Quebec Corruption-Time to Put the Hammer Down!

I read the comments section religiously and while I often disagree with what is said, many times my opinion is shaped or re-shaped by the observations made.

In relation to the Construction industry corruption scandal that is now gripping Quebec I must say I couldn't agree more with these comments offered under the blog piece-Corruption Bombshell To Explode in Quebec

Anonymous said...

The mafia (in conjunction with the labour unions that they control) run the construction industry and they've been doing this for decades. I know I'm going on a tangent here but the folks ultimately responsible for all of the corruption are already known by the police. Everybody knows who the crime bosses are but nobody is willing to do anything about it. Heck, it's almost as if nobody cares that organized crime runs so many rackets in Montreal. 

JohnL said...

@Press 9: We don't need a commission to tell us what we already know: Organized crime owns the construction industry and the unions. Instead of worrying about costly commissions, why aren't we focusing our energies on the real problem, which is the mafia? 

JohnL said...

And let's be honest: Quand on dit que "les Québécois EXIGENT une commission" all this means is that a pollster asked the right question. I guarantee you that if we asked the population whether we should crack down on the mafia and street gangs, that we would also receive a positive response on that issue too. But mysteriously enough, no pollsters are asking that question; and if they are, it's not being reported.

Those who want an inquiry want to prove that Jean Charest and the Liberal party are crooks, nothing more, nothing less.
Given the cash nature of any payments, I can't see an inquiry helping to prove unprovable allegations. The whole inquiry would in all likelihood degenerate into a another unfulfilling and frustrating Bastarache Inquiry fiasco.

Now before readers accuse me of protecting the Premier from calls for a public inquiry over friendship, let me say that as much as I am a friend, I can't see him re-elected under any circumstances, so deep is the enmity and anger directed at him by all but core supporters.

In fact, given that the Premier is unelectable and the Liberals are headed to the same scrapheap as their federal counterparts, it would be nice, to see Premier Charest, take it on the chin and  finally right the ship of state, which has been listing rather badly for decades under the strain of corruption.

It seems to me, that institutional corruption has been a way of life in Quebec as far back (and perhaps longer) as the Duplessis era where in order to get a measly snow-removal contract, a company had to have political contacts (read; bribes)
The only difference between then and now is the media attention and so if it appears that Quebec is more corrupt today than yesterday it is but an illusion.

If as a society we are serious about ending or even reducing corruption, a public inquiry won't help.
If we want to end, or even reduce corruption in the construction industry significantly, the guilty need to go to jail......It's that simple.

Now that Mr. Duchesneau has forwarded a list of twelve or thirteen cases of documented corruption, the last thing we need is an inquiry to gum up the works for a year or two.

What we need are prosecutions and after convictions, jail sentences and lifetime bans from doing business with the government, directly or indirectly.

Over the last year or two, a bunch of companies have been found cheating the government, be it over tax evasion or over-billing on construction projects.  All skated, paid a fine and went back to work, according to the same old, same old rules of corruption.

To these crooked firms, the fine is just a cost of doing business and perhaps the next time they scam the government, they'll steal a little more to make up the loss. It's nothing more than paying off a cop to look the other way or paying a speeding ticket after being caught for the umpteenth time on a joy ride.

The process would be greatly aided if Mr. Charest would name a special prosecutor who would be given independence and ample resources, including the hiring of crackerjack legal talent from outside the sadsack Crown prosecutors office.

As anyone who has watched an episode of Law & Order knows, a little pressure on the weakest link, will have crooks singing for mercy, especially those in the Ministry of Transport, who can't afford $500 an hour lawyers and are trembling at the thought of going to jail.

If in the course of any investigation the trail leads to the Liberal party or the Premier's office and if the independent prosecutor has reason to believe he can obtain a conviction, then so be it.

I much prefer to let the chips fall as they may through proper legal channels rather than the  spectacle of a He/Said sideshow, which is what a public inquiry is.

I'm not cynical about the chances of this happening..,

Given the right approach, the corruption house of cards can collapse and the message that crooks will go to jail if caught cheating the government, will have a salutary effect.
Truthfully, with a little effort, the whole thing could be wrapped up in a year.

Readers I have a little treat for you in the form of a news story that is no longer available online. (I can only imagine why it was taken offline.)
I clipped it a while back and was saving it for a rainy day, which apparently it is today.

