At over 1,700 pages, the Charbonneau commission report is longer the Warren Commission report into the assassination of JFK, longer than The Lord of the Rings (all three volumes) and longer than the Bible.
Anyone trying to read through it might be in need of some higher assistance.
Four years and 45 million bucks and this is the best they can do?
No one is blamed outright for a culture of corruption and impunity?
It’s a soft touch.
The commission itself wanted to dig into the inner workings of the system. It only scratched the surface.
It could have gone much deeper into the connection between the Mafia and the construction industry, and it let political parties and leaders off with kid glove treatment.
Why was Jean Charest not called? Or why not Pauline Marois’s husband Claude Blanchet whose name was mentioned more than once?
At the provincial level, where was the investigation into Transport Quebec?
It’s hard to believe that the commission could not find any corruption at the provincial level.
For months on end the hearings attracted a huge TV audience with testimony from contractors, characters and criminals explaining kickback systems for sidewalks and municipal contracts. But it could have been so much more.
$45 million.
Perhaps some good will come out of it in a province drenched in corruption and collusion.
There are 60 recommendations but in all likelihood the report, like so many before it, will get filed and forgotten.
Separation sideshow
There’s the old lawyer’s expression: don’t ask a question unless you know the answer.
The same should go for inviting guests to your political meeting.
Parti Quebecor leader Pierre Karl Peladeau had the stroke of genius of inviting First Nations leader Ghislain Picard to the big PQ meeting in Sherbrooke.
Picard opened his speech by saying he was a sovereigntist.
The crowd went wild, like Elvis was in the room, but hold on…
What he really meant sovereignty of the First Nations.
That brought up the question Quebec’s political class loathes the most, the question that is ignored, vilified and mocked, the one idea that makes them cringe the most: The notion that if Canada is divisible so is Quebec.
The PQ, and the Liberals, for that matter, have always ignored the partition debate.
And ignored what the original inhabitants of this land have to say.
They have always done so at great peril.
Courage to change convictions
As Churchill said it takes courage to stand up and speak, and courage to sit down and listen.
The Trudeau government has listened.
It has listened to a chorus of Canadians, many of them experts, who said the Syrian refugee program was too rushed.
So instead of welcoming 25,000 new Canadians in a month, it will now take place by the end of February.
It just makes sense.
And Trudeau admitted the Paris attacks triggered security concerns.
His critics will call it a broken promise but I say no, it’s just being realistic.
Justin Trudeau deserves credit for listening. Listening to Canadians and those who know best.
It’s so important to get this right. And that’s more important than promises to keep.
