Corruption in
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 ...
is the
use of political power for private gain by Canadian government officials.
Canada had the distinction of being the least corrupt government in
the Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...
in 2023, as measured by the
Corruption Perceptions Index
The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index that scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives. The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entr ...
.
Conflicts of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations in whi ...
within government, tax evasion, and the prevalence of
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...
in areas such as
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 ...
are among some of the leading factors of corruption in Canada.
Canada ranks at the bottom of the bribery-fighting rankings with "little or no enforcement of anti-bribery measures".
The 2014
Ernst & Young
EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...
global fraud survey found that "twenty percent of Canadian executives believe bribery and corruption are widespread in this country".
The
SNC-Lavalin affair is a notable instance of corruption in Canada, in which Canadian construction company
SNC-Lavalin (now AtkinsRéalis) allegedly paid US$48 million in bribes to Libyan officials and was offered 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 ...
in relation to these charges. The scandal resulted in the resignation of several members within Prime Minister
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 ...
's cabinet.
Corruption by region
Alberta
On February 2025, Athana Mentzelopoulos, the former head of
Alberta Health Services
Alberta Health Services (AHS) is the single Health regions of Canada, health authority for the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the "largest integrated provincial health care system" in Canada. Headquartered ...
, alleged that
Danielle Smith
Marlaina Danielle Smith (born April 1, 1971) is a Canadian politician, former lobbyist, and former columnist and media personality who has been serving as the 19th premier of Alberta and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since 20 ...
government dismissed her two days before she was scheduled to meet with the province's auditor-general to discuss her investigation into inflated procurement contracts and contracting processes surrounding AHS's relationship and contracts with MHCare, a company owned by Sam Mraiche, who facilitated the importation of children's medicine from Turkey, and Alberta Surgical Group (ASG), a private surgical outlet.
Mraiche was previously noted for providing free
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. Th ...
playoff tickets to five members of Smith's cabinet in 2024. He also profited $300,000 by flipping a west Edmonton parcel of land to the provincial government. Doug Wylie, the auditor-general, said that he is examining procurement and contracting processes within AHS.
In March 2025, the RCMP launched an investigation after a complaint was raised.
Ontario
The
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; , PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by Bonnie Crombie since December 2023.
The party espouses the principles of liberalism, with their rival the Progressive Co ...
, under leader and Ontario Premier
Kathleen Wynne
Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario), member of provinci ...
, was involved in corruption cases that included bribery during elections.
Prominent Liberal Party fundraiser Gerry Lougheed Jr. was charged by the
Ontario Provincial Police
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the State police, provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. The OPP patrols Provincial highways in Ontario, provincial highways and waterways; protects Government of Ontario, provincial government buil ...
(OPP).
and was later acquitted.
The
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
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 ...
alleged that the
Ontario Provincial Police Association
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. The OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways; protects provincial government buildings and officials, with the exception of the legislative precin ...
union leaders committed
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 are guilty of
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...
and corruption. These included President James (Jim) Christie, Vice-president Martin Bain and chief administrative officer Karl Walsh. The charges include "unusual investment of union money in condos in the Bahamas", "formation of a company to provide exclusive travel services for both union business and personal travel by members", "formation of a consulting company" that billed the union $5000 per month, and for "questionable vacation and travel expenses billed to the union".
Quebec
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 ...
was established in 2011 to investigate corruption in Quebec. It has uncovered long running, widespread corruption including "price-fixing schemes among construction companies bidding on municipal governments", "illegal donations to the province's major political parties from some of its biggest engineering firms" and links between the
Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec, the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ), the province's biggest federation of unions, and organized crime.
In 2015, employees of EBR Information Technology firm,
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
Canada and
Revenu Québec
Revenu Québec (; formerly the Ministère du Revenu du Québec, Quebec Ministry of Revenue) is an agency of the government of the Province of Quebec, Canada. It collects taxes to fund public services, ensures that all citizens pay their fair shar ...
were arrested for fraud, conspiracy and breach of trust in relation to computer equipment and services contracts to the provincial government.
There are widespread "financial and management irregularities with the Quebec government's computer networks."
On January 26, 2017, former mayor of Montreal
Michael Applebaum was found guilty of 8 corruption-related charges. Applebaum was found guilty in relation to cash kickbacks related to real estate development projects and a municipal contract for the management and maintenance of the NDG Sports Centre.
