Who in Parliament is afraid of organized crime?

TORONTO—Who in Parliament is afraid of organized crime? The question is important if you consider what's going on in Quebec and the rest of the country and the silence on Parliament Hill. Despite all the media reports about Mafia activities in Quebec threatening an entire industry and large sectors of many levels of government, in Ottawa there is a deafening silence. The federal government, always strong in defending law and order, has only asked for a private investigation to find out about possible collusion between organized crime and public sectors. But this Herculean task has been funded with a puny budget of $80,000. Of course, the government wants to save money, but they could have saved even the $80,000, if that's all they were going to do, by just asking the RCMP for the same information. One of the RCMP's officers told an Italian court—in Italy and not in Canada—that the Rizzuto family in Montreal is very much in control of the construction sector, influences project bids and gets a cut of five per cent in return, which is basically a surtax on taxpayers. This is already public information, and it's both alarming and a threat to the stability of the government of one of Canada's largest provinces. Yet, despite this, there is no action in Parliament, neither by the government, nor by the opposition. So, again, who on Parliament Hill is afraid of organized crime? The on-the-record answer from every politician would be, "I don't agree with the premise of the question." The off-the-record answer from the government would be, "We can't offend the province of Quebec." The answer from Liberal politicians, off the record, would be, "We don't want to offend the Italian community." The answer from the NDP would be, "We always said that big corporations are ruining this country." The Bloc, off the record, would reply, "We always said that money and ethnics are the problem in your country and in ours." And the answer from a Mafioso would be, "Organized what?! What are you talking about?" Meanwhile, Ottawa is on a leave of absence from this file. In fact, being part of the Mafia is a crime in the United States and, of course, in Italy—but in Canada you could even wear a pin on your lapel saying, "I'm a proud member of the Mafia,' and nothing would happen." That's the case even though police, politicians, and many Canadians already know that organized crime is not just a Quebec problem, but a national disgrace. It's involved in marijuana-growing operations in many provinces, and especially in British Columbia, with the proceeds being used in the U.S. by Canadian criminals to buy weapons. It's involved in prostitution. It's involved in the smuggling of cigarettes and other merchandise through some of the First Nations reserves along the Canada-U.S. border. And it's involved in the laundering of billions of ill-gotten dollars with some foreign and Canadian institutions. Yes, of course, there is intense Mafia activity in Montreal and Quebec, but this is not carried out by the ordinary people of that province, only by some criminals and corrupted politicians and bureaucrats. As for the Italian community, crime has no cultural identity. But if you want to look at it that way, the fact is that in order to have corruption you need both the corruptors and the corrupted. In the case of the construction industry most of the corruptors are of Italian origin, but it should be known that the corrupted are made-in-Canada, in this case in Quebec, fait-au-Canada. If they don't want to do anything about organized crime, our federal politicians should stop hiding behind the sensitivity of the people of Quebec or of those of Italian origin. We know, and they know, that they have nothing to do with crime. What we want to be sure is that our elected officials can say the same thing: with facts, not off-the-record stupidities. Angelo Persichilli is political editor of Corriere Canadese, Canada's Italian-language daily newspaper based in Toronto. news@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

Who in Parliament is afraid of organized crime?

If federal politicians don't want to do anything about organized crime, they should at least stop hiding behind the sensitivities of the people of Quebec or of those of Italian origin.

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Who in Parliament is afraid of organized crime?

If federal politicians don't want to do anything about organized crime, they should at least stop hiding behind the sensitivities of the people of Quebec or of those of Italian origin.

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