The players in Gagliano's circle

G&M Saturday, January 12, 2002 - Page A4

The following are profiles of some of the people who have gravitated to the inner circle of Public Works Minister Alphonso Gagliano since the 1970s. They have found work in his office or have obtained government contracts or jobs at agencies within his control, say Daniel Leblanc and Tu Thanh Ha.

Joseph Morselli

Alfonso Gagliano once said his relationship with Mr. Morselli goes back to the 1976 Quebec election, when both volunteered for the provincial Liberals.

Mr. Morselli is the owner of a catering business called Buffet Trio, and has had numerous contracts with governments, including operating restaurants in Hydro-Québec's facilities.

Mr. Morselli is active in the Liberal Party of Canada, including taking part in fundraising activities.

Mr. Morselli obtained a contract to offer catering services at the GST centre in Shawinigan, Que., in 1998, a few months after Mr. Gagliano became Minister of Public Works. Mr. Gagliano said it was an open competition that was won fair and square by Buffet Trio. Mr. Gagliano said he wasn't even aware at the time that Mr. Morselli had bid on the contract awarded by his department.

Mr. Morselli has also long known Jean-Marc Bard, Mr. Gagliano's present chief of staff.

Tony Mignacca

Tony Mignacca worked in property management at a school board on Montreal Island for 25 years. That is where he met Mr. Gagliano, who was elected to the board in 1977 and became its chairman in 1983.

After Mr. Gagliano was persuaded to run in the 1984 federal election, Mr. Mignacca was brought on board as a key organizer. For example, he helped run a telephone polling system.

Mr. Mignacca obtained a job at the Canada Lands Co. in 1999, after Mr. Gagliano gave his résumé to then-chairman Jon Grant.

Mr. Mignacca did not work to the end of his $6,000-a-month contract.

"He wasn't turning up for work, his expense accounts were high," Mr. Grant said.

Mr. Mignacca has since started working in Mr. Gagliano's riding office. However, the government's ethics counsellor received a complaint in 2001 that Mr. Mignacca was still trying to influence the dealings at Canada Lands and gave Mr. Mignacca a warning.

Tom Nanci

Tom Nanci works as a lawyer at Borden Ladner Gervais in Montreal, where he does a lot of real estate work. He had a contract with the Canada Lands Co. from 1998 to 2001, helping the Crown corporation, which reports to Mr. Gagliano, with rent collection.

Mr. Nanci is a former city councillor in Saint-Leonard, Que., which is Mr. Gagliano's stronghold. In a biography of Mr. Gagliano written by a party supporter, Mr. Nanci is presented as one of the minister's "faithful collaborators and cherished advisers to this date." Mr. Nanci has advised Mr. Gagliano on legal issues, among other things.

In a short interview, Mr. Nanci would say only that he considers Mr. Gagliano to be a friend.

Mr. Nanci worked with Canada Lands until 2001, and acted mainly on rent collection, a spokesman for the Crown corporation said. Gordon McIvor said Mr. Nanci was a "very good lawyer."

Jean-Marc Bard

Jean-Marc Bard is a part of a circle of those loyal to the late Quebec premier Robert Bourassa.

He has bounced for a long time from one provincial office to another, with detours to the SNC-Lavalin engineering firm, when the provincial Liberals were out of office.

Mr. Bard was a long-time fundraiser and political staffer for the provincial Liberals when Mr. Bourassa appointed him in 1988 president of the Olympic Installations Board.

Afterward, he did a stint as deputy transport minister, then ran the Quebec automobile-insurance board and later became head of the Quebec health-insurance board.

However, the Parti Québécois took power and Mr. Bard's employment was terminated.

Mr. Bard and Claude Lemieux, among other former Bourassa stalwarts, ended up working for Mr. Gagliano, with Mr. Bard becoming his executive assistant.

Michèle Tremblay

A friend of Alfonso Gagliano since the late 1980s, Ms. Tremblay once said that "sometimes it is frightening how we think alike."

In the mid-1980s, Ms. Tremblay was parliamentary correspondent for Le Journal de Montréal.

In 1985, she was hired as Liberal leader John Turner's senior Quebec adviser and press attaché.

After two years of Mr. Turner's tumultuous reign as opposition leader, she left for the consulting firm Policy Concepts before becoming part owner of Tremblay Guittet Communications Inc.

After Mr. Gagliano became Public Works Minister in 1997, the firm got millions of dollars in contracts while Ms. Tremblay played a key role during elections, since Mr. Gagliano is the party's chief Quebec organizer.

Much of the money came from the Canada Information Office, created in the fall of 1996 and often called a conduit for patronage and propaganda.