While accusations
fly wildly around Ottawa, surrounding the he-said / she-said stories from Gerald
Butts, Jody Wilson-Raybould, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the PMO’s office, Michael Wernick and others – around SNC-Lavalin.
ALL of this
because:
... SNC-Lavalin faces
charges of fraud and corruption in connection with nearly $48 million
in payments made to Libyan government officials between 2001 and 2011. If
convicted, the company could be blocked from competing for federal government
contracts for a decade
(CBC News Feb 2019).
... For 16 years the global engineering and construction giant
SNC-Lavalin cultivated a close relationship with the Muammar Gaddafi family ...
SNC paid Saadi Gaadafi almost $50 million in exchange for billions of dollars
in airport, pipeline, and water infrastructure projects. Oh, and prisons.
(National Observer Mar 2019)
BUT
there’s more to SNC-Lavalin’s troubles than just this one event:
... SNC-Lavalin's
management teams have been investigated in a number of allegations under the
Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act regarding contracts beginning with
the SNC-Lavalin Kerala hydroelectric dam scandal (1995–2008)
(Wikipedia)
... According to
a February 1, 2019, article in La Presse Quebec prosecutors were co-operating
with RCMP in an investigation called Agrafe 2 on potential criminal
charges against SNC-Lavalin, concerning a contract in the early 2000s to repair
Montreal's Jacques Cartier Bridge
... SNC-Lavalin can’t
seem to put to bed a scandal in India that has been following the
company for more than a decade. The country’s Central Bureau of Investigation reiterated
its claim that a contract between SNC-Lavalin and a southern Indian state to
renovate three hydro dams signed in late 1997 violated government procurement
norms
... scandals
also surrounded SNC-Lavalin in a bribery case regarding the new hospital at
McGill University Health Centre ... along with "serious design issues" in the carbon capture and storage system
at SaskPowers coal-fired Boundary Dam Power Station
Proposed Pattullo Bridge replacement project |
The list goes on ... including connections right here
in British Columbia.
Despite controversy surrounding SNC-Lavalin for well over
three decades, a BC Government News media release just last month February
2019) announced:
$1.377
Billion Pattullo Bridge Replacement Project moves forward
Feb 14th, 2019 ... SNC-Lavalin chosen as one
of three pre-qualified bidding companies from design build and long-span bridge
contractor working with Acciona Infrastructure, Leonhardt,
Andrä und Partner Beratende Ingenieure VBI AG, Hatch Corporation, EXP Services
SNC-Lavalin wins BC
government award for Design and Contract
Preparation
Feb 1st,
2019 ... SNC-Lavalin Inc. is this year’s Deputy Minister
Award winner for its work on the six-laning project from Highway 33 to Edwards
Road in Kelowna
And
prior to this award, SNC-Lavalin was, numerous times, the recipient of multiple
awards from the BC government --- including that of former BC Liberal Premier
Christy Clark.
Hmmmm ... could that have anything at all to do with a reminder from CBC Vancouver Island Morning Man Gregor Craigie (@GregorCraigie ) who Tweeted:
Hmmmm ... could that have anything at all to do with a reminder from CBC Vancouver Island Morning Man Gregor Craigie (@GregorCraigie ) who Tweeted:
“Worth
remembering that when Clark was premier, BC Liberal party accepted $150k from #SNCLavalin chair at time
(Gwyn Morgan) #bcpoli
#cdnpoli”
Or maybe this, from Bob Makin, is also
worth noting ....
Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s chief of staff, one of several officials that Jody Wilson-Raybould says wanted her to let SNC-Lavalin off the hook, broke British Columbia’s freedom of information law when he mass-deleted email while working as a senior aide to Christy Clark in 2017.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s chief of staff, one of several officials that Jody Wilson-Raybould says wanted her to let SNC-Lavalin off the hook, broke British Columbia’s freedom of information law when he mass-deleted email while working as a senior aide to Christy Clark in 2017.
It seems like no matter what country in the
world --- or province in Canada, the stink of controversy follows SNC-Lavalin
.... and so, does the hypocrisy.
Prime Ministers
Justin Trudeau has without a doubt gone to bat for SNC Lavalin ... all in
support of 9,000+ jobs). Yeah right --- in a pigs eye that’s the reason, otherwise
why has there been little to no concern for the TENS of thousands of jobs lost
in Alberta’s oil patch over the past 3 to 4 years.
No, instead
it’s because he knows that to win Octobers federal election, he’ll have to win
nearly all federal seat in Quebec – and that means being a champion for this Quebec
based company.
And of
course, it’s worth noting that Trudeau’s riding of Papineau is of course also
in Quebec.
That erosion of trust, in the federal government,
has swept into many corners of Parliament Hill, and no matter the protests of
Justin Trudeau, his staff in the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) and others --- they
are all tainted with scandal surrounding SNC-Lavalin.
And as also
noted in this piece, even here in BC – although it’s hard to say what influence
former BC Premier Christy Clark, or her BC Liberal Party, may have had
regarding contracts and awards given to SNC-Lavalin.
Tomorrow
the federal government will conveniently be tabling it’s budget --- and I say
conveniently because that’s also when the next meeting with be held for the Justice
Committee, which is looking into the SNC-Lavalin affair.
Which one will grab the most headlines? My bet is SNC-Lavalin.
Which one will grab the most headlines? My bet is SNC-Lavalin.
Whenever you hear a Liberal politician say the magic word "infrastructure," you can be sure SNC Lavalin will be cashing in. Unions love that magic word as well, so politicians keep saying it.
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