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OTTAWA — Alfonso Gagliano has lost a legal bid to overturn the findings of the sponsorship commission.
In a ruling Friday, a Federal Court judge rejected the former public works minister's claims of bias and procedural unfairness.
Justice Max Teitelbaum ruled that there is insufficient evidence to support commissioner John Gomery's findings that Mr. Gagliano was partly to blame for the federal sponsorship scandal.
The Liberal government of the day set up the sponsorship program to boost the federal profile in Quebec following the near-win by sovereigntists in the 1995 referendum.
In his 2005 report, Judge Gomery found that Mr. Gagliano shared some responsibility for the millions of dollars skimmed by Liberal-friendly advertising agencies.
Among other things, Judge Gomery concluded that Mr. Gagliano became directly involved in decisions to provide funding to events and projects based more on partisan goals than on national unity considerations.
