MONTREAL—Eye-opening revelations about corruption have become synonymous with testimony at the Charbonneau Commission.

Witnesses recount tales of bribery and collusion without remorse as a culture of entitlement permeates the witness stand, delivered by such characters as “Mr. Three Per Cent.”

“Greed is triumphant now. It's no longer something to be avoided--it's something to be trumpeted,” said Montreal Gazette columnist Henry Aubin.

Former Montreal chief of police Jacques Duchesneau was the whistle-blower who forced the government into holding public hearings after leaking the Charbonneau document his team at the province’s anti-corruption squad delivered.

“Money has become a religion,” Duchesneau said.

The province’s appetite for greed certainly has legs.

Many will remember the CECO commission set up by former Quebec premier Robert Bourassa in 1972 to investigate organized crime. Just a few years later, the Cliche Commission looked into the province's construction industry and its penchant for inflating the costs of projects. And, not too long ago, the federal sponsorship scandal tainted Quebec's Liberal party.

Corruption has been such a steady narrative in Quebec that one has to ask if the Charbonneau Commission can really fulfill its mandate to stop corruption.

“I realized there was a system. The report describes situations which is worse than what I thought,” Duchesneau said. “The reason we're paying such high level of taxes is because we're getting robbed.

“We need to be much more proactive than reactive, the way we've been doing.”

Justice John Gomery, who led the public inquiry into how the federal sponsorship program was handled, is “indignant” about the scale of what's been on display. But he does believe changes are afloat.

“I think things have been cleaned up in Ottawa and made more secure than they were before,” Gomery said.

Duchesneau is confident Charbonneau has been a game-changer because the public is getting a never-before-seen view of politics and public contracting.

“It's not people. It's the system. Now you see, with Charbonneau Commission, you see it, you hear it,” Bloc Quebecois MP Maria Mourani said. “And the people say, wow, we can't imagine it's so big.”

The commission’s mandate was extended to April 2015, so there is still time.