Police Probes, Mafia Allegations in the ‘Palermo’ of Canada
October 23rd, 2009Via: Globe and Mail:
Allegations of corruption have been swirling like effluent through Montreal’s body politic in recent weeks, and today Montrealers have reason to wonder just how deep the muck really goes.
In a single day Thursday, Mayor Gérald Tremblay admitted in a report that he feared for his family’s safety. An opposition politician, who resigned Sunday over payments from murky backers, said a “Mafia system” controls Montreal city hall.
And the Quebec government, under relentless pressure to call a public probe into questionable ties between the construction industry and municipal officials, announced a beefed-up squad to root out corruption.
Collusion, bid-rigging, brown envelopes at city hall: The claims are enough to remind Montreal of its old reputation, coined almost a century ago, as “the rottenest city on the continent.” Or as one columnist put it Thursday, Palermo.
Construction industry plus municipal officials:
In San Francisco, they have a questionable $1billion cost for a long, elevated on-ramp to the Golden Gate bridge. How can something be so expensive, except they cite an army of 18,000 workers. That is still $1200 per capita cost among 800k SF residents. http://www.kcbs.com/pages/5396122.php? In DC, an actual bridge is only $365 million http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2009/09/11th_street_bridge_plans_get_i.html
Hmmm…. anything to do with the religious demographic of Quebec, and a theory about Catholicism and corruption?
Speaking as an Irishman, I think there’s some truth to it.