Ex-construction firm boss admits to collusion in Quebec government contracts

MONTREAL – A former construction boss says his company participated in a collusion scheme involving Quebec government road contracts.

Normand Bedard told the Charbonneau Commission today he was in upper management at construction firm Sintra when he was introduced to the collusion in 1986.

Bedard says the system existed in the Quebec town of Granby where he was working at the time.

He testified that another boss informed him the local road contracts were divided equally among three firms.

Bedard says rigged contracts had profit margins of between 10 and 20 per cent more than those with open bids.

The corruption inquiry took a break for most of the Quebec election campaign and will now focus on political party financing and contracts involving the provincial Transport Department.

Bedard says Sintra had roughly 23 per cent of provincial road contracts when he left in 2012 after serving as president.