Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the tabling of the Charbonneau Commission's final report on corruption in the construction industry — but less than half of the 60 recommendations contained in the final report have actually been acted upon.
In fact, just 15 of them were implemented, with another nine having been partially implemented — which means 36 of them haven't yet been taken up.
An independent committee made up of lawyers, politicians and academics say that's unacceptable.
One of the most important recommendations involved the creation of a watchdog responsible for overseeing the awarding of public contracts. While the watchdog organization exists, it apparently doesn't have the independence, the tools, or the powers necessary to improve the process — nor does it actually have the power to sway the government into changing or cancelling those contracts.
“Right now it doesn't have the power to and the resources to successfully answer to the commission's wishes, which was to create a centre of expertise that would benefit all public contracts in Quebec, including municipalities,” said Pierre-Olivier Brodeau, former Charbonneau Commission researcher.
The committee also says not enough is being done to protect whistleblowers — another one of the report's key recommendations.
Bill 80, which is supposed to protect whistleblowers, is currently before the National Assembly, but the committee says it offers no protection for whistleblowers at the municipal level, or those who choose to go to the media instead of police.