Infrastructure costs soared in Quebec after 9-11: witness at corruption probe

MONTREAL – A former Quebec bureaucrat says signs of collusion in government infrastructure contracts became apparent to him following a bid to kickstart the province’s economy after 9-11.

Gilles Roussy testified at Quebec’s corruption inquiry today that that was when he started to notice an explosion in the cost of provincial contracts.

Roussy says the government was committed to investing in infrastructure projects to help a stagnant economy and bumped the Transport Department’s budget to $1.39 billion from $820 million.

The witness testified that before September 2001, the difference between the department’s estimates and the contractors’ submissions was negligible.

But by the spring of 2002, company bids were coming in significantly higher — 25, 30 and sometimes 35 per cent higher than department estimates.

Roussy says that played havoc with the department’s own cost estimates, which were established using historical bid data.

He added the department didn’t have the necessary tools or funding to investigate risks of collusion.

The longtime civil servant says political considerations could also influence certain projects and it wasn’t uncommon to see a rural project at the bottom of the department’s to-do pile become a priority.