Quebec Premier Jean Charest is ignoring calls for a public inquiry into corruption within the province's construction industry, instead maintaining that a broad police initiative is the best way to handle the problem.
Charest was reacting Friday to a leaked report that goes into greater detail than ever before about the layers of corruption and mob influence that surround the troubled industry in Quebec..
Provincial opposition parties have been asking for an inquiry for some time and a Leger Marketing poll released Friday said 76 per cent of the population in Quebec favours a public inquiry, said CTV Montreal's Rob Lurie.
"The premier says at this point he's more focused on ways to cut this down and he believes that is better done by police action and by giving police the tools they need to cut down on this problem," Lurie told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel.
Rather than adopt a chastened tone in his response to the report, Charest painted himself as being a vital part of the solution to Quebec's plagued construction industry.
He listed a number of initiatives his government has undertaken to battle corruption, including the following:
- The creation of a tactical squad in the construction commission New procurement rules
- Measures to keep criminals out of the industry
- Changes to municipal contracting rules
- Tougher tax evasion laws
- Four political fundraising bills
- A new police anti-corruption squad
- A new anti-collusion task force
The new report, which was created by the anti-collusion task force and led by former Montreal police chief Jacques Duchesneau, blames the civil service for allowing construction companies to drive up the price of public works contracts.
Last year, the report found, the difference between the original contract costs for construction projects and the final price tag was $347 million.
And the report found many construction companies have ties to the Mafia and the Mob, and some of the industry's profits make their way to political parties.
"If organized crime has infiltrated the construction industry it's because there's a lot of cash money flowing through it," the report says.
"It's interesting to note that, in essence, the principal source of revenue for organized crime is drug-trafficking but that construction contracts represent, to criminal organizations, a coveted tool for laundering money. Revenues are then injected into legitimate projects -- but not before a percentage gets paid to those who facilitated the maneuver."
Though Charest took credit for the report and painted his party as the one that can chart the way forward, his unwillingness to call a public inquiry has led many to call for his resignation, Lurie said.
The leak of the report comes at a time when many Quebecers are frustrated with Montreal's crumbling infrastructure, road closures and ongoing traffic congestion issues in the city, he said.
"There is a lot of anger right now and people are looking for someone to blame," Lurie said.
