1
Corruption
2
Corruption
Abstract
This article examines the definitions of corruption and their key expectations about the
relationship between corruption, democracy, and the democratization process in Canada, as well
as its implications for society, and ultimate laws to prevent corruption. A corrupted person wants
to maximize his or her earnings by the means of different unlawful practices, and the possible
motives for corruption include dysfunctional administrative and political structures and
bureaucracies, economic freedom, globalization, and ethnic diversity, which are discussed in
detail in this article. In addition to the above, there are other influential factors that will
ultimately lead to reduced economic growth, reduced domestic and foreign investment, as well
as high inflation in the country. The law plays a crucial role in controlling corruption in society,
and in Canada, no central authority alone is responsible for investigating corruption in Canada,
which will lead to better control of this phenomenon, which is also addressed in this article.
Introduction
The word “corrupt” comes from the Latin word “corruptus” which means “corrupted”,
and refers to the misuse of a trusted position in one of the three branches of government
(executive, legislative, and judicial) or in political or other organizations with the intent of
obtaining material benefit for oneself or others that are not legally justified (Quah, 2017).
Corruption is a global issue that no country is safe from, and it has long been known that the
concept of corruption as a problem affecting just developing countries is incorrect. Although
developing countries consistently score lower on corruption measures, most countries suffer
from severe corruption. As a result, addressing corruption as a problem faced by developing
3
countries is ineffective. Instead, fighting corruption requires global cooperation, with all nations
recognizing their role (Corruption in Canada, 2022).
Comparison to most countries in the world, Canada has a low rate of corruption.
According to Transparency International’s 2019 Corruption Perception Index, Canada ranks 12th
out of 180 countries as the least corrupt, down from 9th in 2016. Despite this, government,
industry, and non-government organizations have experienced an increasing level of corruption
over the past decade (Transparency International, 2022). The public service in Canada is set up
to operate independently of the political party in power. The Public Service Commission aims to
protect the public benefit from political interference and provide a “professional, non-partisan
service”. The Office of Public Service Values and Ethics implement values, ethics, and policies
to prevent corruption (Rotberg, 2019).
Causes of Corruption
Several factors contribute to corruption in Canada, but we will focus on six main ones in
this essay.
1. Ineffective administrative and political structures and bureaucracy
Dimant and Tosato (2017) asserted that inefficiency has been shown to increase levels of
corruption based on several main theories. In the first place, regulations and authorizations give
authority to officials who must approve or inspect the activity. Consequently, the more
regulations there are, the more likely members are to have interactions in the private sphere,
increasing the likelihood that they will engage in corrupt practices (Dimant & Tosato, 2017). In
an ineffective government, rules are less clear (reducing transparency), and permissions are
issued by specific individuals (lowering competition), both of which imply high levels of
4
corruption. Later experimental evidence supported this, with different figures suggesting that
state involvement in the economy, especially in the administrative sector, does increase
corruption (Hassan, 2020).
2. Economic Freedom
The ability to determine how to produce, sell, and use your resources, should be related to
reducing corruption in theory. There is a decreased possibility that corrupt activity will be
perceived as necessary for doing business if there are fewer economic restrictions, such as permit
requirements. Recent findings confirmed verified this theory, demonstrating that greater financial
independence leads to lower levels of corruption. Later quantitative research has supported this
concept; utilizing data from the Research Foundation to evaluate economic freedom, it was
