It's beginning to look as though Jacques Duchesneau's soaring media profile is beginning to go to his head.
The leader of the anti-corruption squad assigned to investigate dirty dealings in Quebec's construction industry has made headlines and led newscasts since last week's leak of an explosive report by the squad that suggests the problem is worse than was even suspected.
It includes allegations that engineering firms routinely inflate the costs of public construction projects and conspire to bilk the government in bidding for contracts. It further maintains that organized crime is in the thick of the rampant fraud and that dirty money from the scams is funnelled into the coffers of political parties.
But while the report goes so far as to claim that there is a deeply rooted "clandestine universe" of corruption whose reach exceeds suspicions that have hitherto been raised, there is a prominent absence of hard evidence to back up the allegations. No names of guilty or even suspect parties are mentioned; neither are any of the firms implicated in the alleged criminal activity. In several instances, media reports are cited as the basis for allegations. And while the report cites problems with the bidding system, it is unclear as to how these are exploited and to what extent.
If anything, the report raises more questions than it answers. And while the scant evidence it offers would not stand up in any legitimate court of law, opponents of the Charest administration have seized on it as conclusive proof that the government is up to its ears in the alleged corruption.
This coming Tuesday Duchesneau is scheduled to appear before a National Assembly committee to answer questions from elected representatives that hopefully will provide more detail about his squad's investigations and fill in some of the gaping holes in the report. This is as it should be. What is not as it should be is Duchesneau's acceptance of an invitation to appear on top-rated Radio-Canada celebrity talk show Tout le monde en parle Sunday evening, before his committee appearance.
This is entirely inappropriate given Duchesneau's sensitive position. It raises suspicions that he fancies his newfound fame as a springboard for the renewal of a political career that was aborted after the former Montreal police chief ran for mayor of Montreal and lost to Pierre Bourque in 1998, and furthermore failed in a bid for election to city council.
He also appears to be getting ahead of himself by suggesting, as he did in an interview with Le Devoir this week, that his mandate should be enlarged to investigate Hydro-Québec's contracting practices, even though he would cite no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the utility.
It is clear from the lack of detail in the leaked report and the absence of high-level prosecutions as a result of the anti-corruption squad's investigations that the job it was assigned to do is far from finished. Duchesneau should confine himself to that until the work is done, and lay off grandstanding in the meantime.