QUEBEC - The provincial government hopes it has found its Eliot Ness.
Robert Lafreniere, who has a lengthy background in police work, has been named as the first commissioner of the province's anti-corruption squad, dubbed the first of its kind in Canada.
The unit, which has a budget of $31.5 million, is charged with rooting out influence-peddling and collusion in the scandal-weary province.
It was formed in the wake of demands for a public inquiry into corruption in the construction industry.
It's based on New York City's Department of Investigation, one of the oldest law-enforcement organizations in the United States.
Lafreniere was the deputy minister of public security and headed the criminal investigations division of the Quebec provincial police.
First issue: find prosecutors willing to work for unit
He says one of his first tasks will be to figure out how to resolve a boycott of the squad by Quebec's prosecutors.
The prosecutors said they wouldn't work with the unit as a response to a legislated contract settlement imposed on them recently by the provincial government.
Lafreniere says he might use senior prosecutors to staff the unit, which needs about 20 of the lawyers.
