Promises Made

In 2011 a research group started tracking the promises (Polimeter) kept by political parties at the Federal level. It may surprise many as politicians are known are liars by many but both Governments that have been in power since then have done a very good job of keeping their promises.

From 2011 to 2015 the Harper Conservative Government either fully met or partially met 85% of the promises they made during the 2011 election campaign. From 2015 to 2019 the Trudeau Liberal Government either fully met or partially met 92% of the promises they made during the 2015 election campaign. This is an important statistic to know as all parties are out there making tons of promises for the upcoming election.

In the end, however, the researchers found the Trudeau and the last Harper government had the highest rates of follow-through on their campaign promises of any Canadian government over the last 35 years.

Overall, governments in Canada have good records when it comes to keeping promises, Petry said. – National Post

National Post article about the Research Study

Trudeau Polimeter Tracker

Immigration

As I’ve done a blog post recently on Canada’s Immigration Policies I will keep this section very short. The Liberal Government passed a bill very early into their tenure to repeal Bill C-51 of the previous Conservative Government which made it harder to become a Canadian Citizen and also gave the Government the power to take away the citizenship of many Canadians under certain circumstances.  Simply put, without high rates of immigration Canada’s population will decline to decline. Pair that with the fact that the unemployment rate right now is at one of the lowest level it has ever been in Canadian history, we really need skilled immigrants. Under the Liberal Government, our immigration numbers have grown significantly. This year Canada is expected to welcome 300,000 immigrants (nearly 1% of our population) to our country. Approximately 191,600 of these immigrants (~64%) came in through economic immigration (skilled workers).

There have been a lot of myths spread about the number of refugees Canada takes in and the amount of support the Government provides these refugees. According to the United Nations in 2018 Canada resettled more refugees than any other country in the world by bringing in 28,100 of global 92,400 refugees with over two-thirds of these refugees coming through private sponsorship rather than Government sponsorship.

Although not technically related to current immigration, the Government under the Liberals also issued an official apology for the komagata maru incident that happened in 1914. There were many other similar official well overdue apologies issued during this term.

Financial Post: All the reasons why Canada needs immigration — and more of it

Economy

Many Central Banks around the world have started cutting interest rates because of their economies have entered a recession and generally speaking the Canadian economy typically follows route, especially when the EU and US economy are in a downturn. However, month after month people looking for those negative economic numbers out of Canada are shocked and disappointed.

As I mentioned earlier, Canada’s unemployment rate continues to either hit or sit around record lows and shows no signs of letting up. For most of the year the Canadian dollar has been the top performing currency in the G10. Some economists argue that by running budget deficits over the past four years, the Liberal Government has been investing in the Canadian economy and that is why we are riding high while others are not. Other economists argue that by continuing to run deficits it will be harder for Canada to fight back from a recession when it does come. I think the fact that the Canadian economy grew by 3.7% (well above Analyst expectations) in the second quarter of 2019 compared to the second quarter of 2018 (April to June) and has also performed very well in most months since, we must be doing something right. For comparison the US economy grew by 2.0% during the same period.

Budget

Since coming to power, the Liberals have rolled out some changes to our tax system. Based on the numbers that have been released the top 1% paid slightly more in taxes in 2017 compared to 2014 and everyone else paid a little less. This resulted in a small increase in overall tax revenues while allowing the middle class and below to pay less. There was also changes made to corporate and small business taxes and tax credits. As promised in 2015, the Liberals cut small business tax (a small business has less than $500,000 a year in revenue) from 10.5% to 9%. However, at the same time they made it harder for small businesses to simply give family members a portion of their profit thereby decreasing corporate profits and reducing your overall company tax unless you could show these family members were actually adding value to the business. On the corporate side there weren’t any major changes to the taxes but when the US rolled out a major corporate tax cut (dropped from 29.8% to 18.7%) the Liberals responded with a $16 billion competitiveness plan which they said would effectively drop the corporate tax rate from 17% to 13.8%.

