For many Canadians, the policing corruption scandal emerging in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) might sound like a story from the international pages, not the local news. But this is unmistakably our problem. Seven Toronto Police officers and a retired constable have been arrested on charges related to accepting bribes, obstructing justice, and drug- and weapons trafficking. The charges were laid as part of a months-long investigation stemming from a dramatic, thwarted hit on an Ontario corrections officer whose personal details had allegedly been wrongly accessed and released to organized crime figures.

Ontario’s premier has suggested that this is a case of proverbial “bad apples”, and even as Toronto’s mayor spoke of the potential need for  “systemic changes” she affirmed that further police budget increases will proceed as planned. Once the two independent investigations respectively examining issues of procedure and conduct are completed, the “bad apples” are plucked from the bushel, and “systemic changes” are considered, the hope is that business can return to usual. Yet even if these cases turn out to be isolated – though the criminal investigation continues – and even if we clean up our police services, Canadians will remain vulnerable to the larger forces behind this scandal.

Just days after the arrests, Transparency International published its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which depicts a marked increase in corruption worldwide. Canada is very much part of the trend, reaching an all-time low ranking of sixteenth out of 182 countries and continuing a downturn afoot since at least 2012. Set against this backdrop, the GTA policing scandal typifies challenges and points to potential solutions across at least three dimensions that are not only local and provincial, but national and global.

Trust on the Decline? 

First, turning the tide against growing public mistrust in democracy will require maximizing transparency in all public institutions. Transparency International’s index recorded worsening corruption perceptions in France, the UK, New Zealand, Sweden, and the US (which also hit an all-time low). Yet although Canada was not alone in its decline, Canadians have little cause for comfort in having company in this regard.

While public trust has remained relatively resilient in Canada, the factors to which Transparency International attributes this multinational decline resonate as much here as anywhere: the erosion of institutional checks and balances, gaps in anti-corruption legislation, scaled-back enforcement, political polarisation, rising influence of private money on decision making, successive government spending scandals – including during the COVID pandemic. These factors align with data suggesting that Canadians are least trustful of government and political leaders versus other public institutions, and that trust varies starkly depending on one’s level of grievance and political allegiance.

In this context, the policing scandal poses a real threat to Canadians’ trust in institutions. Although Canadians appear, on average, to trust police forces more than they do political public institutions, a failure to maximize transparency around this scandal could exacerbate a trend of trust being “strained” by misconduct and discrimination. Indeed, calls for an independent judicial inquiry reflect suspicion that anything short of a fully open process will keep crucial information from the public eye.

Maximizing transparency in the policing case will be a litmus test at a time when our nation is contemplating diverting public resources to defence at a scale and speed not seen since the Second World War. If we do not increase transparency and oversight to the same extent and at the same pace, public funds will be vulnerable to diversion to private pockets. If this year’s $93 million increase to the Toronto police budget is already eliciting accountability concerns in light of the corruption scandal, a failure to properly account for even a fraction of the five per cent of GDP slated for defence expenditure could shatter public trust.

Measures intended to bolster our security could thus end up undermining our institutions. The converse is also true: spending efficiently and transparently could bolster public confidence and help reestablish faith in our ability of institutions to deliver results. 

Risks Beyond our Borders

Second, failing to enforce our laws against corruption and financial crimes will expose us to risks we cannot afford in the present geopolitical climate. If proven, the allegations against GTA police officers would exacerbate Ontarians’ growing concern over the increasing pervasiveness of organized crime in our society. This case illustrates how financial crimes like money laundering can motivate and facilitate corruption in our public institutions. It highlights how little distance separates corruption from our home lives.

Furthermore, given that the Corruption Perceptions Index concerns the perceptions of global experts and business leaders, what happens in Ontario doesn’t stay in Ontario. If attracting and retaining investment and talent is Canada’s priority, it’s worth noting that investors are known to factor CPI scores into their risk assessments. Similarly, evidence suggests that foreign investment can decline durably following a poor showing on evaluations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which will soon evaluate the effectiveness of Canada’s anti-money laundering efforts – past iterations of which have identified persistent gaps of the sort cited in the CPI.

What’s more, Washington has already accused Canada of failing to tackle organized crime as a pretext for tariffs – to say nothing of justifying the capture of Venezuela’s president with reference to crimes of corruption. While corruption allegations in the GTA are unlikely to portend economic collapse and foreign intervention, they fit too-closely-for-comfort with Washington’s apparent readiness to exploit deteriorating perceptions of corruption in Canada.

From Laggard to Leader

Third, we have the capacity to fight corruption and financial crimes in Canada, but only if we mobilize sufficient resources and political will. One silver lining is that the GTA police allegations did come to light. This illustrates the dedication and expertise of many members of the police forces in question. Equally competent professionals staff the enforcement and regulatory entities across Canada that exist to prosecute and penalize corruption and financial crimes.

Given that Corruption Perceptions Index identifies gaps in anti-corruption legislation as a driver of decline across democratic countries, recent announcements that the Ontario government will establish a beneficial ownership registry and that Ottawa will create a new Financial Crimes Agency are welcome. But such measures have too often served as window-dressing in the absence of resources to make them effective. We can’t plead ignorance: organizations like Transparency International, FATF, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Working Group on Bribery have assessed Canada and issued concrete, achievable recommendations that we can and must implement immediately after lagging for too long.

Toronto’s policing scandal, when situated in the broader global picture painted by Transparency International, is not Toronto’s alone. If we act on the lessons it presents,  we would shore up our collective security, prosperity and democracy. We would lead our fellow democracies. In the emerging world order, this is not an opportunity we can afford to squander.

© OpenCanada