Daily BrewCanada slips again in global corruption ranking
Our reputation as a country of peacekeepers and overall nice guys took a hit this week, as Canada slipped once again in a leading global corruption ranking.
The list, compiled by Transparency International and released Thursday, surveyed 183 countries and ranked them from "very clean" all the way down to "highly corrupt."
Each country was appointed a score based on a culmination of expert assessments and domestic opinion surveys.
This year, Canada dropped from 6th to 10th place, resulting in its worst showing since 2007.
It's a precarious perch for a country that has consistently figured among the top ten least corrupt countries.
As the Globe and Mail reports, this marks Canada's second major slip in as many months. In November, we dropped from the top spot to the middle of the pack for countries with a reputation for honest overseas business practices in the organization's Bribe Payers Index.
Transparency International also blasted Canada last spring as the only G7 country that has remained at the bottom of its bribery enforcement ranking since the reports started in 2005.
But it's not all bad news. One of TI's Canadian directors, Peter Dent, told the paper he believes it's a sign Canadians are starting to grow wise to the problem.
"Is corruption getting worse or it is being talked about more?" he said. "Now people are saying: 'Hey maybe corruption is a big deal, maybe this is something we should pay attention to.'"
Dent also pointed out Quebec's public inquiry to investigate corruption reports, primarily in the construction industry, and made note of the RCMP's recent series of high-profile raids.
It's also important to note that despite its drop in the ranks, Canada still scored an 8.7, with 0 being the most corrupt, and 10 representing the least corrupt. Two thirds of the countries polled scored less than 5 on the scale.
Holding up the opposite ends of the list: Somalia, North Korea, Myanmar and Afghanistan ranked as the most corrupt, while the least corrupt countries were New Zealand, Denmark, Finland and Sweden.
(The Canadian Press)
