Statement made in election flyer

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Tim Jaques and Bill Clarke

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Tim Jaques/Tribune

Roy Therrieau, campaign manager for Madawaska-Restigouche Conservative candidate Jean-Pierre Ouellet, listened Thursday in Campbellton as Ouellet issued a demand that Liberal candidate Jean-Claude D'Amours retract a statement made in an election circular that alleged Ouellet had called the voters of the riding "defeatist".

Campbellton - As the federal election was winding down on Thursday, Madawaska-Restigouche Conservative candidate Jean-Pierre Ouellet put Liberal incumbent Jean-Claude D'Amours on notice that he would sue him for libel if he did not make a public retraction of a statment made in a campaign circular.
The circular said that Ouellet called the people of Restigouche region "defeatist" in an article that appeared on April 11, 2007 in La Madawaska, an Edmundston newspaper.
"I am appalled by the declaration Mr. D'Amour said about me in a flyer distributed in all the Restigouche residence this week. Mr. D'Amours said that I said that the people of Madawaska-Restigouche are defeatist. I have never mentioned this word and would never declare that my constituents are that way," Ouellet said at a press conference in Campbellton on Thursday night.
The French-language article, which was produced by Ouellet at the press conference, does not directly quote Ouellet as using the word defeatist, although it is used by the reporter. Ouellet said in the 2007 interview that it there would be nothing to be gained for him by treating one region of the riding differently from others.
Ouellet said that the statement in the flyer was the action of a "desperate candidate" trying to "discredit" his reputation. Ouellet said that he had been heavily involved in work in Restigouche even though he wasn't the MP, such as helping the Charlo airport, the St. Arthur school, the fish hatchery, and projects in the western part of the county. He said that he would "never" make such a comment about Restigouche people.
Ouellet had a formal notice demanding a retraction sent to D'Amours by a law firm, although he had not yet issued a statement of claim in court.
"I have to limit my comments because it's in the hands of my lawyers," said D'Amours, when reached for comment. "I will have to wait for advice from the lawyers."
D'Amours continued, "I do not understand why he has done that. I have only used the information that was in the Madawaska newspaper."
D'Amours said that he had repeated the allegation — twice — at the Sept. 29 candidates debate in Campbellton, which was recorded by Rogers Television and was been aired several times in the days leading up to the election.
"I mentioned it twice and I said, 'I do not accept what you said about the people of the Restigouche in the article in Le Madawaska newspaper April 11, 2007.' Instead of denying (it), he changed the subject," D'Amours alleged.
"I mentioned it the second time and instead of saying it's not true, he changed again the subject. If you take all those things together, I feel that's why I do not understand. He had not replied. He had not done anything since what I mentioned during the event. It's public record. It's on television each day since last Sunday and he never mentioned anything about that. Now, out of the blue...."
D'Amours denied that he had sent the flyer in question to all of Restigouche, saying that it was only sent to the area mentioned in the newspaper article, being the Saint-Quentin, Kedgwick, St. Martin, Saint-Jean-Baptiste area.
But Ouellet was adament at his press conference that he wasn't posturing and wanted a formal public retraction from D'Amours.
"I repeat that I never made this statement in an interview."