In March 2017,
Andrew Potter, academic and former director of the
McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, wrote an article critical of Quebec
civil society
Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.[underground economy
A black market is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services whose production and distribut ...]
in Canada and that many citizens regularly avoid paying taxes by illegal but widely common practices. A firestorm of criticism against Potter soon ensued, mostly focusing on the fact that he was a publicly paid academic at a provincial university and thus it was improper for him to have said these things, but the facts remained undisputed.
Corruption by sector
Health
Dr.
Shiv Chopra, a former employee of
Health Canada
Health Canada (HC; )Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary units, department of the Gove ...
and a
whistle-blower
Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...
, has criticized Health Canada for circumventing safety and efficacy regulations to please product manufacturers, for systematic collusion with corporations in "extra-parliamentary decisions involving the imposition of new risks on society" and for overlooking the responsibility to protect health and humans, in pursuit of
capital
Capital and its variations may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital
** List of national capitals
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter
Econom ...
-making profits".
Dr.
Michele Brill-Edwards had previously expressed similar concerns, noting that whistleblowers were not sufficiently protected by Canada's existing legislation.
Some doctors and clinics have been found to overbill and/or double bill the
Canadian Health System.
Some walk-in clinics intake regular patients at a higher cost to the system without informing the patients about the cost or other options that might be available.
Dentists in multiple provinces have been disciplined for overcharging patients by forging insurance documents, charging for services that were not provided, and offering unnecessary or substandard work.
In Alberta, a medical inquiry established the existence of queue-jumping and illegal fast-tracking of private clinic referrals.
Alberta's former head of Health Services,
Stephen Duckett, noted that "preferential access to care was a common practice when he took over and politicians had fixers who could get valued constituents faster treatment."
Education
Some private high schools have been found to illegally and unethically help students earn inflated grades, credits and credentials.
Thus, those with financial means are able to access top university programs and scholarships at the expense of merit students.
These schools are referred to as "credit mills" or "credit shops".
Lax governmental oversight is a major cause of this corruption.
A report in 2007 said that the majority of students at Canadian universities are engaged in cheating.
Among the cheaters, a disproportionately high number are international students.
"Students who cheat are unlikely to be caught and face few penalties when they are."
Research and scholarly publishing
Two of Canada's leading medical journal publishers
Andrew John Publishing and
Pulsus Group have been purchased by
OMICS Publishing Group
OMICS Publishing Group is a predatory publisher of open access academic journals. It started publishing its first journal in 2008. By 2015, it claimed over 700 journals, although about half of them were defunct. Its subsidiaries and brands in ...
, which is considered a
predatory
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...
and junk science publisher.
OMICS is being sued by
FTC. FTC has alleged that OMICS "misrepresented the legitimacy of its publications, deceived researchers, and obfuscated sizeable publication fee."
Pulsus Group has been on
Jeffrey Beall
Jeffrey Beall is an American librarian and library scientist who drew attention to "predatory open access publishing", a term he coined, and
created Beall's list, a list of potentially predatory open-access publishers. He is a critic of the o ...
's list of "Potential, possible, or probable"
predatory open-access publishers
Predatory publishing, also write-only publishing or deceptive publishing, is an exploitative academic publishing business model, where the journal or publisher prioritizes self-interest at the expense of scholarship. It is characterized by misle ...
.
Tax
Canada has a very high rate of
tax evasion
Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to red ...
.
Individuals and companies with high net worths use offshore
tax haven
A tax haven is a term, often used pejoratively, to describe a place with very low tax rates for Domicile (law), non-domiciled investors, even if the official rates may be higher.
In some older definitions, a tax haven also offers Bank secrecy, ...
s to illegally avoid paying tax. Canadians have sitting in the world's top ten tax-haven countries.
Canadian federal and provincial governments lose an estimated per year to tax havens alone.
Black market
A black market is a Secrecy, clandestine Market (economics), market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services who ...
or under-the-table commercial activity also contributes to tax avoidance losses. The full cost of tax evasion is an estimated per year.
Tax evasion and corruption are facilitated by lawyers, administrative corruption and inefficiency in the
Canada Revenue Agency
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA; ; ) is the revenue service of the Government of Canada, Canadian federal government, and most Provinces and territories of Canada, provincial and territorial governments. The CRA collects Taxation in Canada, taxes, ...
,
Canadian and foreign banks.
