Canada's Earned Place on the Global Corruption Index

"The problem of money-laundering in Canada and other corruption scandals have been headline news in recent years, ragging down the perception of Canada as a clean country. this year's disappointing results show the need to take concrete action to restore Canada's reputation."

"There's no there-there issue that made us drop, this is more about the ripple effect of what's happened over the last couple of years and not seeing a counterbalance in enforcement, new rules or the results of those new rules."

"Canada-wide, we need to see action on anti-money laundering. It's a national issue. And we need to see the federal government taking foreign bribery seriously too." 

James Cohen, executive director, Transparency International (TI) Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he "made a mistake" by joining in talks for giving a government contract to a charity that paid his family. Reuters

Canada scored 74, putting it in 13th place on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in 2021. A drop of two points in comparison to the year before, placing Canada in a tie with Iceland, Ireland, Estonia and Austria. Other countries above Canada on the listing include Denmark, Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong. France scores at 71 and the United States 67; Canada's 74 score emphasizes a downward trend -- having dropped 10 points since 2012.

Transparency International points out that Canada's ranking represents the most significant drop in score of all 180 countries in the past five years. "I think Canadians are frustrated, and rightfully so. What the public needs to do is keep up the pressure to make sure that changes come through. We can't just rest on our image of Canada the good any more, we need to see action."

Remember the SNC-Lavalin scandal? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould (at right) clashed over appropriate government action

 

No one single incident or scandal stands out to have caused Canada's latest ranking fall. Mr. Cohen's theory is that the country is embroiled in the shock waves caused by fairly recent events that drew worldwide attention and those relate to the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, playing fast-and-loose with scruples and ethics to suit his own personal and political agenda.

Unlike any prime minister before him, Trudeau since becoming head of government in 2015, has three times been the subject of separate Ethics Commissioner investigations, two finding that he had broken ethics laws. There was the controversial Christmas vacation the Trudeau family enjoyed on billionaire philanthropist and leader of the Ismaili movement, Aga Khan's private island, in 2017.

The Prime Minister again broke ethics laws in 2019 when the Ethics Commissioner found he had improperly applied pressure on then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to broker a remediation agreement with Quebec engineering giant SNC-Lavalin. "We see in reports that the CPI is compiled from, that this is obviously still on the mind of international observers", remarked Mr. Cohen.

The WE Charity scandal rocked the Liberal government in 2020 and eventually led to Finance Minister Bill Morneau's resignation and a subsequent Ethics Commissioner ruling of his having breached the law. "It's not just the scandals, but it's also the lack of things that have been done. We've seen remediation agreements come into effect, but we have yet to see a remediation agreement sealed, or finished", observed Mr. Cohen.

"Trudeau managed to dodge Conflict of Interest Act findings against him in the WE Charity scandal, despite appearances; Trudeau was a regular at the Keilburgers’ mass pep rallies, and Trudeau’s wife, brother and mother were paid hundreds of thousands of WE Charity dollars in celebrity-endorsement fees."

"But then-finance minister Bill Morneau was not so lucky. Morneau was found to have contravened conflict-of-interest laws by accepting free trips for himself and his wife and daughter to exotic WE Charity locales in Kenya and Ecuador."

Terry Glavin, The Ottawa Citizen

Money laundering is a recurring issue in Canada, a situation which has garnered headlines across the country, in particular in British Columbia. Anywhere between $46 billion and $130 billion is estimated laundered through Canada annually, known as "snow-washing".  There is hope on the horizon with recent initiatives taken by the federal and provincial governments toward increased transparency and to fight corruption. Unfortunately results have not yet been recognized.

A significant initiative, if it is seen through to fruition, undertaken by the federal government and a few provinces is a pledge to install a new beneficial ownership registry, to reveal the identity of owners of shell corporations, often used in money laundering schemes within Canada. "For Canada to go back up, we need to start seeing the results of the good intentions", stated Mr. Cohen.