Jean Pelletier (born February 21, 1935 in Chicoutimi, Quebec) is a Canadian political operative and former head of VIA Rail. He has been an important member and a leading organizer of the Liberal Party of Canada.
He began his political career with the Union Nationale party, and was elected mayor of Quebec City in 1977, a position he held until 1988. With the demise of the Union Nationale, he joined the Liberal Party, and was an unsuccessful Liberal candidate in the 1993 election.
He has long been a close ally and a very close friend of Jean Chrétien. They have known each other for fifty years, having first met at boarding school while still youths. They attended law school together and earned similar reputations as being aggressive. When Chrétien became Prime Minister in 1993, Pelletier became the Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister's Office.
He was known as the person who would aggressively fight for the prime minister's interests. He was nicknamed the "Silent Executioner" for the ease with which he could end problems, and sometimes others' political careers, without causing any fracas in the media. He was often considered the second most powerful man in Canada, after Chrétien. He was a leader in the unsuccessful battle to keep Paul Martin from taking over the party in 2003.
On May 4, 2001, Chrétien appointed Pelletier president of VIA Rail, a Crown corporation, replacing Marc LeFrançois.