With all the doom and gloom in the world, it’s heartening to know there are people like Carey Price who care enough to take time to comfort a young lad who needed comforting.
Then there is the doomy gloomy SNC-Lavalin affair.
In 2017, 117 Canadian companies were on the World Bank’s corruption blacklist. According to Global Research and other sources, SNC-Lavalin and its affiliates represented 115 of those Canadian entries.
In Canada, corporations can make a deal to avoid going to court. My understanding is that the federal public prosecutor decided to have the current SNC-Lavalin case (bribery and fraud)) go to trial rather than make the deal. Attorney General/Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould (JWR) agreed. That annoyed the Prime Minister and his officials who wanted the case stayed, fearing unfavourable economic (and political?) consequences should the giant engineering/construction company be found guilty in court. JWR wouldn’t budge and the fuss began.
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The Opposition parties are delighted having this happening in an election year. JWR has strong support from media pundits, people in the legal profession, and the general public who believe her “truth.”
I don’t believe any person/corporation/whatever is above the law. There should be no way for anyone, no matter how “big” they are, to buy their way out of criminal charges. (Both the Liberals and Conservatives have received generous donations from Lavalin.) This idea that anything goes as long as it creates jobs is being used to justify anything and everything. No matter how damaging a development might be (pipelines, fracking, etc.) it’s OK as long as it creates jobs. Short-term, long-term, doesn’t matter.
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Let the court decide if SNC-Lavalin is guilty or not. The PM paid big bucks (ours) to buy the TransMountain pipeline. If all else fails, he might consider buying SNC-Lavalin.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian and book author.
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