OTTAWA - Alfonso Gagliano, a former Liberal cabinet minister who played a key role in the sponsorship scandal of the early 2000s, has died.

He was 78.

His daughter Imma Gagliano confirmed his death, which occurred Saturday.

Gagliano represented the Montreal riding of Saint-Léonard in the House of Commons for 18 years, first winning a seat in 1984 in an election where the Progressive Conservatives garnered the biggest majority in Canadian history.

After notching multiple cabinet posts in the Liberal governments of the 1990s, Gagliano stepped down as MP in 2002 to accept an ambassadorship, but was dismissed by then-Prime Minister Paul Martin in 2004.

His fall from grace was triggered by the sponsorship scandal, which revolved around a system of kickbacks and inflated government contracts linked to a federal program that was created to boost Ottawa's presence in Quebec after the 1995 referendum.

Gagliano was a central figure in the program during his time as public works minister under former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, but always maintained he was a victim of the scandal.

After retiring from public life, Gagliano ran a vineyard that bears his name in Quebec's Eastern Townships.

"The love he had for his family and friends, along with his kindness, loyalty and wisdom, inspired so many of us and will live on in our hearts forever," Imma Gagliano said in an email.

"He was a proud Quebecer, Canadian and Italian with a strong passion for winemaking. Let us raise a glass in his honour, may he rest in peace."

Born in Sicily, Gagliano arrived in Canada in 1958 and worked as an accountant.

He served as a Catholic school board commissioner on the east island of Montreal starting in 1977, becoming president in 1983.

As an opposition lawmaker during the reign of Brian Mulroney, Gagliano honed his skills as critic for small business and tourism and later employment and immigration before enforcing the Liberal line as party whip.

He remained in that role — a non-cabinet post — after Chrétien swept to power in 1993, but rose swiftly to become deputy government leader the following year and labour minister in January 1996.

Fatefully, the prime minister put him in charge of public works in 1997, and made him his Quebec lieutenant in 2000.

As the head of the public works department, Gagliano oversaw the program geared to promote federalism in Quebec.

Gagliano, who never faced criminal charges in the sponsorship scandal and always denied wrongdoing, was removed from cabinet by Chrétien before being named ambassador to Denmark.

As the boondoggle began to be laid bare, Martin pulled Gagliano out of Copenhagen in 2004 and booted him from the party.

A 2005 report by Justice John Gomery said Gagliano and Chrétien shared some responsibility for millions of dollars being skimmed by Liberal-friendly advertising agencies under the sponsorship program.

Gomery's inquiry also found that some of the $150 million doled out to ad firms over six years was siphoned back to the federal Liberals.

Gagliano has said he did not know about the fraudulent spending in his department but accepted political responsibility for the fact it happened.

"It destroyed my political career, and I think my reputation has been destroyed," he wrote in a 2006 memoir, "Les Corridors du pouvoir" (The Corridors of Power).

"It's been tough for the family. But I have a strong family, and we bonded over this hard time."

Gagliano leaves behind his wife, three children and six grandchildren.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2020.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2020