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SNC-LAVALIN
INC. – A TALE OF CORRUPTION IN BIG
BUSINESS AND COVER UPS
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By: Robert T. Chisholm Date:
November 24th, 2013
This is about Canadian corporate
greed, corruption in business, injustice and denial of Charter rights to life
and security of the person directed at Robert Chisholm by SNC-Lavalin Inc. and
their predecessor company The SNC Group (prior to 1995
March 11th 1993). Until now, it has been effectively covered up
because of persistent refusal by the Canadian mainstream media to investigate
and report when Mr. Chisholm approached them. The SNC Group took over Lavalin
Inc. in 1991. The
merged company was re-named “SNC-Lavalin Inc.” in
1995 on March 11th 1993, by then-President and C.E.O. Guy
Saint-Pierre, as noted below.
From this point on, when the
abbreviation “SNC” is used it may refer either to The SNC Group (prior to May 1995 March 11th 1993 ) or to
SNC-Lavalin Inc. (after May 1995 March 11th
1993)
This is also about
inequality, in all its aspects - inequality before the justice system
(notwithstanding the Charter rights in Canada concerning equality before the
law), a Contract of Employment "fiddle", wrongful dismissal and
mismanagement of the economy so as to produce the "right" environment
for SNC, their lawyers and government bureaucrats, to carry on the behaviours
described and then cover them up. A key
factor in this was the money available to SNC to feed to their lawyers. Another
key factor was the failure of the federal government and the Quebec government
to support Mr. Chisholm in any way following his wrongful dismissal by SNC in
July 1982.
In
1981/82, SNC hired Mr. Chisholm from the U.K., working as a professional
engineer, during (SAM-1) a recruiting campaign in the U.K. In July
1981 following an interview in London, England, he was offered a job at the
company’s head office in Montreal, Quebec to work on oil industry projects
which were active at the time. Based on the offer, which he accepted, this
appeared to be a permanent job (SAM-2) to last at
least 24 months.
15
weeks after commencing work he was (SAM-3) laid off and then was shocked
to find that he could not even get unemployment insurance benefits on account
of not having worked for the (SAM-4) minimum 20
weeks then required to be eligible, as a “new entrant” to the Canadian work
force. He was told nothing about this “20 week rule” by the company or
anybody else prior to arriving in Canada. For this and other reasons he was
forced to sue the company for wrongful dismissal. After many delays for frivolous
reasons instigated by SNC’s lawyers, the case only got to Court in 1991 – over
8 years after commencing legal action. The court found in Mr. Chisholm’s favour
but the company initially refused to pay; as a result, they had an (SAM-5) entire floor of office furniture seized and
then sold from their downtown Montreal H.Q.
When they still refused to pay, they had their (SAM-6)
Bank
Account at the Royal Bank of Canada seized and then they paid up a few
weeks later. The settlement was small and right from the start SNC clearly
behaved in the manner described for the purpose of constantly forcing up Mr.
Chisholm’s legal bills in an attempt to bankrupt him. Three of the lawyers
at the Montreal law firm of Dunton Rainville involved in creating this mess
were Maître Marc de Wever, Maître Brigitte Charron and Maître Paul Andre
Martel. The first two have since been appointed Judges in Quebec Superior
Court. It is clear from one of the Court documents that Maître Paul Andre
Martel, who is still practicing at Dunton Rainville, was involved in allowing
the furniture seizure and bank account seizure to happen. It is also clear that
this was purely for the purpose of causing more delays and forcing up Mr.
Chisholm’s legal bills; it also involved a claim by Dunton Rainville that they
had to hold back 30% of the judgement to cover an income tax amount for which
they falsely alleged that Mr. Chisholm was responsible. At the time of the
furniture seizure and Bank Account seizure, (SAM-7) SNC were in
the middle of taking over Lavalin Inc. – who, at the time, were twice SNC’s
size and were their main competitor in Canada. (SAM-8)
SNC paid a reported $90 million to
purchase Lavalin’s assets from the consortium of 8 banks which had seized them
after Lavalin Inc., had got into financial trouble. SNC’s then-President and C.E.O., Guy
Saint-Pierre, was also a Director of the Royal Bank (see (SAM-9) extract from 1991 Annual Report
and (SAM-10)
extract from 1990 Annual Report) and was still kept on as such by then-Royal
Bank President and C.E.O. Allan R. Taylor and his nominated successor John E.