Other than the inverted yield curve, the Canadian economy is showing practically no signs of a recession. All this despite the fact that oil and gas industry makes up a significant part of our economy and oil prices continue to sit very low. Canada is missing out on $130 billion a year to our economy with Alberta’s economy lagging behind. We may not be headed towards a balanced budget but our debt to GDP ratio is getting better every year regardless, meaning if a recession did hit then there should still be plenty of room to run temporarily larger deficits to boost the economy paired with cutting interest rates.

Environment

In April, the federal carbon tax came into effect for all provinces that decided not to impose one up to the federal standards. The federal carbon tax was based on similar carbon taxes that have been rolled out not only around the world but also in BC. In 2008, BC became the first jurisdiction in North America to roll out a broad-based carbon tax. A recent study has shown that the carbon tax has kept BCs greehouse gas (GHG) levels at essentially the same level as 2007 while the BC economy has grown significantly (at times BC was the strongest economy in Canada) and produced and exported significant amounts of coal.

Although the carbon tax may not be enough to hit the emission numbers Canada needs to hit, it is a step in the right direction. BC’s carbon tax is considered so effective because it was gradually brought in. Starting at $5 per tonne in 2008, hitting $30 a tonne by 2012 and to meet federal requirements $40 ($0.0889 per litre of gas) a tonne in 2019. The federal carbon tax is expected to reduce GHGs 50-60 million tonnes by 2022.

While many environmentalists applaud the Liberals for rolling out the carbon tax (while also saying a lot more needs to be done), most criticize the Liberals for another move they have made. This May the Government bought the Trans Canada Mountain Pipeline that will allow triple the capacity of oil to be shipped from Alberta to the BC coast. Environmentalists say that this will increase the activity in the oil sands thus increasing Canada’s GHG levels instead of decreasing them. The Liberals say not only will this pipeline benefit our economy but it actually benefits the environment as well. They say that Alberta oil sands will continue to increase production regardless but instead just ship more oil by rail. Pipeline capacity has been full for sometime so shipments by rail are increasing rapidly. In 2017, the oil industry shipped approximately 140,000 barrels by rail per day. In 2018, the amount of oil being shipped by rail was approximately 300,000 barrels per day. In early 2019, then Premier of Alberta Notley committed to buying enough rail cars to ship an additional 120,000 barrels per day. Because of this the Liberals say not only will this solve Canadian Oil Problems but it will also actually help the environment.

Housing

The Liberals rolled out a their $40 billion Housing Benefit Plan which aims to cut homelessness by 50%, build 100,00 new units, repair 300,000 existing units, providing 300,000 households with financial assistance so they don’t lose their homes, ensuring 385,000 households don’t lose their existing affordable homes and more. They also rolled out a first time home buyers incentive helping qualifying first time home buyers with 5 to 10% of their down payment.

Anita wants to buy a new home for $400,000.
Under the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive, Anita can apply to receive $40,000 in a shared equity mortgage (10% of the cost of a new home) from the Government of Canada. This lowers the amount she needs to borrow and reduces her monthly expenses.
As a result, Anita’s mortgage is $228 less a month or $2,736 a year. – Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

While most of these items have made it easier for individuals to either keep their homes or get a new home, stricter mortgage rules also made it more difficult to get a mortgage. This rule changes were designed to increase individual Canadian’s exponentially increasing personal debt and ensure with rising interest rates, no Canadian would have to declare bankruptcy because they could no longer afford to pay their mortgage. The side effect of this was people qualifying for smaller amounts when going for a mortgage thus making it harder to buy a home in some markets. It also had a secondary side effect of slowing down housing markets across the country and adding to other pressures causing housing prices to decrease further in some markets like Vancouver. The benchmark rate to qualify for a mortgage was decreased by 25 basis points (0.25%) earlier this year and should alleviate should of the pressure added by these changes.

Health Care

For Health Care it is luckily fairly simple what the Liberals did.

