Media doggedly pursuing political corruption
MONTREAL — In the face of a passive political opposition, journalists are increasingly becoming Canada's top public watchdog with searing investigative reports that have put Quebec's government at risk and led to the demise of another, observers say.
The problem lies largely with the lack of strong opposition parties who are perceived as being part of the system, which is itself suspected of being somewhat corrupt, said Christian Dufour, a politics professor at Quebec's University of Public Administration in Montreal.
Consequently, a new Canadian political tradition has emerged: public inquiries, often established following intense media pressure, leading to explosive revelations at hearings.
The result: extremely combative investigative journalism in a country where not making waves is a national trait.
"In Canada, media often act as political opposition," Dufour said.
Marc Bellemare, who was Quebec's justice minister from 2003 to 2004, told a public inquiry on August 24 that he was inspired by Radio-Canada's investigative journalism show "Enquete" (Investigation) to come forward with accusations of influence peddling in the province's judicial nominations.
He first alleged that the ruling party's bagmen in those years wielded undue influence on various government nominations, including judicial appointments, when he was interviewed on the show in April, prompting Quebec Premier Jean Charest to call a public inquiry.
While the facts are still being argued, the Quebec government's image has taken a battering.
In Ottawa, meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative minority government's grip on power can be explained in part by the fallout from another public inquiry into a sponsorship scandal linked to the previous federal Liberal administration.
Uncovered by Globe and Mail journalist Daniel Leblanc and related in articles published between 2002 and 2006, the scandal involved massive federal funds being misappropriated to Liberal coffers, blackening its credibility.
Leblanc's investigation started by chance, he said.
After seeing Canadian symbols pop up all over Quebec after the province's 1995 referendum on independence, won by federalists by a very slim margin, he compared Ottawa's sponsorship spending across Canada and found it to be significantly higher in Quebec.
An anonymous source then put him on the trail of monies paid to communications firms with ties to the Liberals.
Another star of investigative journalism in Canada is an unassuming man who rides his bike every day to the newsroom of Montreal's French-language daily La Presse.
Andre Noel has broken stories on all sorts of scandals in Quebec, where, he says, the mafia's foray into politics provides endless fodder for his writings.
His biggest "scoop" was the discovery that an influential federal minister, Alfonso Gagliano, was once the bookkeeper of a powerful Montreal mafia boss, Agostino Cuntrera.
Gagliano was forced to resign after he was implicated in the sponsorship scandal. Cuntrera was shot to death in Montreal in June.
Noel also uncovered that water meters were offered for sale to Montrealers at three times the price of those in Toronto, and that three French firms -- Generale des Eaux, La Lyonnaise and Bouygues -- had secretly vied to privatize the city's water services.
But the province's leader in investigative journalism remains Radio-Canada's "Enquete," hosted by Alain Gravel.
Employing nine journalists, the show has uncovered several cases of corruption and collusion, notably between politicians and the province's construction sector.
Gravel's most amusing discovery, he recalled in an interview with AFP, was that of a code involving golf terminology in fixing public works contracts.
"Talking about the fourth hole meant that the price offered should be four million dollars," Gravel said.
"Our role is that of guard dog. When the police, the judiciary, the political system works well, we're not needed. If they talk to us, it's because there's sand in the machinery," he said.