It concerns those big-shot Consulting/Engineering firms that are part and parcel of the construction corruption scandal.
Here's a translation, as well as the original story in French, which I'm sure will provide a chuckle.

Consulting engineers defend their right to give gifts
(CP) - Three days ago

MONTREAL - The association representing consulting/engineering firms are defending their right to offer reasonable gifts to their clients and to determine for themselves what is reasonable.

While the engineering firm BPR has regularly made the headlines for months over certain practices attributed it, the Association of Consulting Engineers of Quebec (AICQ) believes that these practices may  not all be as equally reprehensible as the media seems to suggest.

When in business, it's a good idea to get close to customers and try to understand their needs, according to its CEO, Johanne Desrochers, who not surprisingly refused to discuss the specific case of BPR.

On the issue of gifts, Ms. Desrochers said  that it is everyone's responsibility to know where the limits are. According to her, these limits vary from one industry to another and from one sector to another.

The head of the association declined to say what gifts might be considered acceptable among those which made ​​headlines, from fishing trips to restaurant meals.

In fact, it would be wrong to try to define the limits of what is acceptable, according to Johanne Desrochers and be better to go on a case by case basis.

Les ingénieurs-conseils défendent leur droit d'offrir des cadeaux

(CP) – Il y a 3 jour

MONTRÉAL — L'association qui représente les firmes de génie-conseil défend leur droit d'offrir des cadeaux raisonnables à leurs clients et de déterminer elles-mêmes lesquels sont raisonnables.

Alors que l'entreprise d'ingénierie BPR fait régulièrement les manchettes depuis des mois en raison des pratiques qu'on lui prête, l'Association des ingénieurs-conseils du Québec (AICQ) est d'avis que ces pratiques ne sont peut-être pas toutes aussi condamnables qu'on semble le laisser croire dans les médias.

C'est une bonne idée, quand on est en affaires, que d'être près de ses clients et de tenter de comprendre leurs besoins, selon sa présidente-directrice générale, Johanne Desrochers, qui a sans surprise refusé de discuter du cas précis de BPR.
Sur la question des cadeaux, Mme Desrochers a dit penser que chacun est responsable de savoir où sont les limites. D'après elle, ces limites varient d'une industrie à l'autre et d'un secteur à l'autre.

La patronne de l'AICQ a refusé de dire quels cadeaux pourraient être considérés comme acceptables parmi ceux qui ont fait les manchettes, allant de voyages de pêche à des soupers arrosés au restaurant.
En fait, on aurait tort d'essayer de définir les limites de ce qui est acceptable, selon Johanne Desrochers. Il faudrait plutôt y aller au cas par cas.

Here's another fun story;

 "When preparing her run for the leadership of the PQ in 2007, Ms. Marois raised the sum of $123,000 from 62 donors. The majority of the money, about $80,000, came from Consulting/Engineering firms, according to calculations that were made ​​by the Quebec solidaire last year and which was reported in La Presse."  Link{FR}

When confronted by reporters about this financing, Madame Marois was unequivocal;
"It's not relevant," she replied. "I was not in the government, I could not award contracts"

HaHaHa!..... 

HEC Blackface Underscores Racist Undercurrent

One of the recurring themes in Quebec media is the complaint by French language militants that not enough immigrants assimilate into Quebec francophone culture and that their unwillingness to become 'good' Quebecers represents a betrayal of the implied contract that they made in immigrating to Quebec.

These militants continue to feed the stereotype of immigrants as lazy welfare bums, who congregate in ghettos, speak and dress as they did back in their homeland and live off the hard work of others. (read: francophone Quebecers)

It's a neat story that reminds Quebecers that the very identity of Quebec francophone society is at stake and unless immigrants are brought to heal, society will be overrun.
It's a story that places whatever blame there is to apportion over this non-assimilation on the backs of the immigrants and neatly absolves Quebeckers themselves of any responsibility.

And so bigots like Gilles Proulx continue to rail against immigrants, reminding viewers and readers at every opportunity that the pure, innocent, open and inclusive Quebeckers are being overrun by immigrant parasites without any real rebuttal or public outrage.  Here's Mr. Proulx's latest screed

The pages of Vigile.net are replete with complaints that blacks are over-represented in the National Assembly or that there are too many ethnics on television. Type in the word  'Immigrants' into the website's search engine and you'll get close to 900 stories, the vast majority negative, many racist.

