AtkinsRéalis Group Inc., formerly known as SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., is a Canadian company based in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

that provides engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services to various industries, including mining and

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

, environment and water,

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

, and

clean energy Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the environment, the economy, and s ...

. AtkinsRéalis was the largest construction company, by revenue, in Canada, . The firm has approximately 37,000 employees worldwide, with offices in over 50 countries and operations in over 160 countries.

Key sectors

The company's key service sectors are buildings, defence, mining, electrical power, transportation, and water; each sector offers services that includes design, studies, consultancy,

financing Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm use ...

asset management Asset management is a systematic approach to the governance and realization of all value for which a group or entity is responsible. It may apply both to tangible assets (physical objects such as complex process or manufacturing plants, infrastr ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

procurement Procurement is the process of locating and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. The term may also refer to a contractual ...

and

operations and maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installat ...

. Operations include

mass transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

and

heavy rail Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: Rapid transit A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid acceleratio ...

systems,

highways A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

airports An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface such ...

and marine facilities, as well as industrial, commercial, cultural and healthcare buildings.

Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

and

sector offers services to green fields and brown fields projects of any sizes or complexity including "mining commodities, fertilizers, and sulphuric acid facilities". Its power sector provides services in environment and water, the transmission and distribution of energy,

hydro power Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kin ...

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...

, renewables and

thermal power A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...

generation, energy from waste, electrical power delivery systems", and "clean and sustainable power technologies".

History

SNC (1911–1991)

In 1911, Arthur established a consulting engineering office, Arthur & Cie., in Montréal after completing studies in Belgium and at

Polytechnique Montréal (; previously ) is a Public university, public research university affiliated with the in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The school offers Graduate School, graduate and postgraduate training, and is very active in research. Following tradition, ne ...

and working for several years with public works. Against the backdrop of the transformative advances in

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...

. Surveyer worked on hydropower projects with his partner, Augustin Frigon (1888–1952), an engineer, professor, and Director at

Augustin Frigon
(1888–1952) was an engineer, professor and Director at the

. He also served as Director of Société Radio-Canada from 1944 à 1952. where Surveyer had earned his degree. In 1912, they worked on a power distribution network for the city of Grand-Mère on

Saint-Maurice River The Saint-Maurice River (, ; ) is one of the main tributaries of the St. Lawrence River, after the Ottawa River, Ottawa and the Saguenay River, Saguenay Rivers and drains an area of 42,735 km2. It touches the Lac Saint-Jean, Lake Saint John waters ...

. The project that increased the company's profile was the Saint-Maurice River hydroelectric power station, which they designed and supervised. The company specialized in hydraulics, managing hydropower projects and flood control, and soon branched out into the industrial sector, particularly in pulp and paper, and mining and metallurgy. formed a first 10-year partnership with Emil Nenniger and Georges Chênevert in 1937. A second partnership agreement was signed in 1946, and the firm's name was changed to , Nenniger and Chênevert. The name would eventually be abbreviated to SNC. In 1967 Camille A. Dagenais , became president and CEO of SNC Group, a position he held until 1975. When Dagenais was inducted into the Order of Canada, he was honoured for his accomplishments at SNC—specifically for large-scale hydro development projects in Canada and internationally, for example, in India and Greece. One of the most important projects was the work he oversaw on the recently nationalizedAccording to historian Paul-André Linteau, in his 1989 publication ''Histoire du Québec contemporain – Volume 2: Le Québec depuis 1930'', when

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec () is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada#Quebec, Crown corporation public utility headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It manages the electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission and electricity ...

was nationalized it became a symbol of the "new Quebec nationalism and of the new economic strategy of the State". The construction of the Daniel-Johnson Dam and the Manic-Outardes complex had a greater symbolic impact as it was part of the "larger social and political context of the

Quiet Revolution The Quiet Revolution () was a period of socio-political and socio-cultural transformation in French Canada, particularly in Quebec, following the 1960 Quebec general election. This period was marked by the secularization of the government, the ...

in Quebec.

's Manic-5 project (1959–1970) on the

Manicouagan River The Manicouagan or Manicuagan River, often clipped to Manic, is a river in Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. The river originates in the Manicouagan Reservoir and flows approximately south, emptying into the Saint Lawrence River near Baie- ...

, north of

Baie-Comeau Baie-Comeau () is a city in the Côte-Nord region of the province of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, and is the seat of Manicouagan Regional County Municipality. It is near the mouth of the Manicouagan Ri ...

. It was built for

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power production and supplies water to the Manic-5s

power house Powerhouse or power house may refer to: * Power station, a facility (or former facility) for the generation of electric power Businesses * Powerhouse Animation Studios, an animation studio * powerHouse Books, a Brooklyn-based publisher of high-e ...

s. The firm's first international contract was awarded in 1963, to design and build the 780 MW

Idukki Idukki (ഇടുക്കി; ) is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala in the southwest of the country. It is the largest district in Kerala and lies amid the Cardamom Hills of Western Ghats in Kerala. Idukki district co ...

power station in Kerala State, India.

Lavalin (1936–1991)

SNC's main rival in Canada was Lalonde, Valois International Limited, a company that was established in 1936 by engineers Jean-Paul Lalonde and Romeo Valois. Bernard Lamarre, who would later become director and CEO in 1962 and lead Lavalin for 29 years, had married Louise Lalonde, Jean-Paul Lalonde's daughter in 1952, and began working at Lalonde, Valois International Limited. In 1972, the company changed its name to Lavalin—combining syllables from the original company name. In the 1970s, Lavalin designed and built the fabric roof for Montreal's Olympic Stadium and built the

James Bay Project The James Bay Project () involves the construction of a series of hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power stations on the La Grande River in northwestern Quebec, Canada by government-owned corporation, state-owned public utility, utility Hydro-Qué ...