1. Increased funding to the Public Health Agency of Canada by $15 million in 2016-2017
2. Increased the options and availability of mental health services, particularly focused on high quality options.
3. Began the process cross-provincial group to collaborate on health innovation which will work on drug prices, mental health and home care
4. Restored a program that provided temporary and limited benefits to refugees

Education

There was nothing major regarding education completed by the Liberals in the past 4 years.

Gun Control

The primary achievement related to gun control for the Liberals was Bill C-71.

The bill primarily covers non-restricted rifles and shotguns, with renewed requirements for validation of licences before the sale or transfer of long guns and mandatory record keeping for gun dealers and retailers.

Bill C-71 also extends background checks for licence applications and renewals — which could extend back for a lifetime instead of a five-year check under the previous law.

The legislation, however, also repeals Conservative amendments to the Criminal Code that gave cabinet the power to overrule RCMP classifications for restricted and prohibited firearms. – iPolitics

Indigenous

This is an issue too complicated to breakdown in just a simple few paragraphs because there is so much going on. So instead I will just list all the promises Justin Trudeau and the Liberals had made in regards to the First Nations and where the promise was kept, partially kept or in progress with a link on further details. Please note all this whole section is from Polimeter.

1. Invest $300 million in additional annual funding for the First Nations education system for kindergarten through grade 12 programs. – In Progress
2. Invest $500 million over 2015 to 2018 for building and refurbishing First Nations schools. – Completed
3. Invest $50 million in additional annual funding to the Post-Secondary Student Support Program. – Broken
4. Provide new funding to help Indigenous communities promote and preserve Indigenous languages and cultures. – Completed
5. Develop a Métis Economic Development Strategy with $25 million funding over five years. – Completed
6. Establish a federal claims process that recognizes Métis self-government and resolves outstanding claims. – Broken
7. Make permanent the funding available to provincial Métis communities for Métis identification and registration. – In Progress
8. Enact the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. – Broken
9. End boil-water advisories within five years for 93 communities on First Nations reserves currently affected by poor water quality. – In Progress
10. Fund the Freedom Road project for Shoal Lake 40 First Nation. – Completed
11. Guarantee that First Nation communities have a veto over natural resource development in their territories. – Broken
12. Immediately adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). – Broken
13. Immediately lift the two percent cap on funding for First Nations programs. – Broken
14. Implement the objectives of the Kelowna Accord. – Not Started
15. Launch a national public inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. – Completed
16. Review, repeal and amend all existing laws that do not respect Indigenous rights or that were passed without proper consultation. – Not Started
17. The Prime Minister will meet with First Nations, Métis Nation, and Inuit leaders at least once every year. – Completed

Global Status

There is no doubt that many people around the world love Canadians. It’s no surprise that global Canadian stereotypes are about how much we say “sorry”, “eh”, “thank you”. Bianca Andreescu went viral because she apologized to the fans in the stadium after she beat Serena Williams in the US Open since they were cheering for her. Canada and many major cities in Canada have consistently ranked highly in many global rankings for best places to live or quality of life. However, where do we sit on the global stage in terms of influence?

In 2011 and then even more so in 2015, many people said Canada had lost it’s place on the global stage and had fallen significantly behind. Since then under the Liberal Government has said they will make dramatic changes and bring Canada back to the global stage. In 2017 a global Ipsos poll ranked Canada as having the most positive influence on global affairs. With US taking a major step back in global affairs since Donald Trump, this has opened the space for Canada to take a big step forward. Canada has been making it’s voice heard loud and clear on global issues whether they be about Free Trade and the World Trade Council, the United Nations, human right issues or climate change. They have also been refocusing our global foreign aid to the countries that need it the most and with a focus on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

Scandals/Ethics

The last 4 years were not without any scandals. There are 2 major scandals that took place over this last term and one of them happening very recently. The SNC-Lavalin scandal is a very long and complex one so rather than going into it I will point you to the 2 part post I wrote about it. Take a look here:

SNC-Lavalin Scandal – Part 1

SNC-Lavalin Scandal – Part 2

The second major scandal happened in January 2017. In late 2016, Justin Trudeau was essentially gifted a trip by Aga Khan. Aga Khan has a private Island in the Bahamas, Trudeau and his family took a trip free of charge to this island but Aga Khan also gifted Trudeau a bag while Trudeau gifted him a sweater. Although we do not know the value of this bag, we do know it was under the value required to pay duty when returning to Canada ($800). This was deemed an ethics violation and a judge earlier this year ordered the Lobbying Commissioner to investigate any lobbying violations.

