French versus English Volume 88

This week in Quebec corruption

With the summer recess of the Charbonneau Commission, it would be reasonable to assume that news on the corruption front would peter out over the next month or two, but alas this certainly isn't the case.
It seems that the Quebec Tax department has taken up the slack and charged two infamous and notorious titans of Quebec's construction industry with hundreds of charges of fraud.

Tony Accurso and the various companies that he once owned have been charged with over 900 criminal charges of cheating the department out of taxes and so it is looking to recoup over $8 million dollars. Link
And in an announcement just a couple of days later, the department charged Frank Catania and his companies with almost 1000 charges of fiscal fraud. Link

On Wednesday, the police executed 15 search warrants and questioned another 15 people in relation to another tax fraud investigation, so the process continues.....

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Mr. Dressup?

In a bizarre story, the interim mayor of Laval, Alexandre Duplessis, has resigned, but not over allegations that he was involved in some illegal campaign financing (that case remains under investigation) but rather the more traditional sex scandal.
It seems that the mayor got into a pay dispute with an escort and accused her of shaking him down. Link
The cheeky owner of the escort service hit back hard going on television claiming that the mayor stiffed the escort for payment for a private party that the mayor initiated wherein he and the escort engaged in a girls night of dress-up, where the order of the day was trying on female underwear and dresses and applying makeup. Yeechhh!!!!!!!!

Once that allegation hit the airwaves, it was all over but the crying.
As for the mayor's job....NEXT!!!

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By the way, UPAC, the corruption police have a new target on the radar scope, the city of Granby and the ruling party which is suspected of illegal campaign financing as well.

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In a weird turn of events, UPAC served a warrant on the Charbonneau Commission to seize the $700,000 that was turned over to it by a Laval political fixer. The money was seized via a warrant to preserve the chain of custody and will be used as evidence in future criminal prosecutions.

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"Trust me, I'm not under investigation!"

Questions are being raised about UPACs behavior in the investigation of Michael Applebaum.
Clearly he was under investigation while he was campaigning for the interim-mayoral position, yet the police said nothing even though they were pretty sure he'd be soon be arrested.

Now it would have been unethical to announce publicly that Applebaum was under serious investigation, but a leak to a friendly journalist would have saved the city a lot of embarrassment. Let us remember that Applebaum vehemently denied that he was the target of a police investigation in light of the raids conducted on his office by UPAC, clearly what he and UPAC knew to be a bold-faced lie.
The question remains as to whether UPAC had an obligation to somehow set the record straight about the raids in light of Applebaum's false statements.

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Swiss police claim they have wiretap evidence proving that SNC-Lavalin made millions of dollars in illegal payoffs  in relation to the awarding of the Montreal super hospital contract. Link{fr}.

Now French police are investigating another case of SNC-Lavalin illegal payoffs; 

"The paper said French police are looking into $13.5-million of suspected kickbacks to someone based in the United Arab Emirates. It said an external auditor first discovered the sum as an anomaly in SNC Europe’s books and that the money appeared to have nothing to do with the company’s European business." link

Quebec minister's demands are a 'bridge too far.'

Gaudrealt: "..Gimme dat ting!, Gimme dat ting!!"

If ever there was an award for political 'Chutzpah', Quebec Minister of Transportation Sylvain Gaudreault would win hands down for his rolls-Royce demands that Ottawa pay for a diamond-plated bridge to replace the crumbling Champlain span connecting Montreal to the south shore.

I'm not really sure why it falls to Ottawa to pay for a bridge that lies completely within Quebec's borders, but apparently it does.
At any rate Mr. Gaudreault sent a letter to his federal counterpart, Denis Lebel,  chock full of hilarious demands.

Now if you are one of those readers, furious at Quebec's sense of entitlement, I heartily suggest that you calm yourself before proceeding to the details, or alternately, skip ahead to the next story...

 First, Mr. Gaudreault explained that tolls were out of the question because they weren't equitable (and for the fact that Ottawa would get the money to pay for and maintain the bridge) because it penalized poor people and slowed traffic down. He wants Ottawa to pick up the $5 billion tab exclusively and without conditions.
The fact that Montreal's newest bridge connecting Laval to eastern Montreal is a private toll bridge, is of course of no never-mind.