, in a partnership with the United-States-based

Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California in 1898, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia in the Washington metropolitan area. , the '' E ...

. According to a 1986 ''Maclean's'' article by Anthony Wilson-Smith, Lavalin was Canada's "largest engineering firm, with $625 million in operating revenues in 1985 and 5,700 employees. SNC was the second largest". Wilson-Smith also said that they were "among the largest engineering firms in the world". Lavalin branched out in other industries, such as cable television—Canada's

The Weather Network The Weather Network (TWN) is a Canadian English-language discretionary weather information specialty channel available in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. It delivers weather information on television, digital platforms (respon ...

and

MétéoMédia MétéoMédia is a Canadian French-language weather information specialty channel and web site owned by Pelmorex. MétéoMédia primarily serves viewers in Quebec, although some cable TV systems in Ontario and New Brunswick carry the channel as w ...

were founded by Lavalin in 1988. Lavalin's shares were sold to

Pelmorex Pelmorex Corp. is a Canadian weather information and media company. Based in Oakville, Ontario, it is the owner of the Canadian specialty channels The Weather Network (English) and MétéoMédia (French), and their associated digital properties. ...

in 1993. By 1990 Lavalin Inc included over 70 companies worth CA$1.2 billion. It was forced to sell to its rival SNC in 1991.

SNC-Lavalin (1991–2023)

Bernard Lamarre remained with the newly formed company, SNC-Lavalin until 1999. He oversaw major projects including the

TransCanada highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...

in Montreal, the Louis-Hippolyte-Lafontaine Bridge-Tunnel, the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...

in Montréal, and Alcan in the Ville de La Baie. He also oversaw projects in Benin and in Algeria. Bernard Lamarre's younger brother, Jacques Lamarre, a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

, became SNC-Lavalin's CEO in 1996 and left his post in 2009.

Acquisitions and partnerships

According to Ingram, SNC-Lavalin partnered with Bombardier in the 1990s to build transportation projects in Malaysia and Turkey. SNC-Lavalin acquired a 27% share in Ontario's Highway 407

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...

for $175 million. In 2011, SNC-Lavalin sold part of its share of Highway 407, at a significant profit. In June 2011, SNC-Lavalin purchased the commercial reactor division of

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL, Énergie atomique du Canada limitée, EACL) is a Canadian Crown corporation and the largest nuclear science and technology laboratory in Canada. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in th ...

(AECL) from the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

for CA$15 million. SNC-Lavalin established a subsidiary company named Candu Energy to market the design and supply of

CANDU reactor The CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide (heavy water) moderator and its use of (originally, natural) uranium fuel. CA ...

s. On June 23, 2014, SNC-Lavalin acquired Irish engineering and construction business Kentz for approximately CA$2.1 billion (US$1.95 billion). In 2017, SNC-Lavalin acquired its UK rival

Atkins Atkins may refer to: People * Atkins (surname) Places in the United States * Atkins, Arkansas, a city * Atkins, Iowa, a city * Atkins, an unincorporated community in Bossier Parish, Louisiana * Atkins, Nebraska, an unincorporated community * Atk ...

—a British design, engineering and project management consulting firm, for approximately CA$3.36 billion with $1.9-billion investment from the

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (, CDPQ; ) is an institutional investor that manages several public and parapublic pension plans and insurance programs in the Canadian province of Quebec. It was established in 1965 by an act of the ...

. In late 2018, SNC-Lavalin agreed to form a joint venture with the Swedish-Swiss industrial giant

ABB ABB Group is a Swedish-Swiss multinational electrical engineering corporation. Incorporated in Switzerland as ABB Ltd., and headquartered in Zurich, it is dual-listed on the Nasdaq Nordic exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and the SIX Swiss Excha ...

for the delivery of turnkey

electrical substation A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station an ...

projects. This new company, named Linxon, undertakes project design, engineering, procurement, and construction activities for a range of clients in the transport, utilities, and renewable electricity generation and transmission sectors. In 2021 the company's oil & gas business, including the former Atkins and Kentz oil and gas businesses, was sold to

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

-based Kentech Corporate Holdings. After the transaction was completed Kentech changed its name to Kent plc.

AtkinsRéalis (2023–present)

On September 13, 2023, SNC-Lavalin announced it was rebranding to become AtkinsRéalis. President and CEO Ian Edwards said the new name combined the

legacy brand and ‘Réalis, inspired by the city of Montréal and the company’s French-Canadian roots. The new name also evoked the word ‘realise’, as in ‘make happen’. The new name was used immediately on all communications materials and the Toronto Stock Exchange (new ticker symbol TSX: ATRL). The legal name switch requires shareholder approval at the company's 2024 annual general meeting. SNC-Lavalin sold the Scandinavian businesses of Atkins to French engineering firm

SYSTRA SYSTRA is a multinational engineering and consulting group in the mobility sector, whose fields of activity include rail and public transport. SYSTRA employs about 10,300 people worldwide, and is a limited company which shareholders include Fr ...

for $102 million in 2023.