Next Steps

This post gives a fairly extensive breakdown on what the Liberal party has done over the past 4 years. Although important to understand it is also important to understand all party platforms in order to make an informed voting decision. CBC and Macleans both do an extensive breakdown of all the party platforms and should provide you with ample decision on who to vote for. I would recommend reading both. I also recommend reading the National Observers article that breaks down in detail each parties plan for the Economy and Environment and gives them a grade.

CBC Election Platform Guide

Macleans Election Platform Guide

National Observer Environmental and Economy Election Platform Grading

Are you still confused on who to vote for? I highly recommend taking a look at the CBC vote compass tool. This tool allows you to fill out a 5 to 10 minute survey and will tell you which party your personal views best align with.

Sources: National Post; Financial Post; Financial Post; Financial Post; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; Trudeau Metre; The Atlantic; UNHCR; Immigration; Baystreet; Global News; Global News; CTV News; KRP; IRPP; The Tyee; Government of BC; iPolitics; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Star; BBC; Forbes; Ipsos; CMHC;

The post Election 2019: Recap of the past four years appeared first on Nitin Gaba.

The Pressure and Shuffle

This is the part of the controversy where things become less clear and aren’t just simple facts. It has become a game of he said, she said and there are many conflicting points between what Jody Wilson-Raybould has said versus what Justin Trudeau and his office have said. There is however also some common ground between both sides. Both sides agree that there were discussions between the PMO and Jody-Wilson-Raybould about offering SNC-Lavalin a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA). They also agree that there were talks about obtaining the opinion of a former Supreme Court Justice although both sides seem to disagree on who’s idea this was. The hardest part to decide is at what point do these discussions become inappropriate pressure and if this line was crossed did the Prime Minister know it was being crossed.

“I do not believe it is inappropriate to have conversations about job losses, about SNC in the early stages where ministers can raise these issues with the attorney general. What is inappropriate is the long, sustained discussions about the job losses after it is very clear that I had made my decision and was not going to pursue a DPA.” – Jody Wilson-Raybould

Of course, both sides disagree whether it was just simple discussions or if it was inappropriate pressure. In my opinion, there are three really key points where the stories differ beyond the simple fact of if there was undue pressure or not.

A Final Decision

• Gerald Butts and Justin Trudeau say that they were unaware that Jody Wilson-Raybould had made a final decision and this is why they continued discussions with her.
• Jody Wilson-Raybould says that she had made it very clear her decision had been made and was final. She says she also warned them by continuing to talk to her about it, it could be considered political interference.

Former Supreme Court Justice Consultation

• Gerald Butts and Justin Trudeau insist that most of their discussions have been about obtaining an outside opinion from a former Supreme Court Justice to help Jody Wilson-Raybould make her decision. This implies if there has been any pressure it hasn’t been to offer a DPA to SNC-Lavalin but instead to seek out advice on whether it would be appropriate to do so. They say they did make the case for a DPA but once Jody Wilson-Raybould said she felt it would not be appropriate for her to intervene this is what they have been recommending. Something Gerald Butts said in his testimony was her idea in the first place. They also say that they have been focussed on protecting jobs and it is in the best public interest to offer the company a deal.
• Jody Wilson-Raybould, on the other hand, contends that the pressure has been to offer a DPA to SNC-Lavalin and a solution must be found in any way possible. She says consulting a former Supreme Court Justice was the idea of Gerald Butts and they have only been pushing this on her because they want to change her mind about offering SNC-Lavalin a DPA. She also says that most of their pressure has still been that the company should be offered a deal not only because it is in the best interest of the country but also because of political reasons.

