Anti-Corruption and Integrity Outlook 2024 – Country Notes: Canada

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Contextual factors

 

State structure	Executive power	Legislative system	Legal system
Federal	Parliamentary	Bicameral	Common law

Strategy and institutions on anti-corruption and public integrity

Canada does not have a unified central anti-corruption strategy, instead relying on specialised bodies and legislation and a variety of tools to address the risks of corruption. The Management and Accountability Framework (MAF) is a key tool of oversight used by the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) to ensure that federal departments and agencies are well managed and accountable. The Financial Administration Act, the Lobbying Act, the Conflict-of-Interest Act, the Canada Elections Act, the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, the Criminal Code and the Access to Information Act all contain pieces of the integrity system.

In terms of institutions, rather than having a central body overseeing anti-corruption activities, there are several bodies in Canada with responsibility for different parts of the integrity system. The Priorities and Planning (P&P) Sector within the TBS manages processes of the MAF. The Commissioner of Lobbying is an independent body responsible for ensuring the transparency and ethics of federal lobbying activities. The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner is responsible for helping appointed​ and elected officials prevent and avoid conflicts. The Public Sector Integrity Commissioner handles disclosures of wrongdoing and complaints of reprisal at the federal level, the Information Commissioner is responsible for access to information, and the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada oversees political financing. The Internal Audit Sector of the Office of the Comptroller General of Canada, within TBS, is responsible for the policy on internal audit.

Overview

 

Greatest strengths	Areas to improve
Transparency of public information – implementation	Corruption risk management and audit – implementation
Conflict of interest	Post-employment integrity
Political finance	Anti-corruption strategy

Anti-corruption strategy

Canada does not have a stand-alone anti-corruption strategy. Instead, it has set strategic frameworks for mitigating corruption risks within targeted legislation, including the Financial Administration Act, the Criminal Code, the Canada Elections Act, the Lobbying Act, the Conflict-of-Interest Act, the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, and a variety of policies adopted by the Treasury Board, including the Policy on People Management, Directive on Conflict of Interest, and the Policy on Financial Management. Public Services and Procurement Canada (Formerly Public Works and Government Services Canada) has also developed an Integrity Regime that contains objectives related to promoting integrity in public procurement. While the legislation and policies set a clear strategic direction for promoting public integrity, they are not supported by specific action plans to facilitate their implementation.

Corruption risk management and audit

As measured against OECD standards on risk management, which include internal control and internal audit, Canada fulfils 76% of criteria for regulations and 23% for practice, compared to the OECD average of 67% and 33%, respectively.

Canada has a strong regulatory framework for internal control, which defines internal control and internal audit according to international standards, specifies the objectives of internal control, and establishes managerial responsibility for internal control. Canada also sets out standards of conduct and ethical behaviour applicable for ministers, members of parliament, other political appointees and civil servants. The country’s risk management framework explicitly addresses public integrity risks and regulations on internal audit specify operational arrangements for internal audit and contain a number of key safeguards to ensure that internal auditors perform their work independently and with integrity.

However, no data was provided on the adoption of good practices for internal audit and risk management in practice. There is also no available data on the rate of adoption and implementation of internal audit recommendations. Internal audit regulations on apply to 51% of central government bodies, and only 21% were internally audited within the past five years, although these correspond to the bodies with the largest budget.

Lobbying

As measured against OECD standards on lobbying, Canada fulfils 75% of criteria for regulations and 78% for practice, compared to the OECD average of 38% and 35%, respectively.

The regulatory framework defines lobbying activities and sanctions for breaches of transparency standards in lobbying and establishes cooling-off periods for public officials. While the publicly available lobbying register includes information on the lobbyist’s name and organisation, domain of intervention, and piece of legislation or regulation targeted, it does not include information on the budget/expenses for lobbying activities. The Officer of the Commissioner of Lobbying supervises lobbying activities and has conducted numerous investigations into possible violations of lobbying regulations.

Conflict of interest

As measured against OECD standards on conflict of interest, Canada fulfils 89% of criteria for regulations and 78% for practice, compared to the OECD average of 76% and 40%, respectively.

Canada’s Conflict-of-Interest Act defines conflict-of-interest situations for various levels of government and establishes procedures for managing them. The Act requires interest declarations upon entry into public office from members of the Government, parliament, public employees in high-risk positions, and top-tier civil servants of the executive branch. Interest declarations are not required for members of the highest bodies of the judiciary. In practice, submission rates for interest declarations are high, and the responsible authority has issued recommendations for resolution for all cases of conflict of interest within 12 months of the case being identified.

Political finance

As measured against OECD standards on political finance, Canada fulfils 80% of criteria for regulations and 100% for practice, compared to the OECD average of 73% and 58%, respectively.

Canada has one of the strongest regulatory frameworks for political finance among OECD countries, which includes reporting requirements for political parties, bans on donations from foreign states and enterprises and publicly owned enterprises, and limits on campaign expenses and personal contributions to campaigns. The Chief Electoral Office of Canada is the independent body with the mandate to oversee the financing of political parties and election campaigns. The Commissioner of Canada Elections publishes information on breaches of political finance regulations and investigations thereof and has certified auditors on its payroll. All political parties represented in parliament have submitted annual accounts related to elections within the timelines defined by national legislation and their financial accounts are publicly available on a single online platform. However, at the federal level, the regulatory framework does not include a complete ban on anonymous donations to political parties.

Transparency of public information

As measured against OECD standards on public information, which include access to information and open data, Canada fulfils 78% of criteria for regulations and 81% for practice, compared to the OECD average of 67% and 62%, respectively.

Canada has strong access to information legislation, which guarantees all persons the right to access public information in all forms available. A supervisory body responsible for public information—the Office of the Information Commissioner— is responsible for supervising access to public information. The Information Commissioner conducted inspections of non-compliance and issued sanctions within the latest full calendar year. The Office of the Chief Information Officer is responsible for open data policy and the monitoring thereof. Key datasets like consolidated versions of primary laws, aggregated data on lobbying and access to information requests, data on public tenders, and assets and interest declarations are publicly available online. However, agendas of Government sessions and ministers’ agendas are not published.