Despite some hopeful signs, Canada’s performance on the Index remains disappointing
Canada’s score on Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index remained stagnant with a score of 74 out of 100. While Canada remained in the top tier of least corrupt countries, its ranking dropped to 14th place from 13 after being overtaken by Australia and Ireland.
“We hear some of the right things from the government of Canada like speeding up the creation of a beneficial ownership registry, and setting up a new financial crime agency,” said executive director, James Cohen. “But then there are times when the government falls flat when it comes to improving access to information, fighting international bribery, or taking accountability for misconduct seriously.”
In the 2022 federal budget the Canadian government expedited the promised delivery of a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry from 2025 to 2023. The government also announced that it will establish a Canadian Financial Crime Agency.
However, Canada is still dragging its feet in other areas of transparency and anti-corruption. Civil society and media continue to call for improvements in Canada’s inadequate access to information and privacy (ATIP) regime. Furthermore, Canada remains subject to international criticism for its ‘limited’ enforcement of overseas bribery, despite assurances from the RCMP that cases are coming. Additionally, another federal government minister faced a Conflict of Interest Act violation in 2022.
At the provincial level, in British Columbia, the ‘Cullen Commission’ inquiry into money laundering released its long awaited report. Some British Columbians were disappointed that no individuals were held accountable in the report. However, Commissioner Cullen did provide a number of structural recommendations to fight money laundering, including calling on the federal government to act.
While BC began addressing problems from the past, 2022 saw worrying erosions to oversight at the provincialand municipal levels. Investigations were called for in Ontario when it was revealed companies pre-emptively purchased previously protected land in the ‘Greenbelt’, which has now been opened to development.
“The decisions by the provinces greatly affect Canada’s overall accountability and transparency landscape so we need to keep an eye on them too,” said Cohen. “For example, if the provinces don’t co-operate with the federal government on the beneficial ownership registry, Canada will have a tough time making the registry effective.”
CPI Global Results
The CPI reveals that despite concerted efforts and many hard-won gains, we cannot take progress againstcorruption for granted. The scale of the problem is enormous: the global average remains unchanged at a score of 43 out of 100 for the eleventh year running, and more than two thirds of countries (122) have a serious corruption problem, coming in at a score below 50.
Denmark tops the ranking this year with a score of 90. Finland and New Zealand follow closely with a score of 87.
The bottom countries are Somalia (12), Syria (13) and South Sudan (13). They are all enveloped in protracted conflicts.
CPI Methodology
· The CPI scores 180 countries and territories around the world based on perceptions of public sector corruption. The scores reflect the views of experts and surveys from businesspeople, not the public. (See methodology video.)
· The CPI is calculated using data from 13 external sources, including the World Bank, World Economic Forum, private risk and consulting companies, think tanks and others.
· The CPI uses a scale from 0 to 100; 100 is very clean and 0 is highly corrupt.
· Types of public sector corruption captured in the CPI encompass bribery, diversion of public funds, effective prosecution of corruption cases, adequate legal frameworks, access to information, and legal protections for whistleblowers, journalists and investigators.
· The CPI does not measure activities such as tax fraud, money laundering, financial secrecy, illicit flows of dirty money, or other forms of private sector corruption.
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For Media Inquiries, please contact:
James Cohen
Executive Director, Transparency International Canada
E-Mail: ti-can@transparencycanada.ca
Phone: 416-488-3939