The Cabinet Shuffle

• Gerald Butts and Justin Trudeau say that the only reason Jody Wilson-Raybould was moved out of her position was that Minister Brison stepped down from his position as President of the Treasury Board. This required a cabinet shuffle to take place and the Prime Minister wanted to move some key ministers including Jody Wilson-Raybould. He wanted her to be the next Minister of Indigenous Affairs as this was a key part of his agenda and he felt she would handle it well. She refused this position and was thus moved to Veteran Affairs instead as Gerald Butts said this could create bad precedent if she was left in her current position so she was moved to a different position.
• Jody Wilson-Raybould says she believes she was shuffled out of her position as Minister of Justice and Attorney General because she did not do what the Prime Minister wanted in regards to SNC-Lavalin. She says she was told that one way or another the Prime Minister would get what he wanted and this is why she believes her being shuffled was meant to punish her for not complying. Many agree with her turning down the position of Indigenous Affairs and some say it could even be considered offensive offering it to her. Others say that as an Indigenous person herself, she would have done a great job running this department.

This short video highlights four key points where the stories differ by showcasing different parts of Jody Wilson-Raybould and Gerald Butts testimonies. This video touches on the three points I mentioned while providing more detail and context to these points. The video also brings up some additional relevant points.

An Underlying Issue

In Canada, the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice are the same person. This is nothing new and it is how it has always been done in Canada but the same is not true in many countries. The reason that this is an issue is because this can create some conflict between the two roles. The Minister of Justice is a member of the cabinet and is free to discuss all sorts of matters including political ones, in a sense, this role is a political one. However, the same cannot be said for the Attorney General who serves as the chief law officer in Canada. This role is meant to be independent and non-partisan.  Thus, one could essentially say that Justin Trudeau is free to have all conversations and put all sorts of pressure on the Minister of Justice but not the Attorney General. The only problem is they are exactly the same person. Whether you believe Justin Trudeau’s side of the story or Jody Wilson-Raybould’s, most seem to agree on this point, even Jody herself.

“The two hats that the minister of justice and the attorney general wears here in our country are completely different, and I think there would be merit to talking about having those as two separate individuals” – Jody Wilson-Raybould

Although this issue has existed for many years, this recent scandal has brought it to light. Imagine being in this role yourself, you have to think about the politics, getting re-elected and other political issues as the Minister of Justice but as the Attorney General you have to remain completely non-partisan on these same issues. What if SNC-Lavalin employed thousands of people in the riding of the Minister of Justice. As the Minister of Justice, a member of Parliament (MP) and a cabinet member you want to make sure you serve your local riding well, consider constituent concerns and are re-elected. On the other side as Attorney General, you cannot give anyone special treatment just because of how it looks politically. The United States and the United Kingdom both have similar legal systems as ours but these two important roles are separated in the countries. If anything this scandal could finally split these two roles. Whether we follow the system of the United Kingdom where both roles are MPs but only the Minister of Justice sits in the cabinet, the United States where it is someone simply appointed by the President outside of Congress or create our own method this is something worth considering.

Current Situation

The current situation has been exacerbated by the way Justin Trudeau and the Liberal party originally responded when the accusations arose. When Justin Trudeau first spoke out, his answer was very scripted and precise and realistically barely answered the question at hand. As time has gone on, the answer itself has changed too. As came in more detail so did more confusion and contradictions. Furthermore, when Jody Wilson-Raybould has resigned from the cabinet and after her testimony, he went into attack mode. A much better approach would have been an apologetic and sympathetic approach which he has now started to drift towards. This is typically how he responds to situations so it was a little surprising to see the other side of him. Something more along the lines of I am sincerely sorry that Jody Wilson-Raybould felt she was being pressured, this was never my intent and then laying out his side of the story would have been much better than basically saying she was wrong.

