SNC-Lavalin: Punish those who deserve it

All the bad players at SNC-Lavalin who approved illegal bribes to the Libyan government in 2011 have resigned or been fired, and the company has instituted strict reforms. This begs the question — who exactly are we prosecuting when we insist on a criminal trial?

There’s no one left there to punish except innocent workers who may lose their jobs if SNC-Lavalin is found guilty and can no longer bid on government projects.

It is true that justice must be done, and also must be seen to be done. But all a criminal trial says is: if you break the law and get fired for it, the company you’ve left behind will go down in flames. This is no kind of deterrent to future law breakers.

Jody Wilson-Raybould’s job as attorney general was to uphold the law, but her job as justice minister was to ask what justice should look like. Pursuing retribution through a criminal prosecution of the company brings justice to no one, will hurt people who did nothing wrong, and will let the real criminals get away without even a slap on the wrist.

This prosecution is nothing more than symbolic. It serves no purpose. It has nothing to do with justice.

If Wilson-Raybould had explored the underlying rationale for a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA), she might have come to a similar conclusion, but according to her deputy minister she neither acquainted herself with the details of the case nor read her own department’s report on the merits of a DPA.

If you want to send a message to wrongdoers, then prosecute the executives directly. Send them to jail. Don’t penalize a company that is now run by people who had nothing to do with the crime.

In a situation where everyone seems to be angry at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau because his feminism and reconciliation efforts appear to be barely more than symbolic, why are we supporting a prosecution that is clearly nothing more than symbolic? Russell Bennett, Toronto