Canadians Meet "The Deep State"
(PART TWO)
SNC-Lavalin Vs. The People of Canada
'The Deep State' is a force which, in fact, serves the interests of very rich, private entities, and 'very often' serves those wishing to operate criminally (whether making fake Wars or bribing through gigantic infrastructure projects or engaging in dubious activities “like the drug trade) the world over. The Deep State is usually a combination of unseen forces and the apparent (independent) government or State.
A Reactionary Smoke Screen is being laid down as part of Deep State action to dissolve, if possible, any serious attempt to address what most Canadians would call Corporate Crime. At present, the conflict revolves around SNC-Lavalin, its chequered 'lawless' past, its efforts (against Canada's Chief Prosecutor, Kathleen Roussel, and recent Attorney General, Jody Wilson-Raybould) to extinguish criminal charges and replace them with what is called a 'Deferred Prosecution Agreement'. That is a device under which both sides agree upon fines, corporate cleansing, and promises of future virtue. No criminal charges are laid, normally, against high-level wrong-doers.
(Readers should underscore in their minds the 'aristocratic' motivation involved in the push for DPAs. Top level Corporate Actors have a deep fear of having to spend time 'behind bars' to be convicts. Such treatment, they believe, is for common, low-life criminals, not for un-common criminals like powerful, wealthy, 'connected' corporate movers and shakedown artists.)
Thus, there is an immense effort being expended (by very rich people) to build a region of special laws for the wealthy in powerful corporate positions exempting them, in fact, from the Rule of Law that governs other (in this case) Canadians.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently expressed dismay about Canada's failure to control bribery matters. Another recent Report chastised Canada for weak anti-corruption action. We hardly need to be told.
In an Opinion column (Globe and Mail, Sat. Mar. 30, 2019, 011) revealing those facts Konrad Yakabuski makes what I call the 'Reactionary Case'. He tells readers (not all of what follows is necessarily true) that we need Deferred Prosecution Agreements because (1) we lack financial resources (2) white collar crimes are complex, often committed abroad (3) our legal system is wastefully slow (4) statistics show DPAs have been used frequently in foreign bribery cases logged by the OECD.
In the United States, a study revealed fully 96% of all foreign bribery prosecutions since 1999 involved non-trial resolutions (meaning a lot of Deferred Prosecution Agreements).
Obstacles to success in crime cases Yakabuski claims are costs, complications, delays that strike down actions, etc. He does not suggest legislation and revisions of legal process be employed to end those kinds of problems. Instead he recommends a degree of expediency and DPA's provide that. Expediency, alas, may be fairly defined as form of quick-fix which ignores the core problem involved.
It may, in fact, describe nearly all Deferred Prosecution Agreements.
Yakabuski writes: "It remains a mystery why director of public prosecutions Kathleen Roussel refused to enter negotiations with SNC-Lavalin to conclude a deferred prosecution agreement."
Canadians can say, instead, with perfect credibility: Why hasn't Canada legislated a faster, just, catch-the-criminals system? (Doing so, as the saying goes - is not rocket science.) That, of course, has not happened. Instead what has happened is that SNC-Lavalin held 89 (eighty-nine) lobbying meetings with top Cabinet and other government officials. More or less together (we may assume) they manufactured Deferred Prosecution Agreement legislation, over many months. The Trudeau Liberals slipped it into an Omnibus Budget Bill in 2018 and quietly got it passed by the legislature.
All that happened in a space of time in which the Trudeau Liberals could have sharpened, clarified, streamlined, and, in fact - created effectively briefer trial times to deal with corporate crimes, including the ones with which SNC-Lavalin is charged!
The arguments made by (such as) Konrad Yakabuski, looked at carefully, are embarrassing to say the least. He doesn't say: the criminal trial system is clogged; fix it. Rather, he says (as I read him) practice expediency; use a system that exonerates criminals from criminal charges! Paper over the cracks with dollars and promises of virtue.
As the full-scale, top-level, appointed-as-well-as-elected-persons-attack on Jody Wilson-Raybould and allied others, shows the Deep State is well-represented at high levels of the present Liberal government. And only an awakened and angry population will be able to shift the power balance towards fair, just, timely court processes for those involved in wrongdoing under a universal Rule of Law that protects all Canadians from the vicious inroads of the Deep State.
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[The Liberal government's recent creation of an 'Ombudsman for Responsible Enterprise' to watchdog Human Rights abuses by Canadian overseas Corporations showed its real face when Sheri Meyerhoffer, appointee, made clear she wants to take a collaborative approach with the Corporations. What would a collaborative approach be with a Canadian Corporation guilty of Human Rights violations overseas?]
Contact: Robin Mathews
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