/PG/ Ottawa, Ontario [Canada] (Signal High) for PowerGames.Online —– Four out of five Canadians believe political corruption, backroom deals and bribery are common place in Canada, and they don’t trust the government to solve the problem.
A recently released study conducted by The Angus Reid Institute, in partnership with Mindset Social Innovation Foundation and the World Refugee and Migration Council, shows that Canadians believe corruption in both the private and public sectors is widespread. Nearly half believe corruption plays a significant role in the rising cost of living. Ontario reported the highest levels of perceived political corruption at ninety-one percent, more than half of respondents saying it happens all the time. Eighty-two percent of Quebecers and Atlantic Canadians believe corruption is commonplace.
Government at all levels have found themselves in hot water in recent years – some over alleged ethics violations, others for alleged crimes and even matters of national security. The Trudeau Liberal government has, since coming into office in 2015, been the subject of countless scandals, ranging from the SNC-Lavalin and WE Charity scandals, to allegations of questionable business dealings. Ontario Premier Doug Ford (PC) has been the subject of several corruption complaints, including giving preferential treatment to specific developers in a deal to build on a protected swath of land. He has also been often accused of holding pay-to-access events, where admission includes a measured moment to push your own agenda to the Premier in person.
According to the study, eighty-six percent of Canadians believe that backroom political dealing and bribery is common in their province, and eighty-one percent believed that money laundering is a regular occurrence in Canada. Nearly half of the respondents said political corruption is “extremely common,” just under half believing it is commonplace in parliament and the legislature. The majority of Canadians, sixty-three percent, profess to have no trust in politicians and doubt they obey the laws and regulations of the land. More than eighty-percent of those who refused to vote in the last election listed lack of trust as their principal reason not to cast a ballot.
Nearly four in five Canadians, seventy-nine percent, also said they believe the level of corruption in Canada has increased in the past three years, while only twenty-one percent said it has stayed the same. Less than one percent of Canadians felt corruption had decreased in that time period. Of four in five Canadians, eighty percent, thirty-seven percent said they were not confident at all or were “not that confident,” forty-three percent, in the federal government to fight corruption effectively. Sixteen percent said they could, while only three percent said they were “very confident.”
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada’s federal police agency, continues to investigate Sustainable Development Technology Canada, Arrive CAN, and other debacles alleged to have distributed tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to “ineligible companies.”
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