Quebec Court abandons corruption case against Mascouche contractor

A Quebec Court judgein Joliette has thrown out a case against construction contractorChristian Blanchet because of unreasonable court delays.

Blanchet, the owner of a company specializing in sewer and water main construction, wasarrested in April 2014 on charges offraud, breach of trust and conspiracy in connection with a corruption scandal in Mascouche, 30 kilometres north of Laval.

Blanchet's caseis the latestto be thrown out sincetheSupreme Court ruled in July that, in the absence of a preliminary inquiry, provincial courttrials must be completed within 18 months of someone being charged with a crime.

• Supreme Court sets new deadlines for completing trials

"The judge in this case recognized that we gave it ourbest effort to proceed with the case quickly, but the Crown did not make a similar effort," said Blanchet's lawyer, Michel Massicotte.

17 arrested in all

Blanchetwas among 17people arrested inProject Gravier, aninvestigation by Quebec's anti-corruption unit (UPAC) into allegations of municipal corruption in Mascouche under former mayor Richard Marcotte.

The arrests of at least 13 of thoseaccused in the scandal, including entrepreneur Tony Accurso,date back to April 2012. Some of them, such as construction contractorNormandTrudel, are alsopetitioning to have the charges against them dropped because of unreasonable delays.

Marcotte, mayor for 21 years until his resignation in the wake of the scandal in November 2012,died of cancer in May 2016.

'Great cause for concern': PQ critic

In October, Justice Minister Stphanie Valleunveiled an action plan to reduce wait times in the courts, but she said those measures don't necessarily include hiring more judges or prosecutors.

• Quebec works to curb long waits for court dates

However, Parti Qubcois justice critic Vronique Hivon said Quebec courts have the longest delays in the country. She said that, with one case after another being dropped in the wake of the Supreme Court's July ruling, Valle needs to do more.

"There is great cause for concern," Hivon said, citingthe risk that years of investigation into alleged fraud and conspiracy could all lead to naught.

"Those accusations are relating to corruption cases everything we have dealt with with the Charbonneau commission. And once again, we see because of problems with our justice system, accused people are just being freed," said Hivon.

"This doesn't make any sense."