Surprise! Quebec Corruption Inquiry "needs more time"

And why wouldn't they! After all, the commissioners have got themselves a pretty sweet gig, investigating dirty deeds in the Quebec construction industry.

It could take a while longer to get to the bottom of that; at least 18 more months according to the commissioners.

The commission has held hearings since last May and is burning through tax-payer dollars at better than a million a month. So far they have been focusing almost exclusively on guys with Italian names who carry money in their socks.

When you watch a bit of their schtick on TV it's pretty obvious that all concerned have watched multiple reruns of The Godfather.

The highlight of the hearings thus far has been the appearance of "Donnie Brasco," aka Joe Pistone, the FBI agent who infiltrated a New York City crime family over thirty years ago.

How would that qualify him to testify before a commission on corruption in Quebec thirty years later? Beats me, but I suspect the common thread may be those Italian names.

Meanwhile, there's non-Italian corruption showing up in la belle Provence too. Former Stephen Harper pal Arthur Porter is suspected of having skimmed tens of millions from a contract to build Montreal's new "superhospital" in collusion with the Francophone execs of Quebec's biggest infrastructure contractor, SNC-Lavalin.

Tens of millions?

How'd he even get those kind of sums into his socks?