MONTREAL -- Federal funding for the Montreal Just for Laughs festival increased last year from C$1.2 million ($740,000) to $1 million and the federal Heritage Ministry more than tripled its funding for the event --around the same time the fest was hiring a longtime friend and former top aide in the office of Prime Minister Jean Chretien.
There were reports in the Canadian media Monday that the fest received several unusual grants just before it hired Jean Carle as exec VP and chief of operations at Groupe Rozon last summer. Groupe Rozon is a private company run by Gilbert Rozon, who also runs a nonprofit corporation that manages the festival. Fest is one of the world's top comedy events and always attracts a major contingent of Hollywood players.
Fest organizers said the increased grants and the hiring of Carle were unrelated.
"If, in 2001, we received more money than the year before from the federal government, it's simply because we submitted more projects," said Michele Bazin, head of government relations for the Just for Laughs Festival. "It's important to remember that tobacco sponsorship is no longer available (because of federal anti-tobacco legislation) and was only replaced in part by money from the Quebec government."
Last June, Public Works Canada announced a $128,000 sponsorship deal for the festival's improvisation tournament and then, just weeks later, gave the tournament another $128,000 grant. Canadian Heritage tripled its financing of the festival, going from $62,000 in 2000 to $232,500 last year.
Officials from both Public Works Canada and Canadian Heritage said there was no link between the new cash and the appointment of Carle.
Carle was formerly head of the Business Development Bank and was at the center of a controversy regarding a loan by the bank to a hotel in Prime Minister Chretien's electoral district in Quebec.
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