Canada's lax regulations make it one of the top countries for anonymous shell companies,
which are often used for tax evasion, money laundering, terrorist financing and organized crime. Canadians for Tax Fairness calculate that legal tax avoidance by corporations alone costs the Canadian treasury almost $8 billion Canadian a year. When they calculated the 2015 numbers, they found that corporations and individuals combined sent of declared assets to tax havens, and the ten most popular alone now held Canadian in assets.
Highly reputed multinational accounting firm
KPMG
KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...
has been accused by the Canada Revenue Agency of offering tax evasion schemes as products to its clients. It alleged that the KPMG tax structures were in reality a "sham" intended to deceive the tax authorities.
KPMG offered a "no tax" scheme in return for a fee of 15% and in one case before the courts, it earned $300,000 in fees.
Law enforcement
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 ...
's own study found 330 internal corruption cases between 1995 and 2005.
"Improperly giving out police information was the most common type of corrupt behaviour, followed by fraud, misuse of police officer status, theft and interference with the judicial process."
These numbers are likely an understatement of true levels as the RCMP has admitted not tracking "hundreds of cases of serious misconduct committed by Mounties across the country for years".
Also, in 2013 nearly 300 current and former female Mounties joined a class-action lawsuit alleging harassment.
As of 2023, the
Canadian Border Services Agency
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; , ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and customs services in Canada.
The CBSA is responsib ...
(CBSA) is the only public safety department without an external civilian review body, and several proposed bills to create a watchdog body for the organisation have failed. Each year, the CBSA conducts hundreds of internal investigations into allegations of employee misconduct, including sexual harassment, missing money, and criminal associations.
The CBSA generally distances itself from blame by claiming that such offenses are committed by a minority of employees, and not representative of the entire agency.
External government reports state that employees sometimes have fear of reprisals for reporting wrongdoing. Despite legislation known as ATIP, or Access to Information Policy, acquiring statistics, or reports is also a complex process, that can take months despite the standard 60-day law to comply and appeals to the Public Service Integrity Commission are often "Well Founded."
As noted above, it was alleged that executives of the Ontario Provincial Police Association had committed fraud and money laundering.
The matter was brought before a jury in the Ontario Superior Court where all parties were acquitted of the allegations.
In 2016,
Toronto Police Service
The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police se ...
faced several high-profile cases of corruption and disproportionate use of force. Constable James Forcillo was found guilty of attempt of murder in the death of 18-year-old
Sammy Yatim.
Four police officers were arrested and charged with "nine counts of obstructing justice and eight counts of perjury".
Non-profit sector
In Canada, donations to recognized
charities
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definition of a cha ...
receive tax refunds. This system has been abused extensively. "Typically, tax-shelter firms hook up with a little-known charity that becomes a sort of tax receipt mill, suddenly writing millions of dollars in bogus receipts and making grandiose claims of saving the world. Some $3.2 billion in receipts given in the last few years to 100,000 Canadians have either been disallowed or soon will be".
Many charities have been found to be shell organizations for profit-based schemes.
A
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.
...
investigation revealed that "self-reported information is so riddled with inaccuracies as to be absolutely useless to a donor" and that the federal government does not verify the claims of charities' "good works".
Furthermore, "The Star found the primary regulator, the federal Charities Directorate, is virtually powerless to deal with problem charities."
Several Canadian charities have been accused of funding terrorist organizations or organized crime, though in some cases these allegations have been found to be defamatory.
Insurance
Auto insurance fraud involving scammers, auto repair shops, paralegals and medical clinics is widespread in Ontario. It is estimated that the auto insurance fraud costs
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
drivers $1.3 billion per year.
Other forms of insurance fraud are also relatively common, including that related to homes and property, and disability and workers' compensation which anecdotal evidence, at least, suggests is rife with abuse and fraud.
An investigation into insurance scams in
Peel Region revealed that three
Peel Regional Police
The Peel Regional Police (PRP; ) provides policing services for Peel Region (excluding Caledon) in Ontario, Canada. It is the second largest municipal police service in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, and the third largest municipal force b ...
officers colluded with a
tow truck
A tow truck (also called a wrecker, a breakdown truck, recovery vehicle or a breakdown lorry) is a truck used to move disabled, improperly parked, Vehicle impoundment, impounded, or otherwise indisposed motor vehicles. This may involve recoverin ...
operator and fraudster in staging accidents that stole nearly $1 million from insurers.