Major domestic projects

In 1999, the Ontario government signed a $3.1 billion 99-year lease for

Ontario Highway 407 King's Highway 407, commonly referred to as Highway 407 and colloquially as the "four-oh-seven", is a 400-series highways, 400-series highway in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Comprising a tolled privatel ...

with ''407 International Inc.'', a conglomerate of three private companies, including SNC-Lavalin. It was renamed 407 ETR. In the early 2000s, SNC-Lavalin won the contract to repair Montreal's

Jacques Cartier Bridge The Jacques Cartier Bridge () is a steel truss cantilever bridge crossing the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal Island, Montreal, Quebec, to the South Shore (Montreal), south shore at Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. The bridge crosses Saint Helen's ...

. In 2002–2003 the firm completed a feasibility study of the

Lac Doré Vanadium Deposit The Lac Doré Vanadium Deposit is a vanadium mineral deposit, deposit first discovered by the Government of Quebec at Lac Doré. The closest mining town to the site is Matagami, Quebec, Matagami. In 1998, its control was transferred to the Sociét� ...

, in which they established the deposit as the largest

vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an ...

deposit in North America. In 2005 SNC-Lavalin in partnership with Brun-Way Group, won the $543.8-million contract to build the Brun-way project to twin Route 2, the

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

portion of the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

from

Woodstock, New Brunswick Woodstock is a town in Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada on the Saint John River, upriver from Fredericton at the mouth of the Meduxnekeag River. It is near the Canada–United States border and Houlton, Maine and the intersection of Int ...

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River (Bay of Fundy), Saint John River, ...

. The contract with the New Brunswick government was completed in 2007. In June 2005, the BC Department of Transport selected SNC-Lavalin for a 30-year contract valued at $179 million to "design, build, finance and operate" the

William R. Bennett Bridge The William R. Bennett Bridge is a pontoon bridge in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Completed on May 25, 2008, the bridge replaced the older Okanagan Lake Bridge built in 1958 to link Downtown Kelowna to West Kelowna across Oka ...

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley in the British Columbia Interior, southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. Construction which was completed in 2008. In 2004, the firm was awarded the contract for

Canada Line The Canada Line is a rapid transit line in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, that is part of the SkyTrain (Vancouver), SkyTrain system. The line is owned by TransLink (British Columbia), TransLink and InTransitBC and is operated by SN ...

, an extension of the SkyTrain rapid-transit system in Vancouver; the project was completed in 2009, ahead of schedule. The Goreway Power Station, an 869.8 megawatt gas-fired power generation facility in

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

, Ontario, near

Pearson Airport Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its Greater Toronto Area, metropolitan area, and the surrounding region known as the Golden Hors ...

, constructed by way of an EPC agreement with SNC-Lavalin, began commercial operation in 2009, for

Toyota Tsusho is a sōgō shōsha (trading company), a member of the Toyota Group. Toyota Tsusho has a worldwide presence through its many subsidiaries and operating divisions, including over 150 offices, and 900 subsidiaries and affiliates around the world. ...

and

Chubu Electric Power , abbreviated as Chuden in Japanese, is a Japanese electric utilities provider for the middle Chūbu region of the Honshu island of Japan. It provides electricity at 60 Hz, though an area of Nagano Prefecture uses 50 Hz. Chubu Electric ...

. The firm completed the construction of

Ermine Power Station Ermine Power Station is a natural gas-fired station owned by SaskPower, under construction about southeast of Kerrobert, Saskatchewan, Canada and operated as a peaking plant. The project underwent environmental assessment in 2008. Descriptio ...

for

SaskPower Saskatchewan Power Corporation, trade name, operating as SaskPower, is the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan, Canada. Established in 1929 by the Saskatchewan#Government and politics, provincial government, it serves more than 550,000 cu ...

in Saskatchewan in 2009. In 2010 the firm completed the construction of a $1.3 billion hospital at the

McGill University Health Centre The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC; ) is one of two major healthcare networks in the city of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec. It is affiliated with McGill University and one of the largest medical complexes in Montreal. It is the largest hospita ...

. (See discussion regarding controversy, below.) The firm was awarded the 2015 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards for its work in structural and civil engineering for the

Halifax Central Library The Halifax Central Library is a public library in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located on the corner of Spring Garden Road and Queen Street in Downtown Halifax. It serves as the flagship library of the Halifax Public Libraries, repla ...

project in which they created a "civic landmark and centrepiece for the Capital District". In 2015, the

Eglinton Crosstown Line 5 Eglinton, also known as the Eglinton Crosstown LRT or the Crosstown, is a light rail transit line that is under construction in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that will be part of the Toronto subway system. Owned by Metrolinx and operated by t ...

(LRT) and Blue22 (airport rail link) projects in Toronto were awarded to SNC-Lavalin, who was one of only two bidders for the Crosstown line. Both lines have since been transferred to

Metrolinx Metrolinx is a transportation agency in Ontario, Canada. It is a Crown agency that manages and integrates road and public transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). It was created as the Greater Toronto Transportation Au ...

ownership. The Crosstown line was due to be completed in 2020, but has seen repeated delays and currently has no opening date, while Blue22 opened as

Union Pearson Express The Union Pearson Express (UP Express or UPX) is an airport rail link connecting Union Station (Toronto), Union Station in Downtown Toronto to Toronto Pearson International Airport. The UP Express began operation on 6 June 2015, in time for the ...

in 2015. SNC-Lavalin is one of three main partners of the Rideau Transit Group, along with

ACS Group ACS, Actividades de Construcción y Servicios, S.A. () is a Spanish company dedicated to civil engineering, construction, all types of services and telecommunications. It is one of the leading construction companies in the world, with projects ...

and

EllisDon EllisDon is an employee-owned construction services company that was founded and incorporated in 1951 in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, by brothers Don and David Ellis Smith. The company is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canad ...

