QUEBEC - Quebec Premier Jean Charest says he did not try to prevent the recent dismissal of the province's delegate-general in New York City even if the two men have been friends for decades.

Bruno Fortier told a national assembly committee this week he was fired last month because of a work conflict with a fellow employee at the New York office.

Charest testified at the committee Tuesday it would have been inappropriate for him as premier to intervene in the case but noted "there's nothing wrong with being a friend of the premier's."

Charest said his last conversation with Fortier was in January but that they did not speak about any work-related problems.

"Mr. Fortier didn't bring it up and I didn't even think about it because it didn't strike me as significant at that time," Charest said. "We spoke about Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebrations."

Fortier has testified he was shown the door after pulling some work responsibilities from a female employee who had previously filed a complaint of psychological harassment against him.

"I believed, and I still believe, that I was able to do that (cut her job responsibilities)," he said.

"It did not affect the remuneration, and the objective was to reduce the contact between us in the context of an interpersonal work conflict that was affecting the atmosphere in the office."

Alain Cloutier, the deputy international relations minister, had previously prohibited Fortier from contacting the female employee, and Fortier was "invited" to sign a letter of resignation.

"I refused to sign it and I won't sign it," he said. "The treatment I received from my employer still strikes me today as unjustly severe."

Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Quebec's international relations minister, said Fortier was let go because of insubordination and a lack of judgment.

"We warned him not to bug the complainant and the first thing he does is send her a note informing her that her job is being modified," said Gagnon-Tremblay.

"I told myself: 'If he showed a lack of judgment and was stubborn and insubordinate in the first six months, what was it going to be like over the next three years?"' she said.

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