The Johnson Commission concludes its findings

The Johnson Report examining the de la Concorde overpass tragedy has come down hard on the government for “widespread negligence" and "generalized irresponsibility."

There's a surprise.

The commission, headed by former Premier Pierre-Marc Johnson also scorned engineers at Transport Quebec responsible for the fiasco for their “intellectual lack of curiosity.”

The consequence of all this is that it came at the expense of public safety.

Now what? Among its proposals, the report estimates it will take $500 million to 40% of Quebec's 12 000 highway structures.

The commission has also named and criticized the major players involved. They include; Desjardins, Sauriol & Associes, Inter State (owned by the late senator Pietro Rizzuto) and Acier d'Armature de Montreal (the company that improperly installed the reinforcing bars.) The study further revealed that low-quality concrete allowed for the erosion process to accelerate which eventually led to the bridge collapsing under its own weight.

However, assigning specific blame for the purpose of criminal prosecution will prove difficult.

Sadly, all this could have been averted had Transport Quebec been proactive and more attentive. There were two opportunities to repair the bridge. The first was in 1992 when Transport Quebec was notified that the bridge had sustained significant damage. Transport Quebec's engineer at the time Tiona Sanogo failed to properly execute any repairs according to established standards and codes. The second came in 2004 when Christian Mercier shockingly and spectacularly failed to take advantage of a second warning from another department engineer.

Makes you wonder exactly what their motives were to avoid doing the necessary work; to say nothing of the hiring practices at Transport Quebec.

I could easily turn this into a discussion between the private and public sector but I won’t. Suffice to say that there is a general lack of workman pride in our culture these days.

The three man panel has tabled its recommendations and the government has already moved to make necessary changes by creating a special independent agency. Too bad it took 5 killed and six injured to come down hard on the bastards involved.