Canada still seen as an honest country

Ranks 9th in how corrupt it’s viewed, despite scandals

Despite a rash of public corruption scandals, a new international corruption index rates us as one of the most honest nations on Earth.

Canada ranks ninth out of 177 countries (tied with Australia) in the 2013 edition of Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index of public-sector corruption released Tuesday.

Denmark and New Zealand tied for first place, followed by Finland. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia tied for last.

Yet with the ink barely dry on the new index, the RCMP announced another arrest Tuesday in its international bribery investigation into the awarding of a contract related to the construction of the $3-billion Padma bridge project in Bangladesh.

Five people, including three former officials of Montrealbased SNC-Lavalin, one of Canada’s largest companies, have been charged under the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act in relation to the project.

The latest arrest involves Zulfiquar Ali Bhuiyan, who holds Canadian and Bangladeshi citizenship. He was charged in September with violating the federal corruption act and voluntarily returned to Canada from Bangladesh to face arrest. He was not employed by SNC-Lavalin and had been released on bail.

The continuing SNC-Lavalin case is among a string of high-profile corruption dramas, with three others playing out in the Senate, Toronto City Hall and before Quebec’s Charbonneau Commission hearings into potential corruption in the awarding and management of public construction contracts.

Transparency International’s 2013 composite index is compiled based largely on 2012 surveys and assessments of corruption from independent international institutions specializing in governance and business climate analysis.

That time lag and those perceptions from outside Canada may help explain the apparent contrast with the views of Canadians, who are deeply concerned about the ethical collapse of society and soaring corruption, according to an October EKOS poll commissioned by iPolitics.

“Those outside of Canada may not have been aware of everything that would impact the perceptions of Canadians,” Peter Dent, Transparency International-Canada’s chair and president, said in an email Tuesday.

“My sense is that our rating will be negatively impacted by events in the past 12 months and will show up next year.”

More than two-thirds of the countries in this year’s index scored below 50 on a 0-to-100 scale (with 0 perceived to be very corrupt), leading Transparency International to suggesting corruption is still perceived to be entrenched in the public sector in most countries.

Canada, on the other hand, was top among the Americas with 81 points, similar to its ninth-place finish (84 points) in last year’s index. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia scored just eight points each.

Spain, meanwhile, dropped by six points — 65 to 59 — placing it 40th this year from 30th last year. It was the most dramatic drop of all European Union countries and one of the largest globally.

“Despite 2013 being a year in which governments around the world passed new laws and forged fresh commitments to end corruption, people are not seeing the results of these promises,” Transparency said in an analysis of the index. “Anti-corruption is an increasingly attractive platform for politicians, with many incorporating anti-corruption pledges into their election campaigns.

“It reflects waning public tolerance towards corruption. The danger, however, is that these anti-corruption promises fail to materialize.”

Among the emerging economies, Transparency says Brazil ranks 72nd with a score of 42 and China ranks 80th with a score of 40. India and Russia rank 94th and 127th with scores of 36 and 28, respectively.

The Arab Spring countries continue to score poorly, with Yemen, Syria, and Libya declining in 2013 with scores of 18, 17, and 15 respectively, underscoring the need for comprehensive reform in those countries.

As in 2012, the United States ranks 19th, with a score of 73. This score is lower than many other OECD countries including Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

The United States is also fourth in the Americas region, ranking below Canada, Barbados, and Uruguay.