Confederation Line Line 1 (), also known as the Confederation Line (), is a light rail line operated by OC Transpo in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, part of the city's O-Train system. It opened on September 14, 2019, and is O-Train's second line. It operates on an east� ...

, on a 12.5 kilometre rapid-transit line project in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

with a 2.5 kilometre downtown subway tunnel as the centrepiece. The project, originally scheduled to be completed in 2018, was expected to be completed in spring 2019.

International projects

In 1995, SNC-Lavalin won a large infrastructure contract to renovate and modernize hydro electric power stations with the

Indian government The Government of India (ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of 36 states and union territor ...

. In 2007, the firm won the $4.6-billion

Ambatovy mine The Ambatovy mine is a large open cut lateritic nickel-cobalt mine located in Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa. The largest mine in the country, it is a major contributor to the economy of Madagascar. Ownership and operations Several ex ...

engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) management contract, the largest capital project in Madagascar's history. It was completed in 2010. The

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

and

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

mining and preparation plant was completed in 2010. SNC-Lavalin sold its share for $600 million. There has been controversy about the mine's environmental and health impacts. In December 2016, the firm won a BOO (build–own–operate) (BOO) contract from Crestwood Equity Partners valued at $100 million for multiple gas facilities in the Permian shale basin in the United States. In March 2016, it was awarded an $800M EPC management contract for a Middle East gas processing project.

Major investors

The

is SNC-Lavalin's "long-term partner". According to an article by Pierre Fortin in ''

L'actualité ''L'actualité'' is a Canadian French-language news and general interest magazine published in Montreal by Rogers Communications until 2016, then by Mishmash (XPND Capital). The magazine has over a million readers, according to Canada's Print Meas ...

'', Quebec Deposit and Investment Fund (the Caisse), which manages the

Quebec Pension Plan The Canada Pension Plan (CPP; ) is a contributory, earnings-related social insurance program. It is one of the two major components of Canada's public retirement income system, the other being Old Age Security (OAS). Other parts of Canada's reti ...

and is the second largest

pension fund A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any program, fund, or scheme which provides pension, retirement income. The U.S. Government's Social Security Trust Fund, which oversees $2.57 trillion in assets, is the ...

in Canada, after the

Canada Pension Plan The Canada Pension Plan (CPP; ) is a contributory, earnings-related social insurance program. It is one of the two major components of Canada's public retirement income system, the other being Old Age Security (OAS). Other parts of Canada's retir ...

(CPP), has increased its financing of Quebec enterprises from 2003 through 2013.

Legal issues

SNC-Lavalin's management teams have been investigated in a number of allegations under the ''

Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act The ''Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act'' (CFPOA, ) is an anti-corruption law in force in Canada. It entered into force in 1999, ratifying the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Tra ...

'' regarding contracts beginning with the SNC-Lavalin Kerala hydroelectric dam scandal (1995–2008) through to the allegations involving the bribing of Libyan officials between 2001 and 2011.

SNC-Lavalin Kerala hydroelectric dam scandal (1995–2008)

SNC-Lavalin won a large infrastructure contract to renovate and modernize hydroelectric power stations with the Current chief minister of kerala Pinarayi Vijayan

in 1995 which resulted in an alleged net loss to the Indian

exchequer In the Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's ''Transaction account, current account'' (i.e., mon ...

of 3745.0 million

rupee Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currency, currencies of Indian rupee, India, Mauritian rupee, Mauritius, Nepalese rupee, Nepal, Pakistani rupee, Pakistan, Seychellois rupee, Seychelles, and Sri Lankan rupee, Sri Lanka, and of former cu ...

s, but led to no charges against the firm. SNC-Lavalin was subsequently accused of bribery and financial fraud related to the contract in 2008. A government investigation resulted in the expulsion of several Indian government officials.

Montreal's Jacques-Cartier bridge (early 2000s)

Former

Federal Bridge Corporation The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited (FBCL; ) is the name of two successive Canadian federal Crown corporations. The Federal Bridge Corporation Limited is responsible for operating and managing the following bridges: * Blue Water Bridge in Poi ...

CEO Michel Fournier was charged with taking $2.35 million in bribes from SNC-Lavalin in return for the contract to repair the

in the early 2000s. Fournier pleaded guilty and sentenced in 2017 to five years for his part in the bribery scheme. The

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

launched a subsequent investigation called Agrafe 2 into potential criminal charges against the company concerning the bridge contract. Two of the company's subsidiaries and two former executives, Normand Morin and Kamal Francis, were charged in September 2021. The prosecution encouraged the company to negotiate a plea deal, given the top management had completely changed since the offences had occurred. Bribery payments were made through a Lebanese intermediary to Fournier, and were disguised as fictitious work on projects in Algeria and Libya. In May 2022 the company negotiated a

deferred prosecution agreement A deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), which is very similar to a non-prosecution agreement (NPA), is a voluntary alternative to adjudication in which a prosecutor agrees to grant amnesty in exchange for the defendant agreeing to fulfill certain ...

and agreed to pay fines, surcharges and victim compensation totalling $29.6 million to settle the matter.

