The Gazette September 28, 2010 Could it be true? Did Maclean's prove its case? Or is the article just another in a long line of gratuitously offensive sorties against the one province that dares to insist on having its own identity, complete with Europeanstyle state interference in the economy?
If it were true, Quebec would have to change. There would have to be new rules for tendering and for making political appointments, including judgeships. More inspectors would have to be hired for road-building and other public works contracts. More police would be needed to investigate the slightest whiff of corruption at all levels of government.
But Maclean's is wrong. It didn't come close to making its case. The haste with which the magazine slid past the shortcomings of other provinces, while lingering on 80-year-old scandals out of Quebec, was remarkable.
Moving into modern times, or at least the 1990s, the exit of three British Columbia premiers -Bill Vander Zalm, Mike Harcourt and Glen Clark, who all left office under a cloud of corruption allegations -is described as the result of "shenanigans," like a high-school prank.
There are cases of waste and corruption elsewhere in the country that might easily match Quebec's for seriousness but taxpayers in other provinces wouldn't know because these cases have not been given the same kind of high-profile, lengthy coverage or investigation as Quebec's.
To take just three examples, Ontario ordered a special task force into allegations that officers of the Toronto police force assaulted and robbed drug dealers, obstructed justice and committed perjury. The task force suspected a second squad of similar behaviour, but then police chief Julian Fantino was alleged to have headed off further inquiries.
Last fall, Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter said the province had wasted $1 billion on eHealth, an electronic health record system, the CBC reported. At one point, the eHealth program branch had "fewer than 30 full-time employees but was engaging more than 300 consultants."
In Manitoba last fall, a whistleblower alleged she was fired less than 24 hours after telling Manitoba Hydro CEO Bob Brennan about mismanagement that cost the utility $1 billion, according to the Winnipeg Free Press.
The Maclean's article is a journalistic drive-by shooting. That doesn't mean, of course, that Quebec doesn't have a corruption problem. It does.
Let's use the Maclean's piece as a reminder that if we don't deal with it, our reputation will suffer, maybe permanently.