October 22, 2009

Corruption scandal

Demands grow for inquiry into Mafia, politics and construction

Quebec government expected to introduce new investigations unit

MONTREAL

The Quebec government is brushing off widespread calls for a public inquiry into the murky world where politics, the Mafia, and the construction business allegedly interconnect, and instead forging ahead with its own solution.

The government was expected on Thursday to introduce a new investigations unit that will include prosecutors and provincial police mandated to examine allegations of collusion and corruption in the province’s construction industry.

The move comes amid reports that companies linked to the Italian Mafia have dabbled in political affairs and essentially created a construction cartel that works to drive up the cost of building projects.

Mafia experts say the practice exists elsewhere in Canada, and is particularly worrisome now that Ottawa and the provinces are embarking on the most expensive infrastructure program in Canadian history.

Quebec’s public security, labour and revenue ministers are attending a news conference announcing the new unit with the Louis Dionne, Quebec's director of public prosecutions and Richard Deschenes, head of the Quebec provincial police force.

Quebec has been rocked by reports that, through collusion, Mafia-linked construction companies have managed to drive up the price of public-works projects by 35 per cent in the Montreal area.

But the government has not caved into mounting pressure for a public inquiry, despite an online poll published Thursday indicating massive support for one among Quebecers.

“For the moment, the best way to get to the bottom of things is through police investigations,” Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis said in the provincial legislature during a raucous question period.

“Let the police do their work and we'll see what they come up with.” Christian Bourque of Leger Marketing said 76 per cent of respondents to an online poll this week indicated support for an inquiry, while only 17 per cent did not.

“People have the right to transparency and the only way is through a public inquiry,” said Stephane Bedard, Parti Quebecois house leader. “Why refuse to the population the right to the truth, the right to transparency?”

The web-based survey comes with federal, provincial, and municipal politicians resisting calls for a wide-ranging probe.

The ongoing scandal has tossed Montreal’s current municipal election campaign into disarray.

The former leader of the opposition party at city hall quit the party after claims he had dealings with a businessman at the centre of a cancelled $355 million water-meter that has been an endless source of embarrassment for Mayor Gerald Tremblay.

Tremblay’s opponents have both asked for public inquiries.

Guy Chevrette, a retired PQ minister who was also part of the Cliche Commission in the 1970s that investigated Quebec’s construction industry of the day, says a public inquiry is necessary.

“There (are a) number of subjects that warrant study by experts, the Cliche Commission made 134 recommendations,” Chevrette said. Without answers and recommendations to change the culture, the problem is likely to persist, Chevrette said.

Those sentiments were echoed retired judge John Gomery, who headed the famous inquiry into the federal sponsorship scandal. Gomery said this week that large donors wield too much influence in the awarding of municipal contracts and a public inquiry could also serve to explore those ties.

“Police will de-mask the fraudsters,” Chevrette said. “But (police investigations) don’t offer the dimension of finding solutions and alternatives.”

But Dupuis maintained that, for now, police provide the best avenue for answers.

“If the best way doesn’t give us the results, then we’ll see,” the public safety minister said.

The Leger survey of 505 Quebecers was conducted over the Internet on Oct. 20 and is considered accurate within four percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

-Canadian Press

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