Illegal reimbursement of political donations (2004–2011)

In 2016, commissioner of Canada elections was probing political party donations made by SNC-Lavalin employees. According to the source that provided information to CBC News, the investigation found that SNC-Lavalin reimbursed all of those individual donations—a practice forbidden under the

Canada Elections Act The ''Canada Elections Act'' () is an Act of the Parliament of Canada which regulates the election of members of parliament to the House of Commons of Canada. The Act has been amended many times over Canada's history. The ''Canada Election ...

—but

Elections Canada Elections Canada () is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering elections in Canada, Canadian federal elections and Referendums in Canada, referendums. History Elections Canada is an agency of the Parliament of Canada, and reports ...

reached an agreement with the company to avoid prosecution. In May 2018, former SNC-Lavalin executive vice president Normand Morin was charged with making illegal donations to Canadian federal political parties, on recommendation from the director of public prosecutions, in the

Court of Quebec The Court of Quebec () is a court of first instance in the Province of Quebec, Canada. The court has jurisdiction over civil matters, criminal and penal matters as well as over youth matters The court sits in administrative matters as well, a ...

. The charges allege that from 2004 to 2011, Morin orchestrated and solicited political donations from employees or their spouses to Canadian federal political parties anonymously on behalf of SNC-Lavalin, to be reimbursed afterwards. The amounts paid included about CA$110,000 to the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

and CA$8,000 to other Canadian political parties. In November 2018, Morin pleaded guilty to two of the five charges, and was fined $2,000. The remaining three charges were dropped by the prosecution.

Libya (2011)

A 2012 ''CBC News'' report, said that the first reports of murky affairs surfaced against the company in 2010 in relation to contracts in Libya. According to a ''CBC News'' article, a Libyan bribery and fraud scandal involving crimes that took place from 2001 to 2011 led to charges in "connection with payments of nearly $48 million" to Libyan public officials. In the same article, it was reported that the company was also accused of "defrauding Libyan organizations of an estimated $130 million". In 2015, SNC-Lavalin was charged with bribing Libyan officials in exchange for construction contracts between 2001 and 2011. In 2011, the RCMP began an investigation called Project Assistance which was triggered by a tip from Swiss authorities. According to an August 16, 2013 ''Financial Post'' article, Michael Novak, who had been the head of SNC International, had "signed several of the contracts between SNC and commercial consultants for work in Africa" having declared that "he believed he was dealing with veritable consultants" and having been later cleared of any wrongdoing by investigators, as reported by ''La Presse''. This included a contract with former Libyan dictator

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

's controversial government. By the summer of 2013, police alleged that the "unknown commercial consultants" had never existed and that Ben Aissa had "set up shell companies so he could pocket the 56 millionhimself". By July 2014, Aissa was jailed in Switzerland for "suspicion of corruption, fraud and money-laundering in North Africa".According to a ''CBC News'' report, Ben Aïssa, was "known for his intimate ties to two of Gadhafi's sons". He "oversaw a SNC military-civilian engineering unit project with its first phase—a $271 million prison—created by SNL with the Gadhafi government that hired Edis Zagorac, Sandra McCardell's husband. McCardell was formerly Canada's ambassador to Libya. The project "also hired Canada's former ambassador to Tunisia, Bruno Picard." According to a February 23, 2012 ''CBC News'' report,
SNC-Lavalin's billions of dollars
worth in contracts with Libya,

ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...

procured by Riadh Ben Aïssa, the executive vice president in charge of construction." According to an October 1, 2014 ''CBC News'' article, Aïssa served 29 months in prison in Switzerland before hi
extradition to Canada
to face further charges. According to a July 10, 2018 ''CBC News'' article, Riadh Ben Aïssa "pleaded guilty to one charge of using
forged document
at the Montreal courthouse". In "exchange for the plea, 15 other charges against him were dropped." When SNC-Lavalin pulled out of Libya in 2011, it left behind $22.9 million in Libyan banks. In 2013, Roy filed a countersuit for wrongful dismissal, claiming lost wages and damages to his reputation, alleging that he had been framed and scapegoated by higher-level executives whose directives he was obliged to follow.By February 13, 2013
Stéphane Roy, "a former SNC controller filed a lawsuit
against SNC for "wrongful dismissal claiming he was only following SNC’s "corporate culture." In 2014 he was charged with "fraud, bribing a foreign official and violating United Nations sanctions against Libya in connection with SNC-Lavalin’s operations in that country."] In February 2019, sixty months after the original charges were made, Judge Patricia Compagnone, ruled that based on the R v Jordan (2016), Jordan ruling
Roy's right to a speedy trial had been violated and she therefore acquitted him of all charges
By February 2012, SNC-Lavalin investors had found out that audited financial statements had been delayed to accommodate an internal review relating to SNC-Lavalin's operations. The internal review probed $35 million of unexplained payments in Libya. Prior to the launch of the investigation, there had been months-long media speculation about the company's work in Libya and its ties to the

family. In 2012, the RCMP investigated the company on these charges in the Project Assistance investigation and, in 2015, they charged SNC-Lavalin with "fraud and corruption", which the company indicated they would contest in court. On December 18, 2019, SNC-Lavalin Construction Inc. pleaded guilty to fraud contrary to section 380(1) a) of the Canadian

Criminal Code A criminal code or penal code is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...

