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At present, any corporation found guilty of bribery, either here or abroad, is barred from bidding on federal government contracts for 10 years. But the 10-year ban is not part of the Criminal Code. So what the Liberals are proposing is a change to integrity rules that would allow bureaucrats at Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) to determine how long the bans against doing business with Ottawa should be: Ten years? Or perhaps in some cases just five years. Or three. Or even no time at all.

If the Trudeau government can’t find “cooperative” officials in the Justice Department, maybe they will have better luck finding people who will play ball over at PSPC.

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This is banana republic stuff. “Laws!? We don’t need no stinkin’ laws! The law is what the boss says it is!”

Maybe our laws against Canadian companies using bribes to win foreign contracts are too tough. But the main point to remember is that even after the Liberals snuck the remediation agreements into Canadian law last fall, SNC-Lavalin still did not qualify for relief. It hadn’t self-reported its criminal behaviour. It hadn’t made restitution. And it showed insufficient contrition to satisfy the public prosecution service or then-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould.

It seems now the SNC-Lavalin-obsessed Liberals are looking for yet another way to let the firm off the hook.

Why?

I think the answer is SNC-Lavalin is very popular with Quebecers, and Quebec voters are becoming increasingly critical to the Liberals’ re-election hopes this fall.