Hmm...
It's certainly good to see that the think tank here at Falling Downs isn't the only site sceptical about the Charbonneau Commission.
Frankly, we lost all faith in the Commission when they pulled that Donnie Brasco stunt. Yup, here's this government inquiry into corruption in the Quebec construction industry, and they pay to fly in this guy who wrote a memoir about his time in the New York City Mafia?
Thirty years ago???
That's when we knew the Charbonneau Commission was guilty of what they were accusing everybody else of; sucking too hard on the government teat.
But yes, they did manage to stretch things out for four long and lucrative years, and they did manage to shine the spotlight on those mostly irrelevant corners of "corruption" wherein some bikers and some Italian guys might have made a bit of pocket change.
Those are the folks who made it into the headlines now that the final report has been released.
The SNC Lavalin guys and Arthur Porter, both vetted at the highest levels in the PMO, who scammed the system beyond the wildest and greediest dreams of those Italian guys and the bikers, are totally lost in the fine print.
Nice cover-up, Madame Charbonneau!
And nice job stretching a redundant "inquiry" out to four long years and $45 millions!
I say we need another inquiry to get to the bottom of the Charbonneau inquiry...
Showing posts with label Charbonneau Inquiry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charbonneau Inquiry. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Bixi bamboozle to cost Toronto millions
Seemed like a good idea on paper. Bike kiosks every few blocks where green-minded citizens could rent a bike whenever the mood seized them.
Apparently the mood doesn't seize them nearly often enough. Either that or there's a lot of Torontonians talking the green talk but not following through by pedaling the green bike.
The good news is that Toronto looks like it might be able to limit its losses to somewhere in the $5 million range. When I wrote about Bixi's Montreal "Schwindle" a year and a half ago, those folks were on the hook for over a hundred million!
I think the difference is due to the absence of all those intermediaries that they have in Montreal; you know, those Italian guys who have a finger in all City of Montreal contracts and pedal around with hundreds of thousands of dollars in their socks.
Apparently the mood doesn't seize them nearly often enough. Either that or there's a lot of Torontonians talking the green talk but not following through by pedaling the green bike.
The good news is that Toronto looks like it might be able to limit its losses to somewhere in the $5 million range. When I wrote about Bixi's Montreal "Schwindle" a year and a half ago, those folks were on the hook for over a hundred million!
I think the difference is due to the absence of all those intermediaries that they have in Montreal; you know, those Italian guys who have a finger in all City of Montreal contracts and pedal around with hundreds of thousands of dollars in their socks.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
SNC-Lavalin made million $$ illegal political contributions
That's today's scoop from the anti-corruption inquiry in Quebec.
After eight months of interrogating Italian guys who keep money in their socks, the Charbonneau Commission is finally getting serious. SNC-Lavalin is a great Canadian success story. They've been brought low lately by allegations of running wild with the schmier-geld on their overseas contracts in places like Libya and Bangladesh.
And Quebec from the sounds of things.
Ironically, the guy overseeing this cesspool of corruption is one Gwyn Morgan, Chair of the Board of Directors. Morgan made his hundreds of millions perfecting fracking practices when he was CEO of Encana. Upon retirement he took the SNC-Lavalin gig, which leaves him lots of time to pen his Globe and Mail column, in which he likes to pontificate on, among other things, corporate ethics!
Attaboy Gwyn!
Looking forward to your next column!
After eight months of interrogating Italian guys who keep money in their socks, the Charbonneau Commission is finally getting serious. SNC-Lavalin is a great Canadian success story. They've been brought low lately by allegations of running wild with the schmier-geld on their overseas contracts in places like Libya and Bangladesh.
And Quebec from the sounds of things.
Ironically, the guy overseeing this cesspool of corruption is one Gwyn Morgan, Chair of the Board of Directors. Morgan made his hundreds of millions perfecting fracking practices when he was CEO of Encana. Upon retirement he took the SNC-Lavalin gig, which leaves him lots of time to pen his Globe and Mail column, in which he likes to pontificate on, among other things, corporate ethics!
Attaboy Gwyn!
Looking forward to your next column!
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
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.
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?
How'd he even get those kind of sums into his socks?
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
SQ are Quebec's most dangerous gang
There is more than a little irony in today's reports that the SQ are busy raiding Montreal City Hall.
I have seen the SQ's routine bully tactics first hand. Somewhere in my voluminous archives is a video I took back in the early '90's on one of my regular trips between Ontario and New Brunswick.
I was on the highway between Montreal and Quebec City, and there was an SQ convoy of about two dozen SQ motorcycle cops on the road in front of me, together with a couple of SQ vans and 4X4's.
Unlike a normal biker run on a four lane highway, these guys wouldn't let anyone pass.
So for a good half hour traffic just bunched up behind these guys making a gratuitous display of their power.
But they have the moral bona fides to raid the office of Montreal mayor Michael Appelbaum today.
It's part of the Charbonneau Inquiry into "organized crime" in Quebec.
That's where every construction contractor in the province with an Italian name gets hauled in to get quizzed about what they know about the Mafia.
Not much, as it unsurprisingly turns out.
When not exposing massive Mafia plots, Quebec's moral arbiters like to pursue a largely pointless vendetta against the Hells Angels. Apparently some of the Angels, or "Hells" as they like to call them in Quebec, are involved in the drugs trade.
Insofar as that is true, it is only due to the stupidity of Quebec's and Canada's drug laws. Remember, prohibition made some Quebec citizens rich and famous, and the illegal trade in booze ended when prohibition was rescinded.
Hells Angels involvement in the drugs trade will end when Canada's idiotic drug laws are rescinded.
At which point in time Quebec's morality police may have nothing left to investigate other than their police.
And a thorough investigation of the SQ is long overdue.
I have seen the SQ's routine bully tactics first hand. Somewhere in my voluminous archives is a video I took back in the early '90's on one of my regular trips between Ontario and New Brunswick.
I was on the highway between Montreal and Quebec City, and there was an SQ convoy of about two dozen SQ motorcycle cops on the road in front of me, together with a couple of SQ vans and 4X4's.
Unlike a normal biker run on a four lane highway, these guys wouldn't let anyone pass.
So for a good half hour traffic just bunched up behind these guys making a gratuitous display of their power.
But they have the moral bona fides to raid the office of Montreal mayor Michael Appelbaum today.
It's part of the Charbonneau Inquiry into "organized crime" in Quebec.
That's where every construction contractor in the province with an Italian name gets hauled in to get quizzed about what they know about the Mafia.
Not much, as it unsurprisingly turns out.
When not exposing massive Mafia plots, Quebec's moral arbiters like to pursue a largely pointless vendetta against the Hells Angels. Apparently some of the Angels, or "Hells" as they like to call them in Quebec, are involved in the drugs trade.
Insofar as that is true, it is only due to the stupidity of Quebec's and Canada's drug laws. Remember, prohibition made some Quebec citizens rich and famous, and the illegal trade in booze ended when prohibition was rescinded.
Hells Angels involvement in the drugs trade will end when Canada's idiotic drug laws are rescinded.
At which point in time Quebec's morality police may have nothing left to investigate other than their police.
And a thorough investigation of the SQ is long overdue.
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