Read: Quebec government demands apology from Maclean’s for ‘corrupt Quebec’ cover
The Quebec government demanded an apology from Maclean’s magazine on Friday for what it described as an attack against all the province’s people.
This week’s cover calls Quebec “the most corrupt province in Canada,” with an image showing the jolly Bonhomme Carnaval mascot clutching a briefcase overflowing with cash.
More than one from the comments said the truth hurts. And here’s an excerpt from a comment over at the CBC article on this subject:
A friend of mine worked for an engineering consulting firm in Western Canada that often did business in Quebec. When they put bids together for potential jobs one of the hidden line items was “Added cost of doing business in Quebec”.
The Maclean’s articles start here: Quebec: The most corrupt province by Martin Patriquin and continue here with: What lies beneath Quebec’s scandals by Andrew Coyne. And it’s from the latter article I wish to quote, because it seems indicative of the expectation of corruption as the norm by many Quebecers, or at the very least, Montrealers:
Toronto may have been scandalized by the cronyism of the Mel Lastman era, but only in Montreal would a candidate for mayor publicly confess to being afraid for his life. When a senior adviser to Ontario premier David Peterson was forced to resign after it was revealed he had accepted a refrigerator from a party donor with ties to a developer, puzzled Montrealers phoned their friends in Toronto, asking, ‘What was in the fridge?’
Don’t know why exactly 
, but I’m reminded of one of my favorite moments from Casablanca.
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It is and always has been. Many of our former pm’s have came out of Quecbec, what does that tell you?
Quebec has some of the highest taxes and receives the most transfer payments and the largest share of all federally funded projects. Yet their infrastructure is collapsing because they’re not replacing it in spite of having the money for it. Where’s all the money going?
I think the legacy of the ’76 Olympics lives on.
What about the huge E Health costoverruns and the consultation fees paid to Liberal cronies in Ontario. What about the green electricity which will cost taxpayers more and more since there was a single source allowed to bid and since the low cost of the use of the transportation network for electricity for green energy doesn’t take into account the future needs (new capacity will have to be built for normal sources) when the economy picks up.
Quebec’s corruption is much less compared to these issues. Of course Quebec incompetence is another story – see the performance of the Quebec Pension Fund and how this incompetence was covered up during the last election which gave Charest a majority.
That just makes our political criminals much better at their jobs than Quebec’s. All the smart criminals left Quebec after the Rene Leveque’s gang took power.
You’re completely correct about e-health and the eco-crap being foistered on Canadians in Ontario.
At least we have a unified enemy (Liberals) to channel our backlash. Quebec is hobbled by a wider variety of crooks as is the failings of provincial mentality.
How many bridges have fallen down/collapsed/become unusable in Quebec because money was skimmed off the top and re bar omitted? Or the concrete was shorted? Or ‘watered down’?
The overpasses heading into Montreal off the 401 are perfect examples of that type of shoddy construction..
Having grown up in Northern Quebec and having travelled in mostly in both Quebec and Ontario, the quality of the road construntion between the two provinces is obvious.
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