PMO failed to check with key former employers before Payette's appointment as Governor General: sources

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his officials never conductedchecks with Julie Payette's former employers at theMontreal Science Centre and the Canadian Olympic Committeethat might have raised red flags about her behaviourwith co-workers and subordinates before her appointment as Governor General, sources tellCBC News.

Multiple sources havetold CBC Newsthey were stunned byTrudeau's decision to appoint Payette in 2017. They havequestioned the prime minister's judgment.

"A number of us were blown away when she got appointed," said a former board member at theCanada Lands Company (CLC), the self-financing Crown corporation that owns and operates theMontreal Science Centre.Payettewasvice president of CLCandchief operating officer of the Montreal Science Centrefrom 2013 to 2016.

"This is a Crown corporation owned by the government," said the former board member."You would have thought they'd call to check out her credentials."

Payette and herRideau Hall office arenow at the centre of an unprecedented third-party investigationlaunchedby the Privy Council Office. In July, a CBC News report quoteda dozen confidential public servants and former employees who claim the Governor Generalbelittled, berated and publicly humiliated Rideau Hall staff.

Payette receivedseverance in 2016: sources

Payette was given severance of roughly$200,000 when she resigned from the Montreal Science Centrein 2016 followingcomplaints about her treatment of employees, saymultiple sources. In 2017, Payette left the Canadian Olympic Committee after two internal investigations into her treatment of staff including verbal harassment, sources said.

CBC News spoke to 15confidential sources who worked with Payette, including current and former employees and board members at the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Montreal Science Centre, theCanada Lands Companyand the Canadian Space Agency.They spoke on the condition they not be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly, could lose their jobs, still work in the industry or,in some cases, continue to interact with Rideau Hall.

The Prime Minister's Office would not say if it wasaware of the complaints made againstPayetteat these institutions.

"The Governor General is recommended on a broad range of factors and done with the appropriate due diligence," said press secretary Alex Wellstead in a statement to CBC News. "Any questions about previous roles should be directed to the organizations in question."

A spokesperson for the Governor General's office issued a statement to CBC News calling Payette an "outstanding Canadian" and "a trailblazer for women" and pushed back against the reports of workplace harassment.

"Over the course of her career, no formal complaint has ever been filed against her, nor has she ever resigned from a board of director position, including at the Canadian Olympic Committee, where she finished her term," said the statement from Payette's press secretary, Ashlee Smith.

"She has served on more than a dozen boards over the years in an exemplary manner," the statement said.

Payette accused of berating stafferat 2016 Olympics

In April of 2016 the year Payette left the Montreal Science Centre she was appointed to the board of the Canadian Olympic Committee.That sameyear,two employeesof the Canadian Olympic Committee(COC) complained to the committee about Payette's treatment of staff, triggeringinternal HR investigations.

TheCOC board spoke to Payette about the complaints, said the sources.Payette did not apply for an extended term.

In one case, Payette was accused of berating a youngfemale employee to the point oftearswhileat the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio in August, according to several current and former Canadian Olympic Committee staffers.

Payette is alleged to havescreamed at the employee over having to waitwith her son for a Canadian Olympic Committee vehicle to pick them up from an event they attended privatelyin Copacabana, the sources claimed. Payette complained it wasn't healthy for them to be standing on the street breathing in pollution for that longand called the situation "ridiculous,"the sources claim.

In the second instance of a COC employee filing a complaint against Payette, say sources,Payettewas accused in November of 2016ofoversteppingher authority bythreateningto fire an employee during a meeting for not having readyanswersto her questions.

"Staff couldn't do anything to make her happy," said oneformer COCemployee. "She would erupt out of nowhere. What she chalked up to appropriate behaviour would under every circumstance be inappropriate behaviour. We were all just supposed to sit there and take it."

When contacted about this story, Payette'spress secretarysuggestedCBC Newsspeak to John Furlong to provide balance to the unnamed accounts of Payette'sconduct. Furlongworked withPayetteon the board of Own the Podium, a not-for-profit organization that supportsCanadian Olympic athletes,for several years before she joined the COC.