Cleghorn - notwithstanding the fact that both were told in writing, and with
supporting documents, about the behaviour of Guy Saint-Pierre and SNC - leading
to the furniture seizure and bank account seizure already referred to.
EFFORTS BY THE SNC
GROUP AND THEIR OFFICERS TO HAVE THEMSELVES PORTRAYED FAVOURABLY IN THE PUBLIC
EYE
Among
other things, this has been apparent from continual reports of better and
better profits, fund-raising for “good causes” (such as the United Way) and
Order of Canada awards to Guy Saint-Pierre and other officers of the company.
Some instances of this sort of thing were:-
■ In 1985, SNC’s then-President and C.E.O.
Jean-Paul Gourdeau co-chaired the 1985 Centraide fund-raising campaign and (SAM-11) got his picture in the Montreal
Gazette when his co-chairmanship was announced, along with the 1985 fund
raising target of $17 million.
(Centraide is the Montreal, Quebec branch of The United Way, a
charitable fund-raising organization known throughout North America)
■ SNC had themselves written up in the first
edition of (SAM-13)
‘’The 100 Best Companies to Work For in Canada’’
– a book published in March 1986. Soon after that, they exploited this on at least
two occasions - (SAM-14)
March 22nd 1986 and (SAM-15) April 12th 1986 - in
recruiting advertisements in the Montreal Gazette newspaper. At the same time,
SNC themselves chose the people who were to be interviewed by the authors of
the book, a sampling method which SNC could have exploited to select people who
could be persuaded to generate impressions favourable to SNC. At the time,
SNC’s President and C.E.O. was Jean Paul Gourdeau. Among other things, the 1986 edition
of the book said that “…the company is considerate, and this applies even to
the way layoffs are handled…..”. Mr. Chisholm has an original copy of the book
referred to, among other documents to support any and all things that he has
said or will say about SNC. Then - based on later research between 1986 and
1991-The SNC Group and other companies identified in the 1986 edition were
excluded from a later edition published in 1991.
■ (SAM-16) Guy Saint-Pierre co-chaired Centraide's 1991
fund-raising campaign, and then exploited this and the results of the
campaign to boost his own image and that of SNC in SNC’s 1991 Annual Report (released
in March 1992), specifically in the ‘’Report to Shareholders’’ section. This
took place after he allowed SNC’s Royal Bank account to be seized by Mr.
Chisholm’s lawyers for non-payment of his wrongful dismissal Court judgement,
which also coincided with SNC taking over Lavalin Inc. and paying out $90
million to purchase Lavalin Inc.’s assets from the consortium of banks
that had seized them.
■ (SAM-17) Guy Saint-Pierre was then
elected to the Order of Canada in 1992
- even after Mr. Chisholm complained – with supporting documents - to
both the Governor General and the Advisory Council on Awards about his questionable behaviour.
■ Between 1993 and 1994 SNC were involved, along
with the Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada, in researching and
producing a report – (SAM-18) ‘’From Potential to Prosperity’’ (see page
12), aimed at solving unemployment and human resources-related problems in the
industry, whilst totally ignoring a similar proposal
from Mr. Chisholm - which was part of his proposed formula at that time for an
out-of court settlement between him and SNC on account of SNC’s questionable
behaviours ( now exposed on his web site
at www.exposethismuck.com (SAM-19)
( see also index.htm on this computer
) The questionable behaviours exposed on his web
site could not be included in his wrongful dismissal suit, which was a civil
suit; if the said questionable behaviours were to be brought before a court of
law, he would have had to institute
criminal proceedings but had no access to any funding to pursue this.
