Pettigrew: In case of disaster, call me in Montmartre

Paris-loving Pettigrew under fire for absences -- Foreign Affairs minister keeps pied-a-terre in Montmartre Glen McGregor, The Ottawa Citizen, Sept. 5, 05

There is a concern, voiced privately by some at Foreign Affairs, that Mr. Pettigrew risks embarrassment for himself and the department should he be stranded in Paris during a national emergency that requires senior ministers at the cabinet table in Ottawa and not just on the speaker phone.

[. . . . ] When the Citizen visited his Paris home this weekend, it was occupied by Martin-Pierre Pelletier who, until this spring, served as Mr. Pettigrew's senior policy adviser on softwood lumber and U.S.-Canada trade relations.

He now works for Ottawa lobby firm Prospectus Associates, alongside former Tory strategist Bill Pristanski and Bruce Hartley, who previously served as prime minister Jean Chretien's executive assistant.

Mr. Pelletier is retained by the Quebec Forest Industry Council, a trade group, to lobby Mr. Pettigrew's department, according to his lobbyist registration with Industry Canada. He was staying in the apartment for a few days before heading to Provence with his wife on a summer holiday.

Min. of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Pelletier seems to be in the House of Commons regularly during sittings; perhaps one should look at the friends network and whether there is influence on Canada's foreign policy, et cetera.

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