Quebecor boss Pierre Karl Péladeau admitted in court that he directed the Garda firm to follow host Julie Snyder in the summer of 2016. He publicly denied this information at the time.
Published at 3:16 am. Updated at 5:00 am.
Mr. Péladeau made the unexpected admission as part of a lawsuit filed by Videotron against Productions J, Ms. Snyder’s television production company. The matter was resolved amicably on Friday. The terms of the contract are secret.
Videotron is Quebecor’s largest subsidiary, of which Mr. Péladeau is the majority shareholder.
The subject of the dispute was a bill for $45,000 that Videotron had demanded from Ms. Snyder since 2016 for roaming charges on a phone that she had provided to the son of the Péladeau-Snyder couple.
Ms. Snyder, who was then in the process of divorcing Mr. Péladeau, viewed this Videotron lawsuit as a form of legal abuse and sought $300,000 in punitive damages from Mr. Péladeau and his companies.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Productions J president Julie Snyder at the Montreal courthouse on Thursday
Ms. Snyder claimed during her testimony that even if Mr. Péladeau had been leader of the Parti Québécois and official opposition at the time these phone charges were incurred, he could well have had them removed.
“The links between Videotron, Pierre Karl and Quebecor continued throughout his political term. By his own admission, as far as I understand it, that is the trust [sans droit de regard] » in which Mr. Péladeau had placed his companies while running the PQ, “it was a joke” and a “no-brainer,” Ms. Snyder testified.
“We even took Quebecor’s private jet when he was an MP. Worse, there was Quebecor’s vice-president of legal affairs on board,” she added during a trip to the Magdalen Islands. Mr Péladeau stated in his testimony that he did not remember this event but that it was likely that it had occurred.
An invoice for a “pharaonic” amount
According to Mr. Péladeau, the “huge, pharaonic amount” of the phone bill is largely due to roaming charges incurred when Mr. Péladeau vacationed in Europe with his son in 2016.
The line, originally opened by Ms. Snyder at Telus, was transferred to Videotron by one of her employees. Mr. Péladeau allegedly assured her that he and his family benefited from a “VIP plan,” which gave them free access to all of the company’s services, and that he would cover any costs.
However, a few months later, Videotron demanded from Productions J. the unpaid amount of $45,000.
Mr Péladeau says he was informed of the situation by Videotron management “as a courtesy” before filing the lawsuit to recover the amount, but says there is nothing he can do.
First, [j’étais] in a situation of undeniable conflict of interest. Then I don’t understand why I should intervene for this or that delinquent invoice that has not been paid.
Pierre Karl Péladeau, President of Quebecor, justifies himself before Judge Karen Rogers
Ms. Snyder, whose company was facing bankruptcy at the time due to the abrupt end of its contracts with Quebecor Media, maintains that she did not see the law passed. “I have reached an agreement with 200 creditors, all of which I completed repaying in spring 2021. We have reached an agreement with every one of them except one [Vidéotron]those who persecute us today,” she lamented during a very emotional statement.
A series of objections from Mr. Péladeau
Ms. Snyder claims that at the time of submitting the bills, she was also concerned about a surveillance incident that she discovered was the target, an incident that forced her to seek an injunction from the Supreme Court , to announce the identity of the sponsor, previously under the generic pseudonym “John Doe.”
At the time, Mr. Péladeau denied that he had been the sponsor of the spinning in a statement sent to La Presse: “Mr. Péladeau is very surprised by this alleged spinning. He’s learning,” the businessman then said through his spokesman André Bouthillier.
Ms. Snyder’s lawyer, Me Hugo St-Laurent, sought to attack Mr. Péladeau’s credibility and then asked him why he had made such a “false” statement publicly, particularly to La Presse, in 2016 when he had been forced to do so by the court. to privately admit to Ms. Snyder “that he was the one who stalked her.”
Mr. Péladeau argued that he had no knowledge of such a thing and that the agent’s identity, which was never publicly disclosed, was subject to a publication ban.
“There is no confidentiality order, nothing,” Judge Karen Rogers told him. You have to answer. »
The person who ordered Garda to follow Ms. Snyder was me.
Pierre Karl Péladeau, President of Quebecor
“I didn’t think it was a good idea for people to know I was the principal,” the businessman added. He justified the surveillance by saying he was concerned about the past of a man Ms. Snyder was dating at the time.
“You took justice into your own hands”
The lawsuit, originally filed by Videotron in 2017, also involved Musique Sélect.
In 2020, that Quebecor subsidiary owed Productions J $93,000 for copyrights and royalties, Ms. Snyder and her lawyers argue. They claimed that Musique Sélect took this amount and gave it to Videotron to pay off Productions J’s debts. “You have taken justice into your own hands,” Ms. Snyder’s lawyer summarized in the hallways of the Palais de Justice.
At the end of the testimony, Judge Rogers urged both parties to attempt an out-of-court settlement. It had previously ordered Videotron to disclose the total amount of legal fees paid in the lawsuit against Productions J. The information ultimately does not have to be disclosed because the agreement was reached on Friday.