors in his bankruptcy but says he is "free of all obligation vis-a-vis the plaintiffs" according to bankruptcy law.
Mr. Sparrow said voters are unlikely to think ill of Mr. Ouellet as a result of this lawsuit.
"He’s been very upfront with us and people make mistakes," he said. "People make mistakes and they acknowledge those mistakes and move on with their life."
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