SNC-Lavalin... For Quebec, Payback's a Bitch!

Once again the two solitudes of the Canadian reality has reared its ugly linguistic head with reaction in Quebec diametrically opposed to that of the rest of Canada in the Trudeau/SNC-Lavalin affair.

Quebec journalists have been almost universal in complaining that the unsympathetic reaction in the  rest of Canada lies in the entrenched hatred of Quebec.
They contend that would SNC-Lavalin be based in Toronto, public sentiment would be massively in favour of a deal that would see the company avoid a criminal trial in favour of a negotiated settlement, one that would spare the company from being banned from bidding on government contracts for a period of years.

It should be noted that the company is already subject to a ten-year ban by the World Bank following the company’s misconduct in relation to the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project in Bangladesh, as well as misconduct under another Bank-financed project. Link

The Quebec view;

"Our colleagues in Toronto would be happy to politically block the Trudeau government from saving this Quebec giant," an editorialist wrote this week in the French-language daily Le Devoir, accusing anglophone media of hypocrisy in its indignation at SNC. Link {fr}

"It's all fine and dandy to play politics in an election year, but what would 'Canada' gain if SNC-Lavalin was found guilty?" asked Michel Girard, a business columnist for the tabloid Journal de Montreal.

But I ask you, dear reader, if the street address of SNC-Lavalin’s headquarters were on Bay Street instead of at 455 René-Lévesque Blvd. W. in Montreal, would we be talking about the same scandal today? Lise Ravary

The Rest of Canada view;

Can it be? Can a large, politically sensitive corporation with a history of buying influence avoid prosecution in this country by the mere expedient of a phone call to the prime minister’s office? Can the prime minister’s staff have charges against the corporation dropped by a quick call to the minister of justice? Is that the sort of country we live in? Andrew Coyne

 Here are some comments from readers in the Globe and Mail.

We cannot accept Montreal level corruption on a national scale. .....No net jobs will be lost. Contracts will go to other Canadian companies. 

SNC-Lavalin does not have to do the work. There are plenty of other engineering firms in Canada that can do the job. It is time for companies to suffer the consequences of their actions.

SNC-Lavalin’s record is not good. Why continuously reward them for sleazy behaviour? This needs to be an example case.

At any rate, I'm not sure these Quebecers are wrong, it does seem that Canada has it in for Quebec and while Quebec plays the innocent aggrieved party, Quebec cannot expect any other reaction.

Imagine you have a neighbour who complains to authorities that your lawn is unkempt, your kids are playing on the street and calls the police over perceived noise violations, all the while complaining that the city treats you preferentially.
You see his convertible with the top down in his garage way and its starting to rain.
Do you go over and ring his doorbell or do you laugh and garner an enjoyable measure of schadenfreude ?

I would hope that Canadians, given their reputation for fair-mindedness and consideration would do the right thing and ring the doorbell, but it's clear that those days are over, after forty years of Quebec slagging Canada and pissing in the proverbial Canadian soup pot there's little or no good will left.

While Quebecers chalk up the negative reaction to the inherent meanness of Canadians, it doesn't occur to them at all that they bear any responsibility for the enmity.

Poor Lise Ravery whose lamentations are laughable if not sad for the fact that her opinion is printed in Montreal's daily rag, Le Journal de Montreal, feeding Quebec's persecution complex.

Let me remind Quebecers that they rejected the pipeline from Alberta out of spite and nothing else.
Since there was no tangible benefits to Quebec, other that enriching Alberta and feeding its treasury (which funds the equalization program of which Quebec is the biggest beneficiary,) Quebec saw no benefit other than being a good neighbour, something that means nothing to it.

The blasé and mean-spirited attitude of Quebec does not go un-noticed in the ROC.
While collecting the lion's share of the federal governments largess, Quebec continues to drone on and on with the familiar done-me-wrong refrain.

And so if Madame Ravary et als want Canadians to support an out of court settlement for the criminal activities of its favourite son, they are plumb out of luck.

As it says in the Bible,: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

Quebec has been a bad and spiteful neighbour for over forty years and so it should not be surprised, at Canadians reciprocity. I haven't got a comparable French saying so I remind the whiners....

payback's a bitch!....