Furlong, the former chair of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC), said he witnessed no incidents of harassment involving Payetteduring that timeand called her "an exemplary board member.

"She had a perfect attendance record. She did her homework and read the material, which was extensive," he told CBCNews.

"She was very engaged, collaborative [and] involved. I would give her a very high mark for her performance there."

(Furlong ishimselfno stranger to controversy. He wasaccused in 2012 of verbal and physical abuse of First Nations studentsin northern B.C. decades ago, allegations Furlong has consistently and strenuously denied.The RCMPinvestigated and concluded there were no grounds forcharges,and civil claims were eitherdropped or dismissed.)

In her media statement, Smith pointed outthat,"shortly before her term was completed, [Payette]was appointed as a member of the International Olympic Committee Women in Sport Commission on which she still serves."

Payettebecame a COC board member in April 2016 after the former president Marcel Aubut resigned over a sexual harassment scandal in 2015. In the wake of the controversy, the organization vowed to make sweeping changesto prevent similar issues in the future.

In a statement issued to CBC News, the Canadian Olympic Committee said it "is not appropriate for us to make public comment on any former or current Board member on such matters and leave this to the mandate of the Office of the Privy Council." Instead, theorganization pointed CBC News toits conduct policy, which states thatharassment is not tolerated and says thateven "one incident could be enough to constitute harassment."

"Harassment includes bullying, and can take many forms but often involves conduct, comment or display that is insulting, intimidating, humiliating, hurtful, demeaning, belittling, malicious, degrading, or otherwise causes offence, discomfort, or personal humiliation or embarrassment to a person or group of persons," reads the policy.

A former Canada Lands employee with direct knowledge of the matter said the Crowncorporationcould have warned the Prime Minister's Office had it reached outbefore Payette's appointment.

"The red flags were her relationship with her employees, her controlling attitudeand her resistance to administrative authority," said a former board member.

The board of directors at Canada Lands met Payette at an annual gala in 2013. Bowled over by hercharisma and celebrity status in Quebec, theyrushed to hire Payette without the normal due diligence or evaluation process, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

The board members hoped Payette would woo donors and boost fundraising. But it quickly became clear Payettelacked experience in managing staff and was learning on the job, multiple sources claim.

A 'tense' and 'painful' time

The National Post documented Payette's tumultuous time at the science museum and how her behaviour foreshadowed issues later reported at Rideau Hall. Radio Canada also reported onclaims thatPayettehadcreated a toxic climate there bysubjectingemployeestounjustified criticism.

CBC News spoke to several people who worked with Payette at the Montreal Science Centre, including former employees who claim they were victims of verbal harassment. One former staff member described it as a "tense" and "painful time" and saidstaff membersnever knew who would be the target ofPayette's criticismsat a meeting.

"HR was aware," said a different source with direct knowledge. "Everyone was aware. HR were witnessing it because they were in the same meetings.Some colleagues complained directly to HR."

Senior management at Canada Lands also sawPayette sulk and turn teary-eyed in meetings if she didn't get her way, said asource. In onecase, said a source, Payettepushed back against a plan forCanada Landsto commissiona routine survey ofemployeesto improve theworking environment atits properties.

"Julie fought it tooth and nail," said one former Canada Lands employee. "She strongly resisted wanting it done at the Montreal Science Centre."

Canada Lands went ahead with the survey. Payette was still so upset with the projectthat,when anHR consultant arrivedto give a presentation about the survey, Payette pointedlyignored them, according to two sources who say theywitnessed the interaction first-hand.

The Canada Lands Company quietlyawarded Payette a year's salary as severancewhen she resigned in Oct. 2016, said multiple former employees andformer board members. Sources said she was paid the severance so thatthe federal Crowncorporationsmanaging the science museum Canada Lands andthe Old Port of Montreal could protecttheir reputations.