Then Mr. Gaudreault demanded that the bridge include a light rail system of Quebec's choosing that Ottawa would, of course pay for as well.

And then, for the cherry on top, the Minister demands that the bridge be an expensive architectural gem, a symbol worthy of Montreal as an international city.
To whit, the minister demanded that an international competition between world renowned architects  be held in order to secure the most lavish and expensive vanity prize.
I wonder if the minister recalls the last great Montreal project built by a renowned 'international architect,' one Roger Taililbert.

The whole affair reminds of the family member who orders an expensive appetizer, and a pricey bottle of wine to accompany the five-pound lobster he ordered, just because it was an uncle picking up the tab at the family reunion at Gibby's.
For those unfamiliar with the Yiddish word Chutzpah, here's an English expression that aptly describes such behavior...'Unmitigated gall!'

"They don't build'em like they used to!

Now what really amazes me is the fact that the ministers involved seem perfectly comfortable with the ten-year plan to build the bridge.
TEN YEARS!!!!! ...you've got to be kidding!

It only took around thirteen years to build the iconic Brooklyn Bridge and that was 143 years ago!
That was without computers or even motor-driven vehicles or power tools!

The George Washington Bridge, the behemoth 14 lane masterpiece over the Hudson in New York, was built in four years, back in 1927, as was San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge, built also in four years starting in 1927.

And by the way, all these bridges remain highly functional today, the average age between them, about 100 years.
Our Champlain bridge in Montreal is but 52 years old and on life support.

Readers, I bet the Chinese could knock up a new Champlain Bridge in under  eighteen months, they built a 27 mile ocean bridge (seven times bigger than the proposed Champlain replacement) in about four years. Link

Think I'm kidding?
Watch the Chinese erect and complete a 30 story hotel in 15 days!

  

How long would it take to build here? One, two or three years?

PQ loses gun registry appeal in Quebec's highest court.

In a unanimous and brief judgment, the appeal court found Quebec has no say in what Ottawa does with data in the federal long-gun registry that is now defunct in every province and territory except Quebec.
“Quebec has no rights over the data,” Chief Justice Nicole Duval Hesler wrote on behalf of a five-judge appeal panel. “The data does not belong to the province, the provinces exercise no control over the data, it is the sole responsibility of the director of the registry – a federal civil servant – from the moment the data is collected until their destruction.”  Link

The PQ government reacted swiftly, promising to appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court of Canada in a cynical and devious political manoeuvre where the inevitable loss would serve the PQ's purpose.

Readers, when you lose an appeals court verdict, 5-0, there's not much chance of succeeding in a higher court and the PQ knows it.
But it prefers and in fact is drooling for a loss in the Supreme Court rather than in it's very own Quebec Court of Appeal. Such is the politics of sovereigntist governance,

The Supremos must do us all a favour and quickly decide not to hear their case, making the gun registry loss a Quebec court issue.

If the Supreme Court foolishly decides to hear the appeal,  they are doing a disservice to the country and so I hope they quash the appeal as soon as possible.

Quebec City fretting about NHL franchise

It seems that the NHL's agreement with the city of Glendale, assuring that the Coyotes will be there for the foreseeable future has delivered a painful reality check to fans in Quebec City who were holding out hope that the franchise would be moved to their fair city.

PQ minister Agnès Maltais shared her disappointment with the Press but insisted that the new 'Field of Dreams' arena (build it and they will come) remains necessary with or with out an NHL LNH franchise.
That being said she deftly handed off responsibility to Quebec city Mayor Regis Lebeaume, calling it his baby, just in case the worst happens.

The palpable disappointment has some local writers and sportcasters musing that Quebec doesn't have what it takes to be an NHL franchise, with fans that are too poor to pay NHL ticket prices and little in the way of corporate sponsorship. Listen to a radio show in French
By the way, listening to the show you might be inclined to believe that commentator read my piece published the week before entitled: PQ & Péladeau Holding Back NHL Franchise in Quebec. 

