A new law will soon make it possible to suspend contracts such as the one granted to a company operating an illegal dump and which is owned by someone close to organized crime, assures Minister Sonia LeBel.
• Read also: Public contract for an associate of organized crime who operates an illegal dump
The President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, assures that her Bill 12 which will strengthen the powers of the Autorité des marchés publics (AMP) will prevent a company that operates illegally from obtaining contracts.
“We have just introduced the declaration of integrity”, mentioned Mme LeBel during a short press scrum. “It is precisely aimed at this type of contract there.”
On Thursday, our Bureau of Investigation reported that the Quebec government awarded a contract to a company that operates an illegal dump and is owned by someone close to organized crime.
The bill on the public procurement strategy would allow the AMP to “intervene” and “eventually suspend the contract”, indicated Minister LeBel.
It ensures that the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI), which awarded the contract, has carried out all compliance checks with Revenu Québec and other authorities.
As revealed by our Bureau of Investigation, the SQI did not however verify whether the company Location Tri-Box had been sanctioned by the Ministry of the Environment.
Moreover, since it was an over-the-counter contract, the company owned by Roberto Scoppa did not have to hold the authorization to contract with the government, issued by the AMP.
“It shows the gray area that we had to overcome. Moreover, I am very happy to say that we have completed the study of the bill and that we should be able to adopt it, ”she said.
little impact
According to the opposition, the guidelines that were put in place in Quebec following the corruption scandals in construction and on the sidelines of the Charbonneau Commission, such as UPAC and AMP, have had very little impact on the good management of public contracts.
“There will always be fine steps, there will always be miscreants. Did UPAC and the mechanisms we wanted to create after the Charest era work? The answer is: not a lot,” said Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
According to the leader of the Liberal Party, the CAQ government too often forgets, as with daycare permits, to do the basic checks.
“It was a question of doing some checks, there, to find that there were issues, so I think that François Legault and his government have a job to do which is a basic job to avoid ending up in this situation. there,” said Dominique Anglace.
For his part, the solidarity Vincent Marissal, urges Minister LeBel and the AMP to intervene.
“I know The Sopranos came back into fashion, there, apparently, there, but frankly, it’s a bad episode,” he said. “Sonia LeBel is responsible for what is called the Act respecting contracts by public bodies, because this contract, in addition, was given without a call for tenders. And, the ball is also in the court of the Public Procurement Authority.