“And so now, to come out and adopt this very conciliatory tone — acknowledging mistakes were made, we should have handled this better — it’s hard not to see that as damage control, as opposed to an authentic acknowledgement.” – Shannon Proudfoot

The situation continues to rapidly evolve so it’s hard to say where we will sit in a few days but hopefully we will have some more concrete answers soon. The bad news keeps piling up for Justin Trudeau as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has said they are concerned about these allegations of Trudeau potentially interfering the SNC-Lavalin case. The international organization, of which Canada is a member, is now keeping a close watch on the situation as it develops. Canada, all OECD countries and an additional eight countries signed a legally binding Anti-Bribery Convention in 1999. Although both Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott have resigned from the cabinet because of this scandal, both still remain in the Liberal caucus. In fact, Jody has even said she will be running as a Liberal in the upcoming election. Probably some of the only good news for Trudeau right now.

I am not going to tell you whether I think what Trudeau, the PMO, the PCO, Jody Wilson-Raybould or others did was right or wrong. That is your decision to make and hopefully, all the facts presented above and in part 1 will help you decide that. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer so nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. 

Sources (Part 2): CPAC; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; BIV; CTV News; CTV News; CTV News; CNN; National Post; Global News; Global News; Global News; Huffington Post; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; YouTube;

Sources (Part 1): CPAC; CTV News; Global News; Financial Post; Financial Post; National Post; National Post; The Tyee; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Global and Mail; City News; The Star; Trading Economics; Yahoo Finance;

The post SNC-Lavalin Scandal – Part 2 appeared first on Nitin Gaba.

SNC-Lavalin Charges

To even begin to understand this entire situation, we need to understand how it all began. In 2015, the RCMP brought fraud and corruption charges against SNC-Lavalin for acts committed by the company in Libya. It is important to note that these charges being brought in front of the courts have nothing to do with the company’s conduct in Canada and technically speaking the charges are not for breaking any laws within Canada. However, Canadian law has the ability to hold Canadian companies liable for certain laws even if they are broken in a different country. SNC-Lavalin allegedly used bribery to get government projects in Libya between 2001 and 2011.

“There is one count of corruption related to at least $47.7-million in alleged bribes to Libyan public or other officials. A second count is for fraud of about $130-million related to construction projects in Libya, including the Great Man Made River Project.” – The Globe and Mail

This is actually a very heated debate topic in the business world. Should Canadian companies be bound by Canadian laws, especially on laws about corruption in countries like Libya? For context, Libya currently ranks 170th of 175 countries on the Global Corruption Perceptions Index whereas Canada ranks 9th. So basically Libya is perceived to be the 170th worst country in the world for corruption. The old saying “when in Rome do as the Romans” comes to mind here. Now imagine attempting to conduct business in a country like this where every company except your company is bribing government officials in an effort to land the project. The chances your company secures the project are basically 0 because government officials care more about their own pockets than anything else. SNC-Lavalin attempted to level the playing field by playing by the same rules as the local companies in an attempt to secure these projects. So when operating in Libya should Canadian companies stick with Canadian norms and ethics or follow the local norms and ethics.

Illegal and Legal Contributions

There were separate charges regarding illegal federal political contributions. Between 2004 and 2011, SNC-Lavalin executives encouraged employees and their spouses to make political contributions to the Liberal or Conservative parties and then were reimbursed by the company. In total the party illegally donated nearly $118,000 (approximately 7% went to the Conservatives and 93% to the Liberals). The federal elections commission reached a deal with the company in which the company was not charged as all the executives responsible were no longer a part of the company and the company was fully co-operating. In January, Normand Morin, the only executive charged by the election watchdog pleaded guilty to 2 of 5 charges while the remaining 3 charges were dropped, bringing a close to this saga. These charges themselves are not relevant to the situation at hand and both these cases have no connection whatsoever beyond the fact that SNC-Lavalin has a very murky past. Many media outlets continue to draw a connection between the fact that the Liberals are trying to help the company because of the illegal contributions they have received, even though all 3 major political parties in Canada had very different leaders at the time. The parties have also repaid all the contributions made illegally stating they had no knowledge of the illegal activities. As the case did not go to trial we will never know who precisely received the money or any further details.