■ Both Jean-Paul Gourdeau and Guy Saint-Pierre
managed SNC in a questionable manner with respect to shareholders, specifically by
using the internal management system in SNC to select employee shareholders,
allocating employee shareholders 15 votes each compared to only 1 for
non-employee shareholders. (SAM-20) This led to complaints when dismissed employees
found their influence at shareholder meetings suddenly reduced by a factor of
15.
■
Guy Saint-Pierre, an engineer from SNC, seemingly gave a job to John E.
Cleghorn – a banker from the Royal Bank – whilst John E. Cleghorn, the banker,
seemingly gave a job to Guy Saint-Pierre, the engineer. It seems that in
Canada, contacts and political influence are everything, whilst Canadian
employers of engineers routinely refuse to employ foreign-trained engineers
including some from the U.K.
■
On March 26th 1999, then-federal Finance Minister Paul Martin announced the appointment of
Guy Saint-Pierre, (then) Chairman of the Board of SNC, as the 1999 National
Campaign Chair for the New Canada Savings Bonds Payroll Program. (SAM-21) Mr. Saint-Pierre became the second National
Campaign Chair and follows L.R. Wilson, Chairman of the Board, BCE Inc.,
whose term ended March 31, 1999.
■
(SAM-22) Guy Saint-Pierre has also been involved in
fund-raising for the University of Ottawa
■(SAM-23) Guy
Saint-Pierre was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2003 and was
described at the time as ‘’….one of Canada’s most respected business
leaders….’’.
■ (SAM-24) Guy Saint-Pierre was awarded an Honorary
Doctorate by the University of Ottawa in 2002 and was described on their
web site as follows :- ‘’…Saint-Pierre is recognized for his exceptional
business acumen and his forthrightness. He is most admired for being a man of
his word and a man of action, which is reflected in his level of success.” The
complete citation from 2002 says, among other things:-
‘’ While working as an engineer, he has also been
able to repeatedly demonstrate his abilities as a manager and administrator and
to gain the confidence of many who have become close colleagues over the years.
Since August 1, 2001, Guy Saint-Pierre has been the
Chairman of the Board of the Royal Bank of Canada. When he assumed this
position, he marked an historic first: the first francophone Quebecer to be
appointed. Despite this rather extraordinary fact, his appointment to the chair
was a surprise to absolutely nobody. By the same token, he is also the first
engineer to be Chairman of the Royal Bank. “
■ (SAM-25) In 2008 Guy
Saint-Pierre was Co-Chair of a fund-raising campaign, then known as the
"Dignity Campaign", for St. Mary’s Hospital in Montreal, Quebec, (SAM-26) and was a "Mentor" for the Pierre
Trudeau foundation in 2010.
Quote from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
website: -
“The (SAM-27) Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
develops and promotes ideas and innovation in the social sciences and humanities
fields. Through its prestigious Doctoral Scholarship, Fellowship, Mentorship
and Public Interaction programs, the Foundation supports outstanding
individuals who have the drive and ability to take on some of modern society’s
most critical issues. “
MR. CHISHOLM’S EXPERIENCE
WITH CANADIAN MASS MEDIA: WHY TRY TO EXPOSE WHAT HAPPENED NOW, YEARS OR DECADES
AFTERWARDS?
■ There
was no Internet and World Wide Web in 1991 when his lawyers seized some of
SNC’s office furniture and bank account for non-payment of the Court judgement
in his wrongful dismissal lawsuit coinciding with SNC paying $90 million to
purchase Lavalin Inc.’s assets as part of the process of SNC taking over
Lavalin Inc.
■ Federal
M.P.’s and provincial M.P.P.’s who could not / would not / did not do anything
when asked
■ Influence of money on / corruption by money of / mass media in Canada
(ref. Mary Vipond, “The Mass Media in Canada”, 1st edition, published by James
Lorimer in 2000). Fear in mass media of expensive and frivolous / vexatious
libel lawsuits from the people responsible ((SAM-28) SLAPP). Most media people whom he
approached would not report anything or even ask the company so much as one
question. Quebec, alone out of all the Canadian provinces, has anti-SLAPP
legislation in force but only since 2009.
