Canada is pretty much corruption free. Yes some politicians push the limits of ethical behaviour but it would be a stretch to call them corrupt.
What passes for corruption in this country is a joke. Bill Moreau was accused of being corrupt because he forgot to pay a $41,000 travel bill to a WE event in Africa. One of the contributing factors to the fall of the Harper government was a $90,000 payment from his Chief of Staff to Senator Duffy. Another joke. The WE controversy was billed as corruption but the facts do not support that billing and the same can be said about the SNC Lavalin "scandal".
In over 35 years of observing Canadian politics I can only identify two instances of actual corruption. The Sponsorship Scandal and Brian Mulroney taking a suitcase full of cash from Mr. Schrieber. That is it.
Now compare that to the rest of the world. The dumpster fire that is the Trump Administration is a poster child for corruption. The fact that virtually all of his campaign team, from 2016, are either convicted felons or are about to be convicted felons would be an indication of corruption. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, the laws around campaign financing in the US create many opportunities for unscrupulous individuals to be corrupt.
Then let's look at Russia. One of Mr. Putin's leading critics is currently in a coma in a German hospital after being poisoned, likely by people working for Mr. Putin. Could you imagine the shit storm that would erupt in Canada if something similar were to happen to Mr. Scheer or Mr. Singh?
And that is just the big corruption. Canada is virtually free of little corruption. I used to work with a guy who once vacationed in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. He is a big white guy so he really stood out there. He rented a motorcycle so that he could go out and explore the countryside outside of the city. On his trip outside of the city he was stopped ten times and given a ticket by the cops, for various infractions, the ticket to be paid immediately to the cop. Each ticket worked out to be about 25 cents Canadian so the penalties were not that onerous but he knew that he did not break any laws. He was just a white tourist who the cops believed had money to spare so they took advantage.
Canadians certainly need to maintain their vigilance to make certain they identify dishonest and corrupt people in government but Canadians can also be assured that actual corruption in Canada is very rare and those very few who would be corrupt are always caught in the end.
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These "Trudeau scandals" are smear campaigns and knee-jerk populist rhetoric copied from the U.S. GOP playbook that leveled death by a thousand cuts against Hillary Clinton's public reputation, to ultimately sink her political career. It's not just the strategy that's copied but literally the content. SNC or was "Benghazi North," or as I call it Lavghazi. Now WE-Ghazi as I call it, or "But His WE-Mails," is equal parts the vague negativity surrounding 1) her speaking engagements, 2) her family philanthropic endeavours and 3) the emails, obviously. I've said for awhile that Trudeau is the male equivalent of Hillary Clinton yet is targeted with a more subtle form of misogyny, but in this case the opposition even dragged his mother into the mess because there's no depth they won't sink to.
None of the various -ghazis Clinton was "investigated" for actually rose to the level of corruption, because no one was convicted of anything, but it sowed a seed of doubt about her "honesty" and "ethical integrity" even as Trump was far, far worse. As well, GOP congressman Kevin McCarthy said the quiet parts out loud to NBC News, that the Benghazi hearings were a contrived farce aimed at damaging her poll numbers, something that also happened to Trudeau with the "WE-Ghazi" star chamber and relentless negative press coverage. Interesting that his name is McCarthy and he subjected her to an inquisition. Poilievre played the same role in Canada, with Angus playing the Bernie Sanders kamikaze/horseshoe politics role cynically attacking from the far left. And the media shamefully played the same role aiding and abetting the inquisitors and poisoning the jury of public opinion.
The problem again is an unbalanced media that prefers clickbait, ratings, "pundit panels" on par with sports broadcasts, and salacious "scandal" headlines, to civil debate and informing the public. As well they have an agenda afoot, whereby whoever is in charge has a disturbing personal distaste for both Clinton and Trudeau. That's where the real corruption is, but again, who's watching the watchmen?
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