. The company stated that, between 2001 and 2011, over $47.5 million had been paid to Al-Saadi Gaddafi. The money was directed through two representative companies, both listing Riadh Ben Aissa as the sole beneficial owner. In return for the bribes, Al-Saadi Gaddafi applied his influence to the construction contract bidding process, ensuring contracts were awarded to SNC-Lavalin Construction. Payments of personal benefits totalling over $73.5 million were also made through the representative companies to Ben Aissa and Sami Bebawi, a former vice-president of SLCI. As part of its plea agreement with the Public Prosecution Service, SLCI was fined $280 million and given a three-year probation order. In exchange, the remaining corruption and fraud charges against SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., SNC-Lavalin Construction Inc. and SNC-Lavalin International Inc. were stayed. After the bribes were discovered, the audit committee of the company's board launched an investigation into the matter, led by directors such as

Claude Mongeau Claude Mongeau is a Canadian railroad executive who served as the president (corporate title), president and chief executive officer of Canadian National Railway (CNR) from January 1, 2010, to July 1, 2016. He succeeded E. Hunter Harrison, Hunter ...

, then the CEO at

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

. During the audit committee investigation, the Financial Post wrote a story critical of full-time CEOs serving on the boards of directors of other companies, calling out Mongeau specifically.

McGill University; the Arthur Porter kick-back scandal (2011–2014)

Charges were laid against senior executives from 2014 through 2019 in the bribery cases involving Arthur Porter at the

. According to a 2012 article in the '' Globe & Mail'', these reports prompted calls for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to tighten

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

laws. According to the ''National Post'', SNC-Lavalin employees allegedly were involved in

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

and

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

in relation to a $22.5 million kick-back described as "consulting fees" to Arthur PorterAccording to a February 1, 2019 ''CTV News'' article, Yanai Elbaz, a former MUHC senior manager, wa
Arthur Porter's "right-hand man
in regards to the "$22.5-million in bribes. According to a June 26, 2013 article in ''The Star'', in the spring of 2013, an audit of SNC-Lavalin's European headquarters in France uncovered a $13.5-million payment that was made to look like it was tied to a Middle East gas-plant project" but it was actually paid to a company run by the Porter. In 2013, SNC-Lavalin said that the $13.5M was a portion of the $56 million in improper payments that led to the dismissal in 2012 of former CEO Pierre Duhaime and Riadh Ben Aissa, then executive vice-president of construction. on the contract to build the new $1.3 billion hospital at the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

in violation of the Quebec Health Act. SNC-Lavalin were awarded the contract even though they were outbid by $60 million. The case led to an investigation by the

Charbonneau Commission The Commission of Inquiry on the Awarding and Management of Public Contracts in the Construction Industry (, also known as the Charbonneau Commission) was a public inquiry in Quebec, Canada into potential corruption in the management of public con ...

. Porter resigned from the post on December 5, 2011, in light of substantial public pressure. Porter was arrested in Panama on fraud charges on May 27, 2013, which alleged that he took part in the kick-back scheme. The CBC called it the biggest fraud investigation in Canadian history. SNC-Lavalin CEO, Pierre Duhaime in March 2012, was arrested on fraud charges by Quebec authorities on November 28, 2012.Former SNC-Lavalin CEO Pierre Duhaime resigned in the last week of March 2012 wit
$4.97-million in various departure payments
according to an April 3, 2012 ''Financial Post'' article. He was arrested by Quebec authorities on November 28, 2012. According to a February 1, 2019 ''CTV News'' article by Pierre Saint-Arnaud, in February 2019, Duhaime pleaded guilty to a single charge in connection with the major corruption and fraud case involving SNC-Lavalin's contract to construct a new $1.3-billion hospital at the University Health Centre. He was the last defendant in the case. He faced "16 charges including fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, using forged documents and breach of trust."According to a ''CBC'' article, in another case stemming from this Project Assistance investigation, Quebec Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer stayed obstruction of justice charges against former SNC-Lavalin vice-president Sami Bebawi and his lawyer Constantine Kyres, on February 15 citing unreasonable delays. Kyres was originally arrested in January 2014. In 2018, a judge ruled that the RCMP had illegally obtained evidence in this case. Bebawi still faces "several other charges related to contracts negotiated with Moammar Gadhafi's Libyan regime." SNC-Lavalin sued Duhaime for millions of dollars in damages, claiming that he stained its goodwill by means of the McGill University Health Centre superhospital scandal. The company claims that Duhaime "facilitated the execution of the embezzlement" of $22.5 million of company funds. Duhaime was charged with several counts related to the bribe. In February 2019 he pleaded guilty to one count of breach of trust. The prosecution vacated some 15 further charges.

Padma Bridge (since 2011)

An investigation into an alleged graft related to 2011 bids for the construction of the 6.51 kilometre (four-mile) USD$3 billion road—rail bridge crossing the

Padma River The Padma () is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the eastern and main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River, near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is situated on the banks ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, resulted in the former SNC-Lavalin employees being cleared of all charges by a Canadian court. In May 2011, two former SNC-Lavalin International Inc. (SLII) employees Ramesh Shah and Mohammad Ismail met government officials in Bangladesh to discuss a bid for the $50-million supervision contract to build the

Padma Bridge The Padma Multipurpose Bridge, commonly known as the Padma Bridge, is a Double-decked bridge, two-level road-rail bridge across the Padma River, the main distributary of the Ganges in Bangladesh. It connects Louhajang Upazila of Munshiganj Dist ...