■ Lawyers
manufacturing delays in order to keep the situation in a perpetual state of
being “…before the courts…”, so as to excuse themselves and SNC from refusing
to comment - thus appearing to “excuse” SNC, The Royal Bank of Canada and the
Quebec government under the late Premier Robert Bourassa of any accountability
in public.
■ Common
and mis-informed attitude that foreign trained professionals are entirely
responsible for their own fate, notwithstanding actual conditions in Canada
which are “conveniently” kept hidden from view
- until it is too late. This is borne out in the November 1987 Quebec
Court of Appeal judgement involving Dr. Michael Stanley Short vs. SNC
■ Unsatisfactory social and
political climate, especially in Quebec where Mr. Chisholm was working for SNC.
■ General efforts in Canada geared to inculcating defeatist attitudes in
the minds of people out of work, involving such ideas as “MONEY TALKS” and “…be
careful what you say….” in order to justify corruption in business and cover it
up. This type of mental attitude in Canada towards “whistleblowers” has its
origin in a combination of (SAM-29) lack of legal protection for
"whistleblowers", snobbery based on money and obsession in the
mass media with appearing to be “politically correct” - meaning in practice that big business just exploits the use of
money and weak or non-existent laws, when it chooses, in order to completely
disregard Charter rights in Canadian workplaces concerning right to life,
security of the person and equality before the law. At present Mr. Chisholm
cannot even get his story reported on the fairwhistleblower.ca website just
referred to, because of legal liability problems arising from his story never
having been officially “…in the public
domain…”. This is unlike the situation
for other people such as professional engineer Evan Vokes who was dismissed by
TransCanada Pipelines in May 2012 after raising some very serious concerns
about bad workmanship on the Keystone oil pipeline project.
■ Everything
is documented, making the time factor irrelevant as an “excuse” for doing
nothing.
SOME OF MR. CHISHOLM’S EXPERIENCES WITH MASS MEDIA PEOPLE IN CANADA
Not all of these were bad. Between
1982 when all the trouble with SNC started, and 1984, Mr. Chisholm had
significant coverage and this is partly documented. But the story up to 1984
represents just a small part of what happened up to now (November 2013).
In May 1984, the (now defunct)
“Sunday Express” newspaper, local to Montreal, had their reporter Richard Flint
interview him and (SAM-30)
published an article on May 5th that year.
Among other things, it said that Mr. Chisholm was given 4 months severance pay
by SNC in lieu of notice - but the actual amount was only 4 weeks’ pay. Apart from this one error, the article was
accurate and the paper published a correction in the next issue. As far as Mr. Chisholm knows, nobody in the
mainstream media picked up on it. The
paper’s Editor at the time was Bill Hartley who later moved to a local TV
station, CFCF 12.
Then in early August 1991, between
the SNC furniture seizure and the bank account seizure, Mr. Chisholm was
briefly on the air through CJAD 800 Radio in Montreal and talked about the
furniture seizure.
Within a day or so of this, he also spoke to
investigative reporter Bill Marsden at the Montreal Gazette, who could / would
/ only say “…oh, we are doing something else with SNC…” (i.e. reporting nearly
every day on the takeover by SNC of Lavalin Inc.)
So nothing about it ever appeared
in the Montreal Gazette or any other newspaper.
In December 1994 and again in
April 1995, Mr. Chisholm wrote to Bill Hartley, who by then was the Editor at
CFCF 12 “Pulse News” in Montreal, Quebec. Mr. Chisholm included a 172-page
“black book” about SNC, among other things. Bill Hartley did not have the time
for this but referred Mr. Chisholm to Dale Goldhawk at CTV Television’s
program, “Goldhawk Fights Back”.
On April 30th 1994 Mr.
Chisholm wrote to Dale Goldhawk including the same 172-page black book, among
other things. (SAM-31)
In his reply dated May 26th 1995, Mr.
Goldhawk politely claimed to be unable to report anything on his CTV Television
program, after examining the information.