But the truth is that Quebec is the most viable market available to the NHL, hands down, as long as the Toronto Maple Leafs assert their territorial rights to block expansion to Hamilton.

At any rate, the news of the Coyotes agreement set off a wave of disappointment high lighted by this ad placed in Kijiji, offering the new arena for rent.....

Odds'n Ends

A reader sent in this email and asks if anybody else has had the same experience.

"In 2011 I moved the headquarters of my federal corporation from Montreal to out of province. Almost like clockwork, 1 month after the PQ took power, we received a letter from Revenue Quebec stating that they are considering us a "compagnie mondiale" and are asking for an addition 2% on all our source deductions back to 2008. We called and explained that we simply moved to another part of Canada, but they said that since we didn't answer within 10 days, their decision was final (it takes letters approximately 10 days to reach me from Montreal). We have since spoken to them and they are willing to accept summaries of our federal T4's which we need to produce by Friday. I am wondering if this is blatant harassment of companies that leave Quebec and I wonder if it is more widespread. Have you heard anything about this from your readers? Could be an interesting story."

Joke of the Week
 "For those who haven't heard, Washington State just passed two landmark laws: "Gay marriage" & the "Legalization of marijuana".
 The fact that gay marriage and marijuana were legalized on the same day makes perfect biblical sense because Leviticus 20:13 says: "If a man lies with another man they should be stoned."
(S/O to Judy)
 
The rehabilitation of Quebec’s Maurice Duplessis

"To listen to the apologists of the Quiet Revolution, Quebeckers under Duplessis lived a benighted existence under the thumb of the Catholic Church, denied the economic opportunity available to other Canadians, and particularly to their neighbours in prosperous Ontario. ".......
......The historical record, as set out in Mr. Geloso’s book and other recent works, says otherwise. Duplessis’s was an era of unprecedented expansion of the economy and public services, closing the gap with Ontario at a rapid clip." Read a fascinating article in the Globe and Mail

BTW (By the Way) Two new acronyms for this blog... S/O "Shout out"   P/W 'Paywall'

Here's an interesting ad;

'Moving Day' replaces 'Canada Day' in Quebec Best Buy ad

 Quebecers work almost three weeks less a year than Ontarians. Link{fr}

Poll: Quebec 'worst managed,' 'least friendly';

Read the complete survey results here

What's wrong with this picture?

I was watching an episode of 'Magic City,' a television series surrounding Miami Beach circa 1959, featuring the trials and tribulations of a Jewish hotel owner, backed by the mob.
In this episode, that is accurately dated by its storyline which includes Castro taking over Havana and closing the casinos, a view of the front of the hotel had me scratching my head.
Can you identify the gaffe?

Montreal Canadiens sign  francophone has-been.

I wrote this over a year and a half ago, the fact that Canadiens are having trouble attracting talent, especially francophone Quebecers.

"This coupled with the strange fact that francophone stars eschew Montreal as well, ensures that the team is on a downward spiral, sucked into a linguistic black hole, never to escape....
.....Agents of star players will cross off Montreal from the list of acceptable destinations and so the Canadiens will choose from has-beens, also-rans and aging veterans closing out their career. Its already happened, but no one will admit it."  Language Flap Damages Canadiens Brand 

And so the Canadiens signed Daniel Briere, the very same player who rejected Montreal out of hand when he was a hot property six years ago, enraging fans who have booed him on every visit to Montreal.

No doubt there will be joy in Mudville tonight, but lets us remember that after a disastrous season, Briere was bought out and tossed aside by Philadelphia Flyers like a bad burrito.
All I can say about the Canadiens signing him is summed up in the line that got by Sean Avery dumped from the New York Ranger...."Sloppy Seconds'

How did the signing go over ?
Well the language militants are thrilled to repatriate and a francophone to the team, but hockey fans are not so impressed.
Read the vicious comments below a story on the signing in La Presse, entitled Six Years Later. Ouch!!


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Have a great weekend

Bonne fin de semaine