The Political Corruption Of Canada And Its Management:1960-2006

In the tide of globalization, no society can be completely closed and different countries have interactions among them to different extent. Every country possesses its own systems and the governmental administration, which will have some influence on others, especially when they share the same basic ideas in common, hence its influence will stand out. As a practice of the western democracy, Canada comes under the influence of certain countries, such as the UK and United State. While the western countries are suffering from the trouble caused by corruption scandals, Canadian citizens have an tendency to abandon their blind confidence in the clean image of their own country and come to reflect on the national system and governmental behaviors. The Canadian government is also playing deeper attention to its scandals on the expose, as well as to the collision of interest for civil servants. However, its anti-corruption measures do not always hit the mark and it is stepping forward despite of all the difficulties. In any case, people are putting more focus on the corruption issues in Canada.This thesis intends to discuss the political and cultural factors about the political corruption issues in Canada and to provide assistance for people who seek for beneficial practice, by introducing the present typical corruption forms, as well as analyzing the sources, development, the government’s attitude and practices when faced with the issues, combined with its special domestic political climate.The researches into corruption issues are very complicated. First of all, the definition of corruption is controversial. Secondly, people from different countries, periods and occasions usually hold different points of views on this topic. Therefore, the relevant researches must be carried out in a specific system and climate. In terms of the two principal types of political corruption, political patronage had shown its impact during the governmental position appointments, which used to occur in the earlier stage of the federation. As time goes by, with the demand of the political development, political patronage have switched from its dominant form to a recessive one, but it has never disappeared from politics. In comparison, the conflicts of interest were not taken seriously at first by the government and the people. However, with the economic development and the alteration of the administrative model of the government, there come to be more issues on the conflicts of interest, which will be increasingly related to the people’s vital interests and the authority’s image.In Canada, there are diverse attitudes toward political corruptions in different times. At the initial state of federal foundation, Canadian people considered the political patronage as a mere design of the national political system. Compared with the popularly elected positions, the one appointed by the government and prime minister did not necessarily mean that it would certainly result in corruption. Moreover, as the total numbers of corruption issues were relatively low, hardly did the authority unveil any anti-corruption measures. In the first half of the 20th century, Canada had survived the World War and the Economic Crisis, with a stable political circumstances. Therefore, it was the economic development and the social welfare that became a top priority of governmental work. Preventing corruption mainly depended on the governmental organs and the self-improvement achieved by administration. Since the 1960s, with the rapid growth and the prosperity of its economy, while there were increasing numbers of corruption issues, people stared to pay more attentions to their consequences and influences. Canadian authority announced a series of bills and some guiding documents about civil servant. The country were taking more advice form professional groups and local governments, when appointing civil servant.Up till now, there are still no consensus reached on the corruption issues in Canada, which reflects on the great divergences between federal and local, scholars and government, elites and public citizens. By analyzing the corruption issues and their solutions, we can have a further and more precise understanding, thus continuing the exploration of the specific political and cultural climate related to corruption in Canada.