, a project estimated to be worth US$3 billion. Part of the allegations were related to SLII common practice of list project consultancy costs (PCC), also known as project commercial cost, as a line item in internal budgets documents related to the bidding process.According to a May 15, 2013 ''CBC News'' report, SNC-Lavalin International Inc. (SLII) "focused on smaller contracts to design and supervise megaprojects". According to former SLII engineer, Mohammad Ismail, it was a common practice for SLII to list project consultancy costs (PCC) also known as project commercial cost, as a line item in internal budgets documents in regards to contracts with countries such as, including Kazakhstan, Cambodia (2013), Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Ghana, to facilitate bids on contracts. These PCCs or CCs were flagged in audits as potential bribes. As a result of the original investigation by World Bank investigators who worked with RCMP officers, in September 2013, the World Bank blacklisted SNC-Lavalin and its affiliates from bidding on the World Bank's global projects. The World Bank had originally offered to fund $1.5 billion of the $3 billion but pulled back following the allegations. However, on February 11, 2017, the Ontario Superior Court found no proof of the Padma bridge bribery conspiracy, dismissed the case, and acquitted the ex-SNC-Lavalin executives. According to the ''Dhaka Tribune'', Justice Ian Nordheimer rebuked the Canadian police, saying: "Reduced to its essentials, the information provided in the iretap applicationswas nothing more than speculation, gossip, and rumor."

SaskPower serious design flaws (2015)

In 2015, internal documents from

(the

crown corporation Crown corporation () is the term used in Canada for organizations that are structured like private companies, but are directly and wholly owned by the government. Crown corporations have a long-standing presence in the country, and have a sign ...

that is the principal electric utility in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, Canada), revealed that there were "serious design issues" in the

carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process by which carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial installations is separated before it is released into the atmosphere, then transported to a long-term storage location.IPCC, 2021Annex VII: Glossary at ...

system at its coal-fired

Boundary Dam Power Station Boundary Dam Power Station is the largest coal fired station owned by SaskPower, located near Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada. Description The Boundary Dam Power Station consists of two 62 net MW units (commissioned in 1959, shut down and decom ...

, resulting in regular breakdowns and maintenance problems that caused the unit to be operational only 40% of the time. SNC-Lavalin had been contracted to engineer, procure, and build the facility, and the documents asserted that it "has neither the will or the ability to fix some of these fundamental flaws". The low productivity of the plant had in turn meant that SaskPower was only able to sell half of the 800,000 tonnes of captured

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

that it had contracted to sell to

Cenovus Energy Cenovus Energy Inc. (pronounced se-nō-vus) is a Canadian integrated oil and natural gas company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Its offices are located at Brookfield Place, having completed a move from the neighbouring Bow in 2019. Histo ...

for use in

enhanced oil recovery Enhanced oil recovery (abbreviated EOR), also called tertiary recovery, is the extraction of crude oil from an oil field that cannot be extracted after primary and secondary recovery methods have been completely exhausted. Whereas primary and se ...

at a cost of $25 per tonne. In addition to the lost sales, this meant that SaskPower had been forced to pay Cenovus $12 million in penalties. In 2017, Cenovus sold its Saskatchewan operations to

Whitecap Resources Whitecap Resources is a Canadian public oil company based in Calgary, Alberta, with operations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia. In 2018, it produced 74,415 barrels of energy per day, with 85% of production consisting of crude oi ...

. By September 2018, "SaskPower and SNC-Lavalin had completed mediation and were headed to binding arbitration". In July 2018, SaskPower announced, in its annual report, that they would not be proceeding with retrofitting the two aging facilities near

Estevan Estevan is the eleventh-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The Souris River runs by the city. This city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5. History The ...

—Boundary Dams 4 and 5 (BD4 and BD5) with

(CCS). According to a February 11, 2019 ''CBC News'' article, SNC-Lavalin has "received about $765,800,000 in askatchewan provincialgovernment contracts from 2009 to 2018".

SNC-Lavalin affair (2019)

Following a 2017 public consultation process, the Government of Canada moved forward with the establishment of a "made-in-Canada version of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) regime", called the "Remediation Agreement Regime", which was introduced in the March budget and came into effect in June 2018.The Government of Canada held a consultation period in 2017 regarding the implementation of a deferred prosecution agreement similar to one used in the United Kingdom. The report of the consultation showed that the majority approved of a DPA. SNC-Lavalin's lawyers began a process to request a DPA in April, 2018, one of the first companies to do so. The government enhanced the 2015 Integrity Regime with the addition of a made-in-Canada deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) called a "Remediation Agreement Regime" which was enacted in June 2018 through provisions in the omnibus budget implementation Bill C-74, that amended the Criminal Code. By 2019, SNC-Lavalin, still facing criminal charges in regard to several contracts, began investigating the possibility of a DPA under the newly introduced Remediation Agreement Regime, as early as April 2018. On February 10, 2019, the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'' reported that Opposition Leader

Andrew Scheer Andrew James Scheer (born May 20, 1979) is a Canadian politician who is the Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the Opposition since 2025 and previously from 2017 to 2020 as Leader of the Conservative Party (Canada), leader of ...

met with SNC-Lavalin CEO Neil Bruce on May 29, 2018, to discuss the remediation agreement. The director of public prosecutions informed SNC-Lavalin on October 9, that its DPA option was rejected because "is not appropriate in this case". According to the ''National Post'', "If the company is convicted it would be barred from bidding on federal contracts for 10 years, potentially costing it billions in forgone revenue." In response, the company's share prices dropped, leaving it vulnerable to a hostile takeover. According to the ''Montreal Gazette'', Quebec Premier

François Legault François Legault (; born May 26, 1957) is a Canadian politician serving as the 32nd premier of Quebec since 2018. A founding member of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), he has led the party since it began in 2011. Legault sits as a Nationa ...

said that SNC-Lavalin was one of ten publicly traded companies headquartered in Quebec that the province considers to be "strategic" and therefore in need of protection from a takeover that would force the company to leave the province. On February 8, 2019, the '' Globe & Mail'' reported that sources close to the government said that the Prime Minister's Office allegedly had attempted to influence

Jody Wilson-Raybould Jody Wilson-Raybould (born March 23, 1971), also known by her initials JWR and by her Kwak’wala name Puglaas, is a Canadian lawyer, author, and former politician who served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the British Columbia (BC) ri ...

