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.
Après trois ans de témoignages d'experts et la contribution de deux cents témoins, la Commission Cullen de la Colombie-Britannique a publié son rapport final. L'une des principales victoires du rapport est la recommandation faite à la Colombie-Britannique de travailler avec le gouvernement fédéral pour créer un registre centralisé de la propriété effective, de classe mondiale, qui couvrirait éventuellement l'ensemble du pays.
After three years of expert testimony and insight from two-hundred witnesses, the British Columbia Cullen Commission released its final report. A key win in the report is the recommendation for British Columbia to work with the federal government to create a centralized, beneficial ownership registry that is world-class, and would eventually cover the entire country.
On March 24th, Transparency International Chair and President, Susan Côté-Freeman testified on behalf of TI Canada at the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Susan was called as an expert witness on Bill S-217 - An Act respecting the repurposing of certain seized, frozen or sequestrated assets.
The ‘End Snow-Washing’ Coalition (Transparency International Canada, Publish What You Pay Canada, and Canadians for Tax Fairness) enthusiastically applauds the announcement by the Federal Government and The New Democratic Party (NDP) to fast-track the delivery of a publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry by 2023.
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.
