Marcel Aubut

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Marcel Aubut
Saint-Hubert-de-Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, Canada
OccupationLawyer
Known forPresident and Chief Executive Officer of the Quebec Nordiques

Marcel Aubut,

Chief Executive Officer of the Quebec Nordiques of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was a board member of many businesses and organizations.[1]

He is currently a Quebec City-based lawyer at M.A. Droit & Stratégie d'affaires inc.[2] He previously worked at Heenan Blaikie and BCF.

Personal life

Born in

Queen's Counsel in 1987. In 1970, he married Francine Vallée. They had three children: Mélanie, Julie and Catherine.[3]

Honours

In 1986, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Officer in 1993.[4] In 2006, he was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec.[5] In 1999, he was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.

Quebec Nordiques and hockey

He was a member of the National Hockey League's Board of Governors. He is the former president of the Canadian Olympic Committee.[6]

He was also instrumental in the defections of

Marian and Peter Šťastný from communist Czechoslovakia to play for the Quebec Nordiques
.

When the Nordiques drafted future NHL superstar Eric Lindros in the 1991 draft, Lindros refused to play for the team. It was later revealed by Lindros in a 2016 interview that this decision was based entirely on Aubut, explaining, "The decision to not play for Quebec was based solely on the owner. It had nothing to do with language, culture, [or] city. Keep in mind, my wife is French [from Quebec]. I was not going to play for that individual – period."[7]

Aubut was president of the Nordiques when the team was sold to an American communications company and moved to

Maclean's magazine reported that Aubut personally made $15 million from the sale and that T-shirts reading "Marcel Aubut: Wanted Dead or Alive" were not an uncommon sight in Quebec City at the time.[8]

Recently, he proposed Quebec City as home of a new NHL team. Aubut argued that with the new NHL

in 2008, the city could build a new arena or a stadium.

On October 9, 2009 Aubut met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. The meeting reportedly dealt with plans for a brand new Quebec arena. The unofficial details were that the city of Quebec was a leading candidate for a new franchise or one for relocation.[9] An agreement for a new arena was reached in March 2012.[citation needed]

Canadian Olympic Committee

Aubut was named a member at large of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) in 2000, and was elected to the Board of Governors and Executive Committee in 2005. In 2009, he was voted in as President-elect of the COC, taking over from Michael A. Chambers following the 2010 Winter Olympics in the spring of 2010. Aubut was the first francophone ever elected President of the COC.[10]

During his time as President, Aubut greatly raised the profile of Canada's Olympic athletes and expanded the COC's operations, with corresponding increases in revenues and expenditures supporting amateur sport.[11] In 2014 Aubut was acclaimed to a second four-year term as President. He served as a member of the Board of the organizing committee for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, and was appointed to the International Relations Commission of the International Olympic Committee.

On September 25, 2015, the COC received a complaint from a staff member at the Canadian Olympic Foundation alleging sexual harassment by Aubut.

Quebec Superior Court justice François Rolland as an independent investigator.[13][14] After more allegations against Aubut appeared in the press, Aubut resigned as President of the COC on October 3, 2015.[15]

References

  1. ^ "M. Marcel Aubut". WSJ.
  2. ^ "Marcel Aubut de retour". Droit Inc.
  3. .
  4. ^ "Order of Canada citation".[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "National Order of Quebec citation" (in French).
  6. ^ "Marcel Aubut, Partner, Lawyer, Vice Chairman of the Board, O.C., O.Q., Q.C., AD.E". BCF Business Law. Archived from the original on 2014-11-12. Retrieved 2014-11-12.
  7. ^ LeBrun, Pierre. "Controversies behind him, Lindros now one happy camper". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2016-11-10.
  8. ^ Gatehouse, Jonathon. "Canada's new Olympic boss". Maclean's.ca. Retrieved 2012-01-29.
  9. ^ "Premier believes NHL interested in Quebec City - Sportsnet.ca". Archived from the original on 9 December 2013.
  10. ^ "Former Nordiques president Aubut to head COC". cbc.ca. March 28, 2009. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  11. ^ Leblanc, Daniel & Gordon, Sean (January 25, 2014). "All eyes on the Marcel Aubut Show ahead of Sochi". The Globe and Mail. The Canadian Press. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  12. ^ "Ex-Canadian Olympic Committee head 'infinitely regrets' hurting people". CBC News. October 9, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  13. ^ Leblanc, Daniel & Gordon, Sean (September 30, 2015). "COC probes harassment complaint against president Marcel Aubut". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  14. ^ "COC head Marcel Aubut steps aside after sex harassment complaint". CBC News. September 30, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  15. ^ "COC accepts resignation of president Marcel Aubut". The Globe and Mail. The Canadian Press. October 3, 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2015.