Fraudulent accident reports were provided by a veteran officer, while other officers were involved in tipping off tow truck drivers of the accident locations.
Drivers licensing
Canadian provinces mandate written and road tests (graduated licensing) to obtain licence to drive automobiles. Truck drivers must undergo specialized training and obtain a commercial licence. Some provinces, such as Ontario, have privatized drivers licensing, while others offer it as a public service. There exists corruption at various levels of drivers licensing.
A dangerous corruption is when non-qualified people obtain fake drivers licences by bribing licensing officers, which are then used for various illegal purposes such as to obtain credit, make insurance claims etc.
Issuing of fake in-class driving lesson certificates is another scam related to obtaining licensing. In-class driver lesson certificates are used to get discount rates from insurance companies.
A Toronto Star investigation found that "the truck-driver testing centre is letting learners earn their licences without being required to drive on a major expressway".
Furthermore, many driving schools offer in-vehicle "lessons even though they are not authorized by the province to do so".
Real estate
Fraud and corruption is committed by all parties at all levels in the real estate sector. Buyers, sellers, realtors, developers, lawyers, mortgage brokers and banks have been implicated in various fraud and corruption cases.
Money laundering, lying about income and occupation, fake bids, value falsification, title fraud and falsely claiming as owner-occupied are common real estate frauds in Canada.
Money laundering is likely in the real estate sector of major Canadian cities. Chinese buyers are suspected of laundering money through the Vancouver real estate market in large numbers, with the help of major Canadian banks.
According to a ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'' investigation, "some Canadian banks allow wealthy Asian investors to skirt Chinese law by helping them bring in large amounts of money, which is then often used to buy real estate in Vancouver."
A report by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada indicates "dramatic under-reporting of large cash transactions and suspicious transactions" in the Vancouver real estate sector.
In 2012, Equifax uncovered $400 million of mortgage fraud in Canada, which experts suspect represents only a fraction of the cheating taking place in the country's real estate market.
The
Panama Papers
The Panama Papers () are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These document ...
leak of documents from the law offices of
Mossack Fonseca brought to light a rather high level of referrals by Canadian banks to the Panamanian offshore specialist. The
Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; ) is a Canadian multinational Financial institution, financial services company and the Big Five (banks), largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 20 million clients and has more than ...
(RBC) sent 370+ clients to Mossack Fonseca over the years, for example, but they underlined that the bank did not help its customers to avoid taxes or hide income. "We have an extensive due diligence process... RBC works within the legal and regulatory framework of every country in which we operate," said a bank spokesman. RBC CEO
David McKay said the bank will review the documentation for those four decades in order to address any problems.
CEO
Bill Downe of the
Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal (, ), abbreviated as BMO (pronounced ), is a Canadian multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company.
The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank, making it Canada ...
said "Canadian banks have 'dramatically' beefed up anti-money-laundering control over the last seven to 10 years," He added that any link between Canadian businesses and the Panama Papers offshore companies must have originated a long time ago, before Canadian banks took action to stop money laundering.
Government and civil service
Employment insurance overcharges
In the late 1990s and 2000s, the Government of Canada illegally overcharged Canadians with respect to employment insurance premiums. The overcharges exceeded $40 billion. As noted by the Auditor General of Canada in her 2004 report:
:Parliament did not intend, in my view, that the Account would accumulate a surplus beyond what could reasonably be spent for employment insurance purposes, given the existing benefit structure, while also providing for an economic downturn. Accordingly, in my opinion, the Government did not observe the intent of the ''Employment Insurance Act''.
On December 11, 2008, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the overcharges were unlawful. As stated by the Supreme Court of Canada in ''Confédération des syndicats nationaux v. Canada (Attorney General)'':
:
6For these reasons, I would therefore allow the appeals in part and declare that the versions of ss. 66.1 and 66.3 of the ''Employment Insurance Act'' that applied in 2002, 2003 and 2005 are invalid and that employers' and employees' premiums for 2002, 2003 and 2005 were collected unlawfully.
Transparency International Ranking
On
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 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Canada scored 75 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Canada ranked 15th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among the countries of the Americas was 76, the average score was 42 and the lowest score was 10. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).
Notable corruption cases
*
Pacific Scandal
The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving large sums of money paid by private interests to the Conservative Party to cover election expenses in the 1872 Canadian federal election in order to influence the bidding for a natio ...