During that same time period, SNC-Lavalin and its subsidiaries donated over $200,000 legally. Approximately 55% of this money went to the Liberals while 25% of this money went to the Conservatives. Since then, the company seems to have switched its strategy. Between 2011 and 2015 the company donated nearly $150,000 with 56% going to the Conservatives and 34% to the Liberals. The small remainder of the money going to various provincial parties or candidates directly. Both parties have received vast amounts of funds from SNC and the amounts would be even higher if you count the personal donations made by the Lamarre family (the family that ran SNC for many years).

Economic Impact on Canada

SNC-Lavalin was founded in 1911 in Montreal. Since that day, the company has grown significantly and now employs over 50,000 employees globally. With C$9.3 billion in revenue in 2017, the company is one of the largest engineering firms in the world and apart of the largest 100 companies in Canada. Through numerous acquisitions and mergers, the company has expanded quickly globally but this has also led to the fact that Canada no longer has the most employees for the company. Following 2 acquisitions in the UK in 2014 and 2017, the company now employs over 10,000 employees in the UK, a little more than here in Canada.  While at one time SNC-Lavalin employed over 20,000 people in Canada, today the company only employs 8,500 people in our country, still representing 16% of the company’s global employees. Most of these 8,500 jobs are high paying jobs so the impact on our economy would definitely be felt.

“SNC-Lavalin is one of only a dozen large-scale infrastructure companies worldwide and the only one in Canada capable of taking a project from start to finish, according to analysts.” – The Globe and Mail

If found guilty and charged with these crimes, SNC-Lavalin would no longer be able to bid for any government contracts whether they be federal or municipal in Canada. Thus, the company has threatened to leave the country altogether and move its head office to London. A loss of 8,500 high paying jobs would have an impact on our economy but it goes beyond just that. SNC-Lavalin is responsible for many major projects that we all know very well. Vancouver’s SkyTrain system, including the design, construction and current operation of the Canada Line was and is SNC-Lavalin. The massive Manic-5 hydroelectric dam in Quebec, once again SNC-Lavalin. The company is also responsible for Darlington Ontario nuclear-generating station and is a part owner (16.76%) of Highway 407. In Alberta, SNC-Lavalin is responsible for the Husky Lloydminster Refinery. These are just a few examples of the projects that SNC-Lavalin has either been a large part of or has been slowly responsible for.

“The company is working on seven of the 10 biggest construction projects underway in Canada, according to data from infrastructure trade publication ReNew Canada. Total value of the projects: $66.8-billion.” – The Globe and Mail

The company would also have difficulty bidding for contracts in other countries if it had a criminal record in Canada so even if the head office was not moved to London, many jobs could be lost and the company could go bankrupt. Many say that SNC-Lavalin has already been slowly moving these high-skilled and executive decision making jobs so fighting for these jobs is futile, especially since many of these jobs could be picked up by competitors. However, SNC-Lavalin is a huge part of our economy beyond just jobs in Quebec. A loss of the company in any way would have a strong hit on our economy considering how integrated the company has become in many of our everyday lives without us even realizing it.

Subscribe now to be sure you’re notified when I publish the second part that focuses on the current scandal rather than the background information or be sure to check back next Wednesday! You can read part 2 here now. Don’t forget to share your opinions below in the comments!

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer so nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. 

Sources: CPAC; CTV News; Global News; Financial Post; Financial Post; National Post; National Post; The Tyee; CBC News; CBC News; CBC News; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Globe and Mail; The Global and Mail; City News; The Star; Trading Economics; Yahoo Finance;

The post SNC-Lavalin Scandal – Part 1 appeared first on Nitin Gaba.