Criminal charges brought by the Canadian government last month against Montreal-based engineer-construction giant SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., linked to past bribes on Libyan projects, have sparked a national debate over whether the firm should pay for departed executives' misdeeds or face a lesser penalty because new management instituted sweeping ethics changes beginning in 2012.
Industry participants and other business groups are also raising concern that new "integrity" rules for federal contractors are too tough.