1871-1874
*
Sponsorship scandal
The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006.
...
1996-2004
*
Tunagate
Tunagate was a 1985 Canadian political scandal involving large quantities of tuna that had been declared unfit for human consumption that were sold to the public under order of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, John Fraser.
The story broke o ...
1985
*
Temporary foreign worker program in Canada
In Canada, temporary residency () applies to those who are not Canadian citizens but are legally in Canada for a temporary purpose, including international students, foreign workers, and tourists.
Whereas " Permanent Residence" (PR) is a requ ...
widespread abuse and violations
*
Ontario power plant scandal
*
Ornge scandal
Airbus affair
Family Compact
Padma Bridge alleged graft
Panama Papers
No Canadian politicians' names from the national government have surfaced in the
Panama Papers
The Panama Papers () are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These document ...
as of the end of May 2016. ''The Globe and Mail'' did ask Prime Minister
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 ...
, whose name did not appear in either of the document releases, about this, for the record. He told reporters that he does not have any money in offshore accounts, and had "entirely and completely been transparent about mine and my family's finances. That is something I learned early on that Canadians expect from their leaders."
Some names of Canadian individuals did appear in the leaked documents, according to ICIJ investigation partner the ''Toronto Star''.
*John Mark Wright, a mutual fund broker, had three shell companies in the British Virgin Islands for handling profits from a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
*Eric Van Nguyen, a Montreal resident with registered companies in Samoa and another in the British Virgin Islands, also faces fraud charges in New York in a penny stock scheme.
*Brian Shamess, a sports physician from Sault Ste Marie, used a Mossack Fonseca company to buy a condo on Panama Bay in 2011.
*Eric Marc Levine, who operates fitness clubs in Asia and has registered at least 15 companies in the BVI through Mossack Fonseca. The Thai
Anti-Money Laundering Office froze some of his business assets following fraud allegations; Levine responded with a defamation suit.
*Former Newfoundland Cabinet minister
Chuck Furey incorporated in Panama to buy a condo in 2008. He no longer has overseas holdings, he said.
Canadians for Tax Fairness has calculated that legal tax avoidance by corporations alone cost the Canadian treasury almost $8 billion (Canadian) a year. When it calculated the 2015 numbers, the group found that corporations and individuals combined sent CAN$40 billion of declared assets to tax havens, and the ten most popular tax havens alone now held $270 billion (Canadian) in assets.
Paradise Papers
More than 3,000 Canadian names, including three former
prime ministers
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but rat ...
, current
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 ...
operatives, a hockey team, trusts, foundations and individuals are identified in the
Paradise Papers
The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsche Z ...
relating to offshore accounts. The documents link
Stephen Bronfman, the chief liberal party fund-raiser and close aide to prime minister
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 ...
to tax avoidance schemes. Tax expert Marwah Rizqy has noted that if these documents are proven accurate, they contain the "smoking gun" linking Stephen Bronfman to illegal tax sheltering/avoidance.
Sino-Forest alleged fraud
Somalia affair
Anti-corruption mechanisms
Public Service Commission
Canada's public service is set up to work independently from the political party in power. The mandate of the
Public Service Commission is to protect the public service from political interference and "ensure professional, non-partisan public service".
The Office of Public Service Values and Ethics is tasked with implementing values, ethics and policies to prevent corruption.
The
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
government of
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...
has been criticized for political interference in an array of administrative bodies including Statistics Canada, Elections Canada, the Canadian Military Complaints Commission, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Public Works and the Supreme Court.
Auditor General, Ombudsman
Canada's federal and provincial governments have independent and strong
Auditor General
An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations.
Freq ...
offices. The Auditor-General reports to the Parliament, not to the cabinet, and conducts annual and special audits to examine the government's activities and hold it to account. Auditor-General reports have brought to light major scandals, corruption, waste and inefficiencies, and led to changes in governments.
Ombudsman offices are tasked with investigating public complaints about government. Special ombudsmans or commissioners are tasked with investigating and reporting to Parliament about key areas. The
Privacy Commissioner of Canada
The privacy commissioner of Canada () is a non-partisan ombudsman and officer of the Parliament of Canada. The commissioner investigates complaints regarding violations of the federal ''Privacy Act'', which deals with personal information hel ...
