January 14, 2025 – Serge Daunais, a former executive of Pavages Maska Inc., has been fined $20,000 (USD 14,000) after pleading guilty to bid-rigging in a public paving contract case in the Granby region. The Superior Court of Québec handed down the penalty, marking another chapter in the investigation into anti-competitive practices in the province’s construction industry.
Daunais admitted to conspiring with competitors Construction DJL Inc. and Sintra Inc. to manipulate bids for a 2008 Ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ) paving contract. The collusion allowed the three companies to predetermine which would win the contract and to fix the project’s taxpayer-funded cost.
Broader Investigation and Penalties
The bid-rigging scheme was uncovered through an investigation by the Competition Bureau, which led to criminal charges against Daunais and Marcel Roireau in September 2023. Roireau, another individual implicated in the case, was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest after pleading guilty in September 2023.
Pavages Maska Inc., Daunais’s former employer, was fined $100,000 for its role in rigging public paving contract bids in the Granby region. Construction DJL Inc. was ordered to pay $1.5 million in penalties. Sintra Inc., which participated in the scheme, avoided prosecution after applying for immunity through the Competition Bureau’s Immunity and Leniency Program.
Commissioner’s Statement
Matthew Boswell, Commissioner of Competition, emphasized the harm caused by such illegal agreements:
“Bid rigging allows businesses and individuals to bypass market forces and drive up the price of public contracts to their advantage. These illegal agreements between competitors are always to the detriment of taxpayers, and that’s why we are tirelessly fighting these anti-competitive practices.”
Quick Facts
- Daunais held senior roles as Vice-President, Secretary, and General Manager of Pavages Maska Inc. during the time of the offence.
- The Competition Bureau launched its investigation after Sintra Inc.’s immunity application.
