Dear Editor:
As with many Canadians I have been watching the debacle of “prosecutorial interference” unfolding over the past few weeks. I know that we haven’t heard the last of it regardless of the “clarity” provided by the Prime Minister in his address on March 7. However I believe that we have heard enough to know the score.
SNC-Lavalin (SNCL), a Montreal-based company known worldwide for corrupt practices, according to the World Bank, is facing a criminal charge for bribery activities in Libya.
If these charges are proven in a court of law, SNCL will face a 10-year ban on bidding for Canadian federal contracts, but not provincial or other.
This will embarrass SNCL, impact on share prices and cause a revenue loss over the next several years (i.e. they will be punished). This will be an extra embarrassment because of criminal charges they are presently facing in their home province of Quebec, and of course the 10-year ban they are under from the World Bank.
Net impact on SNCL will be minimal. Most of their revenue comes in from overseas. In fact loss of revenue from Saudi Arabian contracts will probably impact on them more. The impact on 9,000 Canadian jobs will probably be zero.
SNCL makes a “case” to the present government that they would prefer to not be charged with a criminal charge but would prefer to pay a fine. This seems to be the SNCL way.
The present government looks at the facts and reminds itself that although outside the island of Montreal there will be no adverse impact on Canadians, several SNCL offices seem to surround the little federal riding of Papineau. This is the Trudeau riding, where the NDP seem to be making in roads again. The Liberals might win the 2019 election but lose their leader! This must be fixed.
So the first step is to sneak in some legislation that will allow the government to grant some form of absolution to SNCL with a fine but without a criminal charge. Hence the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) was sneaked through parliament in September. The second step is to ensure that the independent Director of Public Prosecutions is forced to grant the DPA, using pressure from the attorney general if necessary.
Thank God for two brave ladies who resisted the pressure and threats to allow a DPA to SNCL.
You all know the rest of the story.
So what is my message? It is obvious from what has happened on Trudeau’s watch that it is only the PMO that runs Canada. They feel free to interfere with judicial process and with anything else that gets in their political way. I am not picking on you alone, Mr. Trudeau, I am picking on the system we have in place. You however, have been in parliament for 10 years and before that you learned the ways of the political world at your father’s knee. So you believed that interfering with judicial process was your right as leader of the PMO, otherwise you would not have done it.
The last few weeks have demonstrated that our system is currently corrupted and if you do not believe me just look at the reviews we Canadians are getting in “Transparency International”. On this basis it seems to me that it makes absolutely no difference which party gets into power. If they have a majority then the country will be run from the PMO’s office and party whips will ensure that the PMO wins every vote in parliament and in every Parliamentary Committee.
So my job as a member of the electorate is not to be concerned with party manifestos and other such light reading, it is to decide which of you five people I trust the most or distrust the least.
Let the games begin!
Michael Lee,
Salem