, Environment and Sustainable Development Commissioner and
Information Commissioner of Canada are examples of these special offices.
Civilian oversight bodies
Civilian oversight bodies are used to hold organizations accountable, to assess the power of and provide input for governmental and industrial bodies. They are specially used to hold the police, the RCMP, the military and the
CSIS accountable.
In 2012, Office of the Inspector General, which was a key oversight body for the Canada's spy agency CSIS was abolished by the Conservative government.
The government said the oversight functions were consolidated within the civilian
Security Intelligence Review Committee
The Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC; ) was a committee of Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Privy Councillors that was empowered to serve as an independent oversight and review body for the operations of the Canadian Security Intellige ...
.
Access to Information Act
Canada's ''
Access to Information Act
The ''Access to Information Act'' (R.S., 1985, c. A-1) () or ''Information Act'' is a Canadian Act providing the right of access to information under the control of a federal government institution. As of 2020, the Act allowed "people who pay ...
'' came into force in 1983. However, in recent years the legislation has been severely criticized to be outdated and ineffective. The Centre for Law and Democracy ranks Canada 56th out of 95 countries in terms of the strength of the Access to Information legislation.
As of 2015, there are thousands of individuals employed full-time throughout all levels of government and their agencies tasked with processing formal requests for access to information; this represents a cost to the Canadian taxpayer of hundreds of millions of dollars annually and does not include additional expenses including outside legal and other professional opinions, tribunal hearings, motions and appeals in courts, multiple access to information commissions and tribunals across the country, and various other expenses lead to system costs of approximately $200 million.
An investigation by the Information Commissioner of Canada has found that the Conservative government's staff had systematically interfered with the processing of access to information requests.
Conflict of Interest laws
All levels of governments enforce conflict of interest laws for civil servants and politicians. The laws generally require disclosure of actual or perceived conflict of interests and appropriate measures, such as recusal from decisions.
Conflict of interest laws have been used to highlight an array of improper dealings by politicians. For instance, in 2015 an Ethics Commissioner report found "Government Services Minister Diane Finley breached conflict-of-interest rules by giving preferential treatment and federal funding to a project" that received "one of its lowest ratings" in an assessment done by the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development.
The project proposal was submitted by the Canadian Federation of Chabad Lubavitch by Ottawa rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn, who had close ties to the Conservative party, the Prime Minister's Office and then-foreign affairs minister John Baird."
Federal Accountability Act
The ''
Federal Accountability Act'' is a major anti-corruption legislation passed in 2006 by the
Harper Conservative government. It introduced several mechanisms to combat corruption including
Commissioner of Lobbying,
Parliamentary Budget Officer
The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (OPBO; ) is an office of the Parliament of Canada which provides independent, authoritative and non-partisan financial and economic analysis. The office is led by the Parliamentary Budget Officer ...
,
Public Sector Integrity Commissioner,
Ethics Commissioner, limits to election donations and enhancement of lobbying rules.
Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act
The ''
Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act'' is a
whistleblower
Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...
protection act. The Act "provides a confidential process for employees in Canada's federal public sector to come forward with any information about possible wrongdoing within the federal government and state corporations", except the
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS, ; , ''SCRS'') is a Intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service and security agency of the Government of Canada, federal government of Canada. It is responsible for gathering, processing, a ...
(CSIS), the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) and the Canadian Forces.
Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act
Canada signed and agreed to implement the
OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention (officially the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions) is an anti-corruption convention of the OECD that requires signatory countries to criminalize ...
and the
OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. The ''
Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act'' (CFPOA) was enacted in 1999. The CFPOA applies to persons and companies, aiming to prevent and punish the acts of bribery of foreign public officials to obtain or retain a business advantage. Companies have to develop effective compliance programs with focus on specific areas relevant for the CFPOA.
The aim of the law is to monitor, punish and prevent bribery and other criminal acts being committed by Canadians and Canadian companies in foreign countries. In 2014, Ottawa consultant Nazir Karigar was the first person to be convicted under this law. He was convicted for the Air India bribery scheme.
A 2013 progress report indicates that Canada has failed to implement many of the recommendations and earns an overall score of "Moderate". OECD criticized Canada for lack of prosecutions and lack of resource allocation to address corruption.
Open data, open government, and transparency initiatives
Canadian governments at all levels and citizen organizations have undertaken various
Open data
Open data are data that are openly accessible, exploitable, editable and shareable by anyone for any purpose. Open data are generally licensed under an open license.