Bathed in self-pity, these militants portray themselves as innocent victims of English language and English cultural oppression and justify their discrimination against immigrants as legitimate pushback.

And so sentimental tripe as this poem/song is typical of the persecution complex that stokes the fires of intolerance and confrontation;

Last week during Frosh week a group of students from the l'École des hautes études commerciales (HÉC), the elite business school which is part of the  l'Université de Montréal dressed up in blackface as some sort of salute to Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.

While the students were Shouting "Ya Mon!'  and 'Smoke More Weed!' a passing McGill university student (who is black) took offence and filmed the students briefly.

I won't characterize the students as racist, but if ever there was an incident that screamed for sensitivity training, this certainly is it.
Had this incident taken place in Rimouski or Chicoutimi, where a Black person on the street is as rare as a Chinese person in a Chinese restaurant, I might have understood the insensitivity, but one would think that elite students, in a city that is 25% ethnic would understand that their actions would cause offence.
I can't imagine an incident of this type occurring in any English university in Canada without engendering a physical confrontation with other students and without disciplinary consequences by the university afterwards.

Such is the state of affairs in Quebec where all is forgiven because, tut, tut, the students 'meant no harm.'
In fact the over-riding consensus in Quebec is that the incident is being overblown.

Put on blackface as a joke in any western country and you can pretty much expect to draw criticism:

KKK and blackface costumes shut down Ontario Legion
Blackface Obama billboard sparks outrage
Northwestern Students In Blackface Spark Outrage 

The ho-hum reaction to the incident underscores rather neatly a depressing social gap that exists in Quebec and so while the story is no big deal here, it certainly is elsewhere, where a report of the incident was deemed newsworthy as far away as Britain's Daily Mail

I can't really blame the students, they probably saw no harm in what they did, but therein lies the problem.

Every day, Quebec Francophone media portrays immigrants in the most negative and stereotypical manner, concentrating on differences instead of similarities. Read: When racism goes mainstream


Although Quebecers are inherently no more racist than other Canadians, the unrelenting attacks on immigrants and incessant ethnic-bashing has a cumulative effect.

So who's fault is it that immigrants have such a hard time assimilating into Francophone society?

If you believe the language militants, it's the immigrants and the English that bear all the responsibility.
Francophones remain, as the narrative goes, innocent as always, open and welcoming to those immigrants who embrace French.

It is,  as they say in Quebec, utter 'bullsheet,' 
The myth that Quebec is a welcoming society is the great lie of the immigration debate.

If Quebec immigrants have a staggeringly high unemployment rate, much higher than in other provinces, it must be because Quebec immigrants are somehow lazier than those who immigrate to Ontario or British Columbia! Such is the conventional wisdom offered by French militants and the fact that immigrants are consistently shut out of jobs, on an ongoing and institutional basis, plays no role in this reality.

As I've pointed out before, anecdotal stories are always dangerous, but so many exist about the abuse of immigrants, that it's hard to ignore the fact that they are systematically discriminated against in Quebec, especially in the workplace.

Read this story about an immigrant who was refused an interview 19 times until he submitted a resume with a 'Quebecois' sounding name. Resumé being ignored? Try a name change. 

Here's an article from France instructing Frenchmen how to apply for a job in Quebec, which apparantly isn't that easy because as the article says;
"Let's face it, there are still some prejudices against the French." (from France-ed.)
So even the French from France complain that they are discriminated against in the Quebec job market!

If Quebec militants tell us they  are welcoming of immigrants, as long as they speak French, read this; Racism rocks PSAC Montreal office 

Attitudes in Quebec are shaped by language and as long as immigrants are portrayed as a threat to Quebec culture and the French language, they will suffer discrimination. The unrelenting negative portrayal of immigrants has  the effect of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Sadly it is this discrimination that chases many over to the English side of the language equation where they are more comfortable and so we get the proverbial 'vicious circle.'

As  for blackface, HEC students should be reminded that the era of the genre is long-gone and I gotta tell you, watching this ancient clip of Al Jolson makes me a tad uncomfortable!

