OpenCdA’s posts on June 18 and June 22, 2013, were titled Another Mayor Arrested – Corruption and “Corruption becomes a kind of cancer” respectively.  These two posts introduced readers to the work of the Charbonneau Commission in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  The Commission was created in late 2011 to investigate widespread corruption in the building industry in the province of Quebec.   Quebec Premier Jean Charest appointed the very highly-respected Quebec Superior Court Justice France Charbonneau to preside over the inquiry.

After a brief summer hiatus, the Charbonneau Commission has resumed its hearings.  Today’s post links readers to an interesting news report in The Globe and Mail newspaper online version.   The news report offers a tantalizing hint about how much fighting public corruption has saved Quebeckers in real dollars.   The article includes these statements:

• “Fighting corruption may have generated nearly a billion dollars in savings…”
• “Strict anti-collusion rules in the awarding of government contracts that the Parti Québécois minority government adopted late last year have reduced costs for major infrastructure projects.”
• “Bids on government contracts are lower since corrupt practices have been eliminated.”

The Quebec government will release a detailed cost savings report later in November.

“Fighting corruption … in monetary terms is quite profitable,” Conseil du trésor Chair Stéphane Bédard said. “The effects are tangible for the pocketbooks of Quebeckers.”