On April 3rd 1995, Mr.
Chisholm wrote to then-“Ottawa Citizen” reporter Brad Evenson, who eventually
declined to report anything, on the “grounds” that the paper “…does not report
on things in Quebec…”, or some such. He also said to Mr. Chisholm, “...people
get shot in this town and it doesn’t get reported…” This was Brad Evenson’s
final response to the same 172-page “black book” and other information that Mr.
Chisholm had sent him, even though Mr. Evenson claimed to have double checked a
few things and found them to correspond “…almost exactly…” with what Mr.
Chisholm said, which was fully documented. Some months beforehand, Mr. Chisholm
had spoken about the same thing to Ottawa Citizen editor Hugh Patterson, who
commented that Mr. Chisholm’s story sounded “... a bit too odd…”.
On that same date Mr. Chisholm had
also written to the same Brad Evenson about something advertised in “The Ottawa
Citizen” on March 23rd 1995 which appeared to be a good work
opportunity for Mr. Chisholm. It turned out to be “Resort Condominiums International” which “The Ottawa Citizen”
had previously heard about and found to be a business “scam” with links to
organised crime.
M.P.’S AND M.P.P.’S WHO COULD NOT
/ WOULD NOT / DID NOT / DO ANYTHING WHEN ASKED.
This is really a separate story
unto itself.
The people involved included:-
In Montreal: The late P.E.
Trudeau, M.P. (also Prime Minister of Canada up to 1984); Allan Khoury, M.P.P..
In Ottawa: Beryl Gaffney, M.P.;
Marlene Catterall, M.P.; The Hon. John Baird, M.P.; Jim Watson, M.P.P., Bob
Chiarelli, M.P.P..
All of them had problems with a combination
of work over-load and rules/regulations that stopped them from doing anything.
In the latest instance (during
2013) involving Pam Crawford – Assistant to Mr. Chisholm’s current federal
M.P., The Hon. John Baird – certain important points came up. These served to
show - over the years and decades - how a string of errors and omissions
continually compounded a bad situation caused initially by corporate wrongdoing
at SNC and continually made it worse, making it virtually impossible for Ms.
Crawford to do anything – quite apart from the other problems just noted.
Some documentation concerning all
the above is available.
This serves to show how, in
Canada, your government representatives – for whom you vote at election time –
are virtually incapable of doing anything, particularly concerning corruption
in the private sector business.
Apart from other things, it all
boils down to continual instances - albeit accidental – of enforcing the
defeatism and defeatist attitudes in Canada that Stephen Harper, now Canada’s
Prime Minister, complained of in his famous May 2002 speech reported as a front
page headline in the “National Post” newspaper of May 30th 2002,
“Harper Calls Canada a Nation of Defeatists”. There is even a Wikipedia entry
about that May 2002 speech.
FURTHER WORK
Mr. Chisholm has more to say about
the near-impossibility of finding work in Canada caused by bad job market
conditions, popular disinformation in media reports about people out of work
and endless lecturing of people out of work about “appearances” when looking
for work. He plans to deal with these topics in future articles.
-----------------------------------------------------
Update – May 21st 2015
Someone
raised a question with me a week or so ago.
As
a result, I must also point out one more thing. Back between May 1991 and
November 1991, when all the nonsense was going on leading to the office
furniture seizure followed by the bank account seizure for non-payment of the
judgement by SNC, my lawyers advised that SNC wanted me
to sign an undertaking to make no additional financial claims or pursue any
further legal action after the case was concluded. I refused to sign any such document, so the way is still
open to me to make any further claims that I see fit. SNC’s tactic was simply a smokescreen designed to
intimidate me and obfuscate.
They had to pay the judgement anyway, in the case that was concluded in 1991,
which was a civil case. (SAM-32) “Quick Reference” supporting documents
added November 4th 2016
Update – December 9th, 2016
The
fairwhistleblower.ca web site referred to above closed in 2014 when the owner
retired and sold the domain name. But
the Facebook page about it still exists, at (SAM-33) https://www.facebook.com/FairWhistleblower