Housekeeping- Make your Comments Stand Out with Formatting

Blogger doesn't make formatting available in the Comments Section, so if you'd like to add BOLD or ITALICS to make your comment stand out, you're out of luck unless you add 'meta tags,' which is a techinical way to get around the problem

PLEASE CREDIT MIKE FISK for these tips;

 

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Corruption Bombshell To Explode in Quebec

When Paul Martin called an inquiry into what was to become of the Sponsorship Scandal, early after acceding to the Prime Minister's post, he thought he'd put to bed the albatross that was hanging over his government, surrounding allegations that money was being improperly diverted from certain Federal government advertising contracts by Quebec advertising firms.
It was to say the least, the biggest political blunder in the history of the Liberal party. 

He might perhaps have taken the advice of the man he replaced, Jean Chretien, who advised him to sweep the whole thing under the carpet, even if it made an awfully large lump!

The forces unleashed by that decision, the Gomery Commission, led to the utter destruction of the Liberal party as a national force and today it isn't clear if the party can bounce back.

This frightening scenario was not lost on Premier Charest and so he steadfastly refused to call a similar judicial inquiry in regards to the rampant corruption in Quebec's construction industry and despite the howling by opposition parties and the press, the Premier stood firm.

It took a lot of gumption and intestinal fortitude to resist, but resist he did.

In order to fob off those demanding that something be done, the Premier did order some limited action, hiring a former police chief to investigate construction contracts awarded by the government's Ministry of Transport.

The inquiry got off to a rocky start with the press attacking Jacques Duchesneau over a phony ethics allegation that I promised readers was unfounded, in blog piece that I wrote at the time.

I worked with Jacques Duchesneau for a number of years and can attest to his stellar credentials as an honest cop and alerted readers to the underhanded smear campaign.
And so, the inquiry suffered a setback when Duchesneau was forced to take a leave of absence during the investigation over those allegations, which as I predicted, vindicated him completely.

After his return, Duchesneau undertook a painstaking examination of the contract process at the MTQ, using the tried and true investigative method favoured by the police.

After a year and a half of silent plodding, the results of the inquiry are in and will hopefully be published sometime in the near future, although details have already been leaked. LINK

Duchesneau delivers a shocking indictment that connects corrupt construction firms to the corrupt engineering firms that oversaw the contracts on behalf of the Ministry of Transport, with padded and fictitious bills routinely authorized, creating millions of dollars in false billings.

It paints the very worst of pictures, because for corruption to become entrenched, dishonesty must transcend the different entities and levels of responsibility. This is unfortunately, clearly the case.

The problem is so dramatic and the corruption so pervasive that it has actually invaded the Canada Revenue Agency with the shocking revelations that tax agents were partying quite openly with the construction companies they were supposed to audit! Link

Of course the press is trying to link all this to the Charest government, but from what I see and hear, there is no smoking gun.
In fact, I can assure readers than the Premier is not particularly upset with the report and is actually looking forward to its publication, so assured is he that the fallout will be minimal, considering what could have been!

Expect the Ministry of Transport to take the fall for the corruption on the government side, with several high and low ranking employees to be thrown under the bus.

And so Premier Charest will blow the whistle over corruption at the MTQ, doing his best imitation of Capitaine Louis Renault (from the film classic, Casablanca,) feigning shock and horror at the hitherto unbeknownst goings-on!

As for cash payments, those making them (if they did) worked hard to cover their tracks, so proving anything now will be well nigh impossible, a case of ' He said/She said,' at best.

Mr. Charest may just have pulled off another coup, rescuing himself and his party in the face of  another certain disaster....again.

A sigh of relief?

The opposition parties and the press will accuse the Charest government of being in cahoots with the crooks, but with his usual aplomb, Charest will shrug it all off with the claim that it is he and the Liberal party that is fighting institutional corruption that has nothing to do with the government.

It will be a war that the Premier will probably win, he is just too expert in the fine art of political rope-a-dope. His greatest asset is his sang-froid in the face of political adversity and his rock-solid ability to stand his ground silently while lesser men would turn and run.

We all witnessed his drag-em-out victory over Marc Bellemare over allegations of political tampering in the selection of judges. Although hurt by some pretty damning evidence, Charest remained bloodied but victorious while Bellemare was utterly destroyed and the issue buried.

There will be lots of sound and fury once the report drops.
Not since the Cliche Commission  back in the early seventies, when the ugly truth of corruption in the construction industry was laid bare, will Quebecers get an inside look at corruption. It will be dramatic.
Heads will roll and criminal charges will be laid.