's decision concerning SNC-Lavalin's request for a DPA, while she was Minister of Justice and Attorney General. When asked about the allegations,

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...

said that the story in the ''Globe'' was false and that he had never "directed" Wilson-Raybould concerning the case. Wilson-Raybould refused to comment on the matter citing

solicitor-client privilege In common law jurisdictions and some civil law jurisdictions, legal professional privilege protects all communications between a professional legal adviser (a solicitor, barrister or attorney) and his or her clients from being disclosed without ...

. Under pressure from the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

and the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

(NDP), on February 11, 2019, the

conflict of interest and ethics commissioner The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner of Canada is an entity of the Parliament of Canada. The commissioner is an independent officer of Parliament, who administers the ''Conflict of Interest Act'' and the ''Conflict of Interest Code ...

launched an inquiry into allegations of political interference and a possible violation of the ''Conflict of Interest Act'' in the SNC-Lavalin case. On February 18, 2019,

Gerald Butts Gerald Michael Butts (born July 8, 1971) is a Canadian executive and former policy advisor to governments and political leaders. He is vice chairman and senior advisor at Eurasia Group and a Board Member of the World Wildlife Fund. He served as t ...

, Trudeau's principal secretary, resigned and denied that he or anyone else in the Prime Minister's Office attempted to influence Wilson-Raybould. On February 27, 2019, Wilson-Raybould spoke about the SNC-Lavalin controversy at a hearing of the House of Commons justice committee. In her first substantial public statement on the matter, she testified that she was inappropriately pressured to prevent the Montreal-based company from being prosecuted in a bribery case. On 14 August 2019, Mario Dion, conflict of interest and ethics commissioner, released a report that said Trudeau contravened section 9 of the ''Conflict of Interest Act'' by improperly pressuring Wilson-Raybould. The report details lobbying efforts by SNC-Lavalin to influence prosecution since at least February 2016, including the lobbying efforts to enact DPA legislation. The commissioner has also found that Trudeau acted improperly when using his position of authority over Wilson-Raybould in an effort to have her overrule the director of public prosecution's decision not to negotiate a deal with SNC-Lavalin that would see the company avoid criminal prosecution over charges of corruption and fraud stemming from an RCMP investigation. The report analyses SNC-Lavalin's interests and finds that the lobbying effort advanced private interests of the company, rather than public interests. The report's analysis section discusses the topics of prosecutorial independence and Shawcross doctrine (dual role of Attorney General) to draw the conclusion that the influence was improper and a violation of ''Conflict of Interest Act''.

Company responses

SNC-Lavalin CEO Pierre Duhaime resigned in March 2012 and was arrested by Quebec's anti-corruption squad on charges including fraud on November 28, 2012. He was replaced by Ian A. Bourne, who was also the chairman of

Ballard Power Systems Ballard Power Systems Inc. is a developer and manufacturer of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell products for markets such as heavy-duty motive (consisting of bus and tram applications), portable power, material handling as well as enginee ...

and a member of the

CPP Investment Board The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB; ), operating as CPP Investments (), is a Canadian Crown corporation established by way of the 1997 ''Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act'' to oversee and invest the funds contributed to and h ...

. Bourne sat on SNC-Lavalin's board of directors beginning in 2009, before the "allegations of fraud and corruption in Libya" were made. As interim CEO from May 2012 to October 2012, Bourne oversaw a "major overhaul" of SNC-Lavalin's culture. Bourne resigned as chairman and as a director in March 2015 and was replaced by Lawrence N. Stevenson, who sat on SNC's board from 1999 until 2018. Just before retiring from SNC-Lavalin in May 2012, Gwyn Morgan—who had been chair since 2006—hired American civil and environmental engineer Robert Card as CEO. Card was instructed to revamp the company's "ethics and compliance standards" and oversee the departure of existing management that had been involved in the scandals. During this period, over 10,000 Canadian employees left the company, many of them voluntarily. By 2013, when Card had completed his "strategic offensive" against previous SNC-Lavalin management, Neil Bruce, a native of Scotland, replaced Card. By August, four senior executives had departed, including Gilles Laramée, former CFO, Ric Sorbo, former head of SNC's oil and gas business, Patrick Lamarre, head of the power unit, and Michael Novak. SNC-Lavalin also dismissed

financial controller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executi ...

Stéphane Roy. Bruce undertook a campaign to improve ethics and compliance at all levels of the company management. This included using

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil s ...

's corruption rankings as a guideline in deciding which countries with which SNC-Lavalin would do business. In June 2019 Bruce retired from the company. In 2019, the investigations continued to affect the company and its CEO Bruce. SNC-Lavalin continued to face criminal charges in 2019 in regards to alleged bribes contracts between 2001 and 2011. The company failed to receive a remediation agreement that would have provided a reprieve from criminal charges and now faces a potential conviction. A new investigation involving potential bribery in relation to a repair contract in the early 2000s, has been reported by ''La Presse''.

Notes

References

External links

www.atkinsrealis.com
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