Canada: Graft Pervaded Awarding of Contracts in Quebec, Panel Says
|
Version 0 of 1. A “culture of impunity” surrounded the awarding of government contracts in Quebec, Justice France Charbonneau of the Quebec Superior Court said Tuesday in a statement before issuing a sweeping report on the ties among contractors, politicians, party fund-raisers, bureaucrats and members of organized crime. Testimony at public hearings held by a commission led by Justice Charbonneau captivated the province and led to several resignations, including that in 2012 of Gérald Tremblay, a Montreal mayor who the commission found “did not adequately fulfill his role of control and monitoring his administration.” Justice Charbonneau said the commission “confirmed there was a real problem in Quebec and that it was broader and more deeply rooted than we believed.” Its report, which is about 1,700 pages long, makes 60 recommendations, including term limits for mayors and the adoption of anticorruption legislation based on an American law, the False Claims Act. |