Skip to main content

Scandal in the construction industry

A well know secret in Quebec is that the construction industry cartel extract economic rent from the province in its construction projects.  Fact 1:  Roads in Quebec cost about 30% more to build than in Ontario (similar weather).  Fact 2:  For more than 30 years the Quebec department of transport has failed to inspect work sites -- only doing paper inspections. Fact 3:  Everyone in the province hates Public/private partnerships. Now the police force union wants an independent commission to investigate these "crimes".  

Think about it, the police doesn't want to do its job, they don't want to investigate arrest and obtain convictions, they want whitewash -- its the only explanation I can phantom, as to their behavior.  It is possible that the police union sees the level of corruption so institutionalized that they see no way of obtaining any conviction.  

The reality of PPP is that they do contain costs and keep the contractor "honest" because he's got to bear the costs of maintenance for the next 20 years.  This morning on Radio Canada the announced said "I think there was even some excess cost on the 25" which was a PPP, which BTW was ready ahead of time and on budget.  Further proof of the dislike for the method of building.

Imagine that you tell a contractor that he's got to build (or replace) a structure and will remain responsible for maintenance cost for the next 20 years -- odds are he will make sure that it is correctly built.  Take the opposite example, renovate a house and never show up on the construction site -- what do you think will happen?

Just a rant, nothing more to say, no economic news -- that CAD is stable, USD is strong against all currencies.  Operation Twist has worked, 30y TBond is at 2.76% (7 standard deviation down -- only more extreme move was in 1987...).  Earnings report are coming in, analysts projections for full year earnings are also declining -- reality is a bitch.

Add-on:  Last night (Sunday 25/9) the man in charge of the construction industry inquiry was on one on Quebec's most watched program.  Aside from the real life issue of personal security for the man, another issue was the apparent lack of proof of "criminal behavior" which could lead arrests and conviction.  Much analysis was based on data analysis (proves that something was up but not who did the crime...).  The idea of a public inquiry would be to be bring light to the process and allow for new procedures to "stop the rot", a somewhat valid argument  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The end of Tesla?

 it takes a special kind of idiot, to think that he can antagonize his entire customer base, and think that it will not impact his business. When Elon Musk went to work for Donald Trump, and created the doge department, he antagonized every liberal, and these people represent 90% of his client base.That’s not a brilliant move. Now Elon Musk is worth hundreds of billions of dollar, so he shouldn’t care a great deal, however, he needs to care because of several other issues. The cyber truck has been a disaster, most have had to be recalled because of defective glue, it’s not a truck, it’s not a car, it’s noisy, relatively uncomfortable, but great as a development platform. What Tesla has learned in making car manufacturing more seamless is truly amazing. The problem was that Elon Musk was so pissed with the Democrats, and with Joe Biden, in particular because of some slight, which were just plain stupid too. By the way, that he decided to support with hundreds of millions of dollar, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Donald Trump‘s bad bargain

 The entire of 2023 and 2024 when Donald Trump was running for the White House, his mantra was no war, that the Ukraine conflict would be resolved in a day, and that he would do everything not to involve America and war. How the world has changed! He finds himself facing three conflicts; Ukraine, still going on almost 5 months after he became president. Gaza, an unspeakable crime against humanity, is obviously going to go all the way to its bitter end. And finally, Israel’s attack against Iran. It’s important to note, that Benjamin Netanyahu first indicated at the United nation that the Iranian were 3 to 5 years away from having the nuclear bomb. He made that statement in 1995. Therefore, no one is surprised that he uses the same two lines every so often. It’s entirely possible, that 30 years after he first announced it, that Iran has finally developed the bomb. It’s also remarkable that Iran, local power has been destroyed, from Yemen, to Syria, via Lebanon and Gaza to small exten...
Post a Comment
Read more

TACO again, but worst!

 Donald Trump got the rare earth metals that he had thrown away on April 2, liberation day as he called it. What did the Chinese get in exchange? The whole deal, is on the wrap right now. But let’s be clear. It’s the Chinese that have the upper hand.Some of the materials made by the Chinese, are simply unavailable anywhere else. suspicions are that the Chinese got the high-end chips that they lost under Biden. Tariffs will probably return to the level of April 1, and in the end Donald and his friends got nothing for it. It gets worse, Chinese exports to United States are down 40%. The Chinese have found new markets, I probably never gonna buy American grain again. Once again, Donald Trump proved he’s a great negotiator. He got absolutely nothing for his Showmanship. He told the world, that everyone would come and kiss his ass, instead they’re laughing At him. There’s no joke about Donald Trump, a 25 and inherited a huge fortune and proceeded to make it a small one. Bottom line, the...
Post a Comment
Read more