NEWS RELEASE
Global Integrity Report Ranks Canada 8th Out Of 55 Countries in World’s Most Comprehensive Assessment of Government Accountability and Integrity
Gifts and Donations Loopholes, Secrecy, Lack of Merit-Based Appointments Process and Lack of Strong Enforcement Agencies the Main Weaknesses in Canada
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
OTTAWA - Today, the international organization Global Integrity released its 2007 Report on the results of the world’s most comprehensive, detailed assessment (using more than 300 indicators) of national government accountability and integrity (especially anti-corruption measures) in 55 countries, including Global Integrity’s first reports on Canada and China. In past years, Global Integrity has also assessed the national governments of another 21 countries, for a total of 76 country reports.
The report details what it will take to build real democracy and create genuine stability around the globe, and is available on the Global Integrity website at: http://www.globalintegrity.org
Each national government is assessed by Global Integrity’s in-country experts by providing answers to Global Integrity’s 304 questions in its Integrity Indicators Scorecard. The Scorecard is divided into six categories (with 23 sub-categories in total), as follows: 1. Civil Society, Public Information and Media; 2. Elections; 3. Government Accountability; 4. Administration and Civil Service; 5. Oversight and Regulation; 6. Anti-Corruption and Rule of Law. Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch, was the Lead Researcher for the section of the report on Canada.
Canada’s federal government ranked 8th out of the 55 national governments (none of which received a "Very Strong" rating), behind Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania, as well as the U.S., Spain, Japan, Italy (with Bulgaria, the U.S. and Latvia comfortably in the "Strong" rating tier, while Spain, Japan, Italy, Romania and Canada just barely made it into the "Strong" rating tier).
The assessment concluded overall about Canada that (To see the full report on Canada, click here):
“Canada offers a good environment for media and civil society, as well as inclusive and well-regulated elections. However, significant gaps exist in Canada's governance performance, most notably in legislative and judicial accountability measures. For instance, assets worth less than 10,000 Canadian dollars (US$9,843) are not required to be disclosed by legislators, while asset disclosure forms of Senate members are kept confidential.”
and also that:
“In Canada, the extent of the executive’s control over appointments to
the judiciary puts the nation alongside Kenya and Mexico as having a “Very Weak” rating for judicial accountability.”
In Global Integrity's category-by-category rankings, Canada had its worst rankings in categories 6. Anti-Corruption and Rule of Law (15th overall, worse than countries such as Jordan, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Romania, Latvia, Argentina, India, Vanuatu, Kenya and Ukraine) and 3. Government Accountability (13th overall, worse than countries such as Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania, Malawi, Philippines, Peru, Pakistan and Colombia). Canada had its best rankings in categories 2. Elections (4th overall), 4. Administration and Civil Service (6th overall), 5. Oversight and Regulation (6th overall) and 1. Civil Society, Public Information and Media (8th overall). "Canada’s federal government has significant loopholes in its government accountability system when compared to other countries, and has a lot of work to do to become the world’s leading democracy," said Duff Conacher, Assistant to the Coordinator of the Democracy Education Network, and Coordinator of Democracy Watch.
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For more information, contact:
Duff Conacher, Assistant to the Coordinator of the Democracy Education Network, and Coordinator of Democracy Watch
Tel: 613-241-5178
2008 Global Integrity Report
E-mail: info@democracyeducation.net