The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "open(-so ...
,
Open government
Open government is the governing doctrine which maintains that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. In its broadest construction, it opposes reason of state a ...
and transparency initiatives. The Open Government Strategy was launched by the federal government in March 2011. Various datasets have been released under municipal open data initiatives such as
Toronto Open Data. Sharing of MP/MPP/Councilor expenses online, sunshine lists, posting detail program budgets and expenditures online and crime statistics are some examples of open data being released online. Open data has increased public scrutiny of abuses, helping monitor, prosecute and prevent corruption.
International conventions and transparency initiatives
Canada has ratified
United Nations Convention against Corruption
The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) is the only legally binding international anti-corruption multilateral treaty. Negotiated by UN member states, member states of the United Nations (UN) it was adopted by the UN General Ass ...
and the
OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention (officially the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions) is an anti-corruption convention of the OECD that requires signatory countries to criminalize ...
.
The government of Canada is part of the multilateral
Open Government Partnership
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative aimed at securing commitments from national and sub-national governments to promote open government, combat corruption, and improve governance. The OGP is managed by a steering c ...
initiative. Canada joined the
International Aid Transparency Initiative
The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) is a global campaign to create transparency in the records of how aid money is spent. The initiative hopes to thereby ensure that aid money reaches its intended recipients. The ultimate goal is ...
(IATI) in 2011. Canada was a supporting country to the
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a Norwegian-based organization that seeks to establish a global standard for the good governance of oil, gas and mineral resources. It seeks to address the key governance issues in the ...
, and it intends to implement the EITI.
First Nations Financial Transparency Act
The ''First Nations Financial Transparency Act'' was created in 2013 by the Harper Conservative government, with the purpose of increasing financial transparency in First Nations Communities. The ''First Nations Financial Transparency Act'' requires First Nation bands to publicly disclose their financial statements, including salary information of their councillors. Disclosure of this information has highlighted relatively high salaries of many chiefs, in comparison to extreme poor living conditions of their members. For instance, Shuswap band has 87 on-reserve members. Take into account that this is only a few dollars per day when the total amount is divided by the number of tribes-people. Its Chief, Paul Sam, earned $202,413 in tax-free salary while many band members endured winters without water or electricity.
The ''First Nations Financial Transparency Act'' has promoted higher vigilance regarding band leadership's activities and financial management by members and fellow councilors.
On December 18, 2015,
Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett announced that the Liberal government will stop enforcing the Act, and will "suspend any court actions against First Nations who have not complied with the Act", releasing funds withheld from First Nations communities that have not complied with the Act.
Integrity Regime
Government of Canada's Integrity Regime prohibits the federal government from doing business with any company if "they, or members of their board of directors have been convicted or absolutely/conditionally discharged in the last three years" of corruption or malpractice offences including income and excise tax evasion, secret commissions and bribing a foreign public official.
See also
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Crime in Canada
*
Corruption by country
The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index that scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives. The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entr ...
*
Corruption in the United States
Corruption in the United States is the act of government officials Political corruption, abusing their political powers for private gain, typically through bribery or other methods, in the United States government. Corruption in the United Stat ...
*
International Anti-Corruption Academy
The International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) is an international intergovernmental organization based in Laxenburg, Austria, that teaches government officials and professionals about anti-corruption measures. Membership to the organization i ...
*
Group of States Against Corruption
The Group of States against Corruption (, GRECO) is the Council of Europe's anti-corruption monitoring body with its headquarters in Strasbourg (France). It was established in 1999 as an enlarged partial agreement by 17 Council of Europe member ...
*
International Anti-Corruption Day
International Anti-Corruption Day has been list of minor secular observances#December, observed annually on 9 December since the passage of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption on 31 October 2003 to raise public awareness for anti- ...
*
ISO 37001 Anti-bribery management systems
*
United Nations Convention against Corruption
The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) is the only legally binding international anti-corruption multilateral treaty. Negotiated by UN member states, member states of the United Nations (UN) it was adopted by the UN General Ass ...
*
OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention (officially the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions) is an anti-corruption convention of the OECD that requires signatory countries to criminalize ...
*
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 ...
Notes
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corruption In Canada
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 ...
Corruption in North America
Crime in Canada
Law of Canada
Economy of Canada
Government of Canada
Politics of Canada
Society of Canada