Canada Lands said that for privacy reasons, and out of respect for current and past employees, it "will not discuss personnel matters." Itdid say it has a "comprehensive" policy onrespect in the workplace that applies to all staff.

"Ms. Payette's departure was her decision after serving three years at the Montreal Science Centre," said Canada Lands' VP of corporate communications Marcelo Gomez-Wiuckstern in a statement to CBC News. "She contributed greatly to the Science Centre's success and we appreciated her ideas and vision."

'I don't want to be in a room with her'

Complaints aboutPayette'sworkplace behaviour date all the wayback to her years at the Canadian Space Agency in the 1990s and early 2000s. Some who worked with her there say they have no wish to interact with her again.

"I don't want to be in a room with her, unless she wanted to apologize," said one former Canadian Space Agency employee. "She would comment on people's work in a very negative and demeaning way. There is Julie Payette's way or it's not good."

Sources reportPayettewouldlashout at staff bycallingthem at homeduring off-hours to denigrate their work.

"For me leadership is about helping others grow. She's the other way around," said one former employee. "She didn't want to help others shine."

Others describea moreprofessional, collegial workplacerelationship with Payette.

Fabienne Lebranchu worked at the agencyon Payette's second mission to space, booking her travel tickets and expense claims. She said that whenshe travelled to Houston for work, Payette would invite her to her house for a glass of wine so thatshe wouldn't be stuckalone in a hotel room.

Lebranchu said Payette has a type-A personality, like other astronauts, and had astressful job at the Canadian Space Agency,but she never sawher treat hercolleagues poorly.

"She was very nice," said Lebranchu,adding she'd liketo work with Payette again at Rideau Hall. "She appreciated the work we did for her, she would thank us and always asked us if she needed anything else for her expense claims."

Maclean'smagazine has reported that, for two years in a row, Payette's office at Rideau Hallranked among the worst in the public service for harassment complaints. An annual government surveyconductedlast year showed 22 per cent of respondents working for Rideau Hall claimed to have experienced harassment. Of those employees, 74 per cent attributed the harassmentto individuals with authority over them.

Trudeau defended vetting process

Trudeau is now facingrenewed criticism over his approach to choosing Payette for the job selecting his personal pickfor the role rather than using former prime minister Stephen Harper's advisory committee process to suggest suitable candidates.

For months,Trudeau skirted thecontroversy overPayette'srelationship with Rideau Hall staff. He came to her defence early this month,callingPayettean "excellent" Governor General and sayinghe had no intention of replacing her right now. Thatcomment upset thewhistleblowers who claimedharassment onesaid Trudeau's wordsfelt like a "kick to the stomach."

In 2017,the online political news outletiPoliticsreportedthatpolice hadcharged Payette with second-degree assault in 2012while she wasliving in Maryland;the charge was later dismissed and expungedfrom her recordand Payette herself called the charge "unfounded".

The Toronto Star also reported thatPayette had struck and killed a pedestrian while driving in Maryland in 2011. Police subsequentlyfound Payette was not at fault.

Trudeau defended hisvetting process In 2017and said nothing in Payette'spast disqualified her from the job of Queen's representative.

"I assure everyone that there are no issues that arose in the course of that vetting process that would be any reason to expect Mme. Payette to be anything other than the extraordinary governor general that she will be," he said in July 2017.

Barbara Messamore, a history professor at the University of the Fraser Valley and fellow of the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada at Massey College, said the advisory board is a recent innovation and Trudeau didn't abandon a time-honoured tradition. She said there's still astrongargument for using it now,in light of therecent controversy.

And if the government didn't ask the Montreal Science Museum and Canadian Olympic Committee forreferences, she said, it "suggests a failure of the vetting process."

"The process that was used was evidently not entirely adequate," said Messamore. "It didn't uncover some things that ought to have been known. If they did indeed know those things, I would have described them as a deal-breaker."

Ashley Burke can be reached at ashley.burke@cbc.ca. Kristen Everson can be reached at kristen.everson@cbc.ca.