The Board of Directors of Transparency International Canada is pleased to announce the appointment of Trevor Loke as the organization’s new Executive Director, effective June 17, 2024.
CANADA EDGES UP IN LIST OF LEAST CORRUPT NATIONS – BUT STILL NOT BACK IN TOP TEN TIER
For Canadians there is good news and bad news in today’s release of Transparency International’s 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
The good news: Canada has moved up to 76 points and 12th place after scoring 74 points and ranking 14th last year.
The bad news: We have still not returned to the top ten least corrupt list that Canada consistently ranked in prior to 2019.
OTTAWA: Today, Bill C-42 successfully received Royal Assent, paving the way for Canada to have a publicly accessible registry that lists the ultimate beneficial owners of companies. Earlier last month, Senate members heard from the ‘End Snow-washing’ Coalition: Publish What You Pay Canada, Transparency International Canada, and Canadians For Tax Fairness who provided a strong endorsement for the legislation and urged members to ensure it gets through Canada’s Senate without delay. Yesterday, the bill successfully passed all stages of reading in Canada’s Parliament and today it received Royal Assent.
Transparency International Canada (TI Canada) continues to identify the inadequate level of enforcement for corruption offences as the greatest barrier to combatting corruption in Canada. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) signalled its agreement with this in its Phase IV report on Canada’s implementation of the Anti-Bribery Convention, calling enforcement “exceedingly low”. Almost 25 years after the adoption of the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA), Canada’s criminal law prohibiting foreign bribery, charges have been laid in only nine cases – a paltry number especially considering the size and dominant industry sector of Canada’s economy.
Canada is known as an easy place to launder dirty money, or ‘snow-wash’. It’s not just the experts who know this though. International corporate service providers actively promote incorporating companies in Canada to clients who wish to take advantage of lax secrecy laws and low financial crime enforcement.
Canada’s score dropped three points to 74 out of 100 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), and fell two places to 13th out of 180 countries, behind peers like the UK, Germany, and New Zealand
Le Canada a chuté de trois points avec un score de 74 sur 100 sur l'Indice de Perception de la Corruption (IPC) de Transparency International de 2021.
On December 9-10, the United States hosted roughly 100 countries for a virtual Summit for Democracy. The Summit was held by the US in recognition of the growing global erosion of democracy and increasing influence of authoritarianism. The Government of Canada made six commitments on anti-corruption actions. TI Canada welcomes these commitments, but would like to see more details.
Transparency International Canada’s Executive Director, James Cohen, was invited to attend a press conference for the introduction of legislation to increase Ontario real estate. The Anti-Money Laundering in Housing Act, proposed by Ontario NDP Housing critic Jessica Bell (University-Rosedale), and MPP Bhutila Karpoche would require corporations, trusts, and partnerships that own real estate to disclose individual owners, with failure to comply resulting in fines of up to $100,000.
Closing arguments were made by participants in the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in B.C. between October 15th to October 19th. Among the participants was End Snow Washing Coalition, comprised of Transparency International Canada, Canadians for Tax Fairness, and Published What You Pay Canada. The Coalition was represented by counsel Gratl & Company.
Following the release of the Pandora Papers, an investigative report published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Executive Director of Transparency International Canada James Cohen provided comments to CBC-Radio One program The Current.
