Marois Leaps to the Defence of Quebec's Crooked Business Elite

It was a decision applauded by the public, the banning for five years of a crooked engineering firm, Dessau, from bidding on City of Montreal contracts as punishment for participating in an illegal cartel that rigged bids in relation to construction projects in the city that reportedly inflated costs by up to 30%

Interim Mayor Michael Applebaum who replaced disgraced ex-mayor Gerald Tremblay
(forced to resign over the issue of corruption under his watch at city hall,) made the announcement to a generally favorable revues. Link

"Let me be clear, I remain firm, I will not change my mind," Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum, who reiterated Tuesday that the engineering/consulting firms which admitted cheating Montrealers will not get a contract for five years.

Friday, Michael Applebaum announced that the engineering and construction firm Dessau not be able to bid on any contract in the territory of the city for a period of five years.

"I do not accept to do business with companies that have stolen money. I will continue to defend the interests of citizens, said, a visibly annoyed Applebaum. I will not flinch and I'll go even further  to defend the interests of my constituents. "

But it didn't play so well with the political class in Quebec city who fretted that if Dessau was banned, all the other major Quebec consulting/engineering firms would face a similar fate, because they too were involved and were as guilty as Dessau.
If the Applebaum rule holds firm, there's hardly a construction company in the Montreal area that is clean enough to qualify for the right to bid on city projects.

Hmmm..... What's the city to do if all the players are crooks and all the crooks are banned?

And so it fell to Pauline Marois to defend the delinquent firms with the zeal and ardor of a mother defending her rapist son.  "Raping aside, He's really a good boy!"

(translation) The Marois government called on Mayor Michael Applebaum and elected officials in Montreal to exercise caution in their crusade against the colluding consulting engineering firms.

The recent decision by the City of Montreal to ban Dessau from bidding on public contracts for five years concerned the PQ, who feared the impact on the industry.

"We're still in a society of law and so there are possibilities of civil actions. (...) But just because a company testifies before the Charbonneau commission we shouldn't presume it is guilty, as is it was some sort of trial that took place," said Pauline Marois, yesterday when pressed by her CAQ opposite.

Minister Jean-François Lisée issued a warning to Mayor Applebaum. "I do not feel we are following the best course, so I am calling for a sober second thought. The decision for the five-year banning in a certain particular case, requires more thought, but I will not elaborate further than that, today," he said.

The head of the CAQ, François Legault, also invited Michael Applebaum to exercise caution, fearing that by removing several industry players, a necessary and healthy competition might be eliminated.

The Caquiste leader continues to call for civil actions against the collusionary firms in order to recover the money that was stolen from Quebecers. "We see the lack of leadership from Marois, she should immediately work with Mr. Applebaum to find a solution"

Other concerns;
The members of the National Assembly are not the only ones concerned about the approach of the mayor of Montreal.

The Order of Engineers of Quebec is worried that the decision by Mr. Applebaum discourages other witnesses from coming  forward.

"For us, the concern is that it is helpful to air interesting stories, important stories," said the Journal of the College President, Daniel Lebel. According to him, we must not lose sight that "there remains major Québec expertise" among the consulting engineers which we are likely to forgo.  Read the original story in French

As I've pointed out in previous posts, practically the entire cadre of engineering/consulting firms operating in Quebec, as well as the chief construction firms are implicated in various levels of malfeasance, where paying off politicians and political parties is de rigueur.

So what's a government to do when it finds itself between a rock and a hard place?

Perhaps it's a case of just giving up and bending over and taking it.
And it isn't unprecedented.

Eric Holder-Wall St. to 'Big' to prosecute

In fact, even the mighty United States government found itself in a not dissimilar position.

"Attorney General Eric Holder admitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that banks are simply too big to prosecute.
The Justice Department has not brought a single criminal conviction against a Wall Street executive four years after a financial crisis proven to have been precipitated by fraudulent behavior. On Wednesday, Holder admitted that the vast size of major banks and the structural integration in the economy makes criminal prosecutions basically impossible.
“I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy,” Read more

So what is the Quebec solution to all this?

In a word.....Re-branding.

The players involved know that their name is mud and so a neat solution is to just change the name and re-shuffle ownership to give the appearance of renewal.

It's a childish solution that fools only those that wish to be fooled, but the reality is that the government is looking to be fooled as a way out.

And so to paraphrase that famous opening line on 'Dragnet' "The names have been changed to protect the guilty."

It started in Mascouche where notorious construction boss, Normand Trudel, who is already indicted on corruption and collusion charges in relation to his company Transport et Excavation Mascouche,
which is implicated with the ex-mayor of the city, Richard Marcotte, also under indictment.

The company changed its name to Construction Axika and lo and behold,is under new owner, his son Simon Trudel. Link{fr}

Then there is  Genivar, a giant engineering/construction firm, also allegedly deeply implicated in corruption.

"Quebec engineering firm Genivar Inc. is changing its name and adopting a new global corporate structure as it seeks to distance itself further from a corruption scandal rocking the construction industry in its home province.
Genivar said Wednesday it will ask for shareholder backing to rebrand the firm as WSP Global. Link

Then there is the infamous Tony Accurso, the alleged grandaddy of construction corruption, who is under indictment and investigation in various cases of fraud. Louisbourg SBC and Simard-Beaudry, two Accurso companies, have already pleaded guilty to evading $4 million in federal taxes.

"The consortium that bought the construction empire once led by Tony Accurso says it expects to be eligible for government contracts despite the scandal-plagued history of its former owner and Quebec’s stringent anti-corruption laws.
Directors of Groupe Hexagone say the acquisition marks a clean start for the firms, including one that pleaded guilty to evading $4 million in taxes in 2010, and whose owner was arrested twice last year on charges of fraud and influence peddling. Link

But the 'new' group that purchased Mr Accurso's assets includes some familiar faces, namely Mr. Accurso's two sons.....

But unlike the U.S government and Wall Street, the Quebec government actually does have a choice.
It can open up contracts to companies outside the province, and allow Ontario engineering firm and construction companies to bid on contracts. These companies could sub-contract to locals and most jobs would be preserved for Quebecers.

But is there any chance of that happening?
Not a one. The consensus amongst, the political class, as well as the media is that Quebec is better off with its own gang of thieves, rather than give the business away, with the caveat that the government just needs to do a better job of supervision.

It reminds me of the clamor that French language militants made when in Montreal's municipal election, anglo and ethnic voters preferred a corrupt administration led by Gerald Tremblay rather than one led by separatist Louise Harel.

Rick Blue (of Bowser and Blue fame)  described the reasons for this in a hilarious piece for the West Island Gazette entitled  Why Anglos prefer the Mafia to separatists?

1. The Mafia only wants control over drugs, prostitution and construction. Separatists want control over everything
2. The Mafia doesn’t force everyone to speak Italian
3. The Mafia doesn’t depress housing prices
4. The Mafia isn’t the reason our children move to Toronto and Calgary and Vancouver.
5. You can reason with the Mafia.

French commentators like Richard Martineau called the piece racist, but let's be honest, the piece was funny as heck!
And now the tables are turned rather neatly as francophones are overwhelmingly in favour of doing business with Quebec construction crooks rather than go outside the province.

I'm sure that Mr. Martineau subscribes to the current belief that it's better to deal with crooked Quebec companies than honest Ontario companies.

And as Alanis Morissette sang  "Isn't it ironic ... don't you think?"