But this observer is telling you that while Charest may not come out of it smelling like a rose, all things remaining equal, he will survive intact....again.

Time to Bury Jack Layton

Readers this will be my last post about Jack Layton. I promise, it's time.

Campaigning from the grave.

Unlike the Ndp which refuses to bury Jack for crass political reasons, I am ready to let go, having given up hope that the Ndp will ever have to account for the massive fraud and deception undertaken by Jack, Olivia and the party itself, which hid the truth about Jack's condition from beginning to end.

The final nail in the coffin of truth was Olivia Chow's cynically staged interview, wherein she told the country that she isn't going to reveal which cancer Jack had, to 'protect' Canadians who are also battling cancer. Ugh!......
Watch and gag on the Olivia Chow interview. 

It's too bad our press is so timid.
It almost makes one believe that this country needs a tabloid like the National Enquirer to get at the truth. A couple of thousand of well-spent dollars might get someone to cough up the truth about Jack's illness and would be well worth the cost to any reporter, considering the scoop that the information would represent.

And before the whiners complain about the ethics of paying for information from those charged with confidentiality, I am sure they'd be the first to defend the right of WikiLeaks to publish secrets, based on the public's right to the truth.

While these same people (you'll see them in the comments section shortly,) tell us that Jack Layton's cancer is a private matter and can be justifiably suppressed, Canadians think otherwise.

The question of whether a massive fraud was perpetrated on Canadians is certainly a matter of public interest.

Here's a screen shot of software that I use to follow how people get to this blog, what posts they are reading and what search terms they used to get here. (Don't worry, I can't see names or IP addresses!)
At the top of the list of search queries is a desire to find out the truth about  Layton's illness.

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR DETAILED VIEW

Mainstream journalists have finally raised the courage to dispute the Ndp story as implausible and unlikely.

A good example is Lysiane Gagnon's piece in the Globe and Mail entitled What if Quebeckers had known the whole story about Jack Layton? What is interesting about her story is not the fact that a nationally published journalist is finally questioning the official Ndp 'truth' but rather, the ferocious defence of the Ndp cover-up, undertaken by apologists in the comments section, under her story.

I've always admired Ndper's for their idealism and have chuckled over their political naivité because it is generally based on good intentions.
But their collective self-delusion about Jack Layton's illness, strains the bounds of credulity and exposes them as sadly pathetic.

Having known politicians all my life I can tell you that none are the people that their carefully crafted public persona would have us believe.
Layton was no better or worse than all the other self-promoting political animals that populate our political landscape. To believe that Layton was more honest, more genuine and more in tune with Canadians is just a testament to his amazing ability mesmerize.

I remain amazed at Ndpers who believe Layton was someone noble, something other than a political operator like the rest.


Question: when is a massage parlour not a whorehouse.
Answer: When Jack Layton is visiting!

Sorry, I didn't believe Olivia back when, looking straight into the camera, she told us that Jack was just getting a Shiatsu and I don't believe her moronic story about keeping Jack's cancer secret to  protect cancer victims today. While both stories are not plausible or credible, Ms Chow sells them very well. She is quite the actress, politician, having learned from the best.

If Ndpers want to remain in a Fantasyland where Ms. Chow's convoluted story somehow makes sense, so be it. I have swampland in Florida to sell them.

At any rate, unless journalists start putting real questions to Ndp politicians and unless they refuse to take nonsense for answers, we won't get to the truth and unfortunately, Canadian journalists don't have the gumption for a good fight.
And so, we are left with one of the great Canadian cover-ups. Who says crime doesn't pay?

CASE CLOSED!

Now that Jack is dead and buried, I'd like to solicit reader opinions as to whether it is appropriate to keep Jack's Twitter and Facebook account open and whether it  is appropriate for the party to continue to refer to Jack on its website as if he was still alive.

Although we know that politicians get spin doctors to post Tweets for them, it seems a bit much to Tweet for someone who is already dead and so the very appropriate word ghostwriter comes to mind!

The Ndp website is still promoting Layton's Twitter account (@JackLayton) and is also touting the Jack Layton app for IPhone and IPad.

And by the way, since Jack is dead, I don't think I'd really want to be on his team, even if I was a Ndp supporter.....