List of political scandals in Canada

This is a list of major political scandals in Canada:

Federal

• Pacific Scandal - allegations of bribes being taken by the government of Sir John A. Macdonald (1870s)
• Scandal in the Department of Customs and Excise that led to the King-Byng Affair, 1926
• Munsinger Affair - Canada's first national political sex scandal (1960s)
• Tunagate - tainted tuna (1985)
• Grant Bristow - Canadian Security Intelligence Service infiltration of Reform Party of Canada and covert founding of Heritage Front
• Airbus affair - 1995 - Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was implicated in a kickback scheme to purchase Airbus planes for Air Canada
• APEC Inquiry - 1997 - Royal Canadian Mounted Police conduct at the APEC summit in Vancouver.
• Shawinigate - 1999 - An alleged conflict of interest lobbying effort by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.
• Sponsorship scandal - 2004 - misuse and misdirection of funds disbursed through the Liberal government's 1990s sponsorship program. Investigated by the Gomery Commission.
• Shoe Store Project - 2007 - Prime Minister's Office under Stephen Harper plans $2M, government-controlled media centre to replace current National Press Theatre (which is run by press gallery staff, instead of those from the PMO).
• Julie Couillard scandal - 2007 - Conservative Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier resigned after leaving sensitive NATO documents in the home of Julie Couillard, an ex-girlfriend with links to the Hells Angels biker gang.
• In and Out scandal - 2007 - alleged circumvention of election finance rules by the Conservatives in the 2006 election campaign.
• Robocall scandal - 2012 - Allegations of widespread voter fraud occurring during the 2011 Canadian federal election. Robotic and live calls to voters are claimed to have been made in 38 ridings. Currently under investigation by the RCMP and Elections Canada.
• The ETS Scandal - An ongoing Canadian political scandal involving alleged wrongdoing by Canadian government officials in the award of a $400-million information technology services contract and allegations of political interference in the ensuing cover-up.
• CFIA Scandal - 2012 - is an ongoing scandal involving food inspection services being insufficient to the Canadian public this comes after the budget cuts to Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the temporary closure of XL Meats due to a wide spread E-coli out break in Alberta

Alberta

• Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal - a 1910 scandal that resulted in the resignation of the government of Alexander Cameron Rutherford
• Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta - a 1928 law that resulted in close to 3,000 young people being classified as "mentally unfit" and without their knowledge or consent were sterilized to prevent them from breeding their "bad blood."
• John Brownlee sex scandal - John Edward Brownlee, Premier of Alberta, sued for seduction of a young woman and found guilty (early 1930s)
• Dar Heatherington - forced to resign from Lethbridge city council in 2004 after being convicted of public mischief.

British Columbia

• Sommers Affair - influence peddling and abuse of privilege on timber licenses by Forest Minister
• Gracie's Finger - Gerrymandering in Vancouver-Little Mountain
• Lillooet Cattle Trail - cost overruns, poor design and other scandalous aspects on most expensive provincial infrastructure project in 19th Century BC
• Solidarity Crisis - crisis was launched by Premier Bennett overstaying his mandate, triggering a constitutional crisis
• Fantasy Gardens (Social Credit Party) - improper sale of property and influence-peddling by Premier Bill Vander Zalm, in connection with Asian gambling lord Tan Yu
• Stephen Rogers (Social Credit Party) - resigns as environment minister after a conflict of interest due to owning shares in a company
• Cliff Michael (Social Credit Party) - resigns from cabinet due to conflict of interest over the sale of some land
• Reid affair (Social Credit Party) - Bill Reid forced to resign after a report showed that he was diverting lottery funds into a company owned by his former campaign manager
• Bud Smith resigns after tapes and transcripts of him talking disparagingly about a lawyer hired by the oppsition NDP to investigate the Reid Affair
• Robin Blencoe - (NDP) - allegations of harassing an office employee [2]
• Phil Gaglardi (Social Credit Party) - improper use of expenses
• British Columbia Resources Investment Corporation (BCRIC or "Brick") (Social Credit Party) - public boondoggle involving publicly distributed and soon-worthless shares of former Crown Corporation
• Bingogate - New Democratic Party of British Columbia - skimming of charity funds (1990s)
• Doman Scandal - (Social Credit Party) - insider trading; Premier Bill Bennett indicted but acquitted
• Coquihalla Highway - (Social Credit Party) - cost overruns and graft
• Casinogate - New Democratic Party - Premier Glen Clark was charged but acquitted of breach of trust in connection with his official duties. Collusion between Global television and the RCMP in trying to incriminate Clark is alleged by many commentators.
• FastCat Fiasco (aka "Ferrygate" or simply "the Fast Ferries") - 1990s construction of a fleet of high speed ferry vessels that ended up being massively over-budget and actually slower than existing ferries
• Gordon Wilson-Judy Tyabji Affair (British Columbia Liberal Party) - semi-secret romance between the Opposition Leader and his House Whip leads to their downfall
• BC Legislature Raids ("Railgate") (BC Liberal Party) - raids on offices of senior political aides in the legislature connected to everything from marijuana grow-ops to questions connected with the sale of BC Rail to Canadian National.
• Gordon Campbell (BC Premier, arrested in Hawaii for DUI) (Liberals). Also implicated in Railgate (see previous).

New Brunswick

• Karl Toft - serial pedophile molested over 200 boys while an employee in charge at the government run Kingsclear Youth Training Centre between the mid 1960s and the mid 1980s
• Richard Hatfield - premier charged with possession of marijuana in 1984

Ontario

• Ontario Bond Scandal - United Farmers of Ontario (early 1920s)
• Patti Starr scandal in the late 1980s - illegal use of charitable funds for political campaigns donations
• Ipperwash Crisis - incident involving the shooting death of Dudley George, an unarmed Native activist, by an Ontario Provincial Police officer in 1995
• Kimberly Rogers - After a disputed welfare fraud conviction, Rogers committed suicide in her Sudbury apartment while under house arrest in 2001, leading to extensive controversy around the Mike Harris government's 1996 welfare reforms, as well as an inquest which made several still-unimplemented recommendations for changes to the system.
• Toronto Computer Leasing Inquiry - judicial inquiry into improper computer leasing contracts made by Toronto's municipal government in 1999
• Walkerton water scandal in the year 2000
• Toronto Police Drug Scandal - multiple scandals broke out in early 2004, as a result of internal affairs and RCMP investigations. Allegations of the sale of narcotics, fake search warrants, raid tip-offs and mob gambling debts involved many dozens of Toronto police officers, including former chief William J. McCormack's son, Michael, who was eventually brought up on 23 charges. As a result of the scandal, the plainclothes downtown unit which many of the charged officers worked out of was disbanded. The court cases relating to these charges continue.
• ORNGE - Air Ambulance Scandal - In 2011 Ornge was involved in a controversy regarding executives compensation, including President and CEO Chris Mazza. Mazza went on an indefinite medical leave on 22 December 2011 at the height of the scandal. The Toronto Star uncovered that Mazza was receiving $1.4 million a year while remaining off the "sunshine list" of public employees earning over $100,000. That salary makes him the highest publicly paid official in the province. Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews stated that Mazza’s salary was "outrageous, shocking and unacceptable". Ornge Global, Ornge's for-profit division, also received $6.7 million in a contract from Anglo-Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, which is also part of the audit by the provincial auditor general. On 16 February 2012 Ornge formally became the subject of an Ontario Provincial Police investigation for "financial irregularities".
• Ontario power plant scandal - June 06, 2011 Plans to construct a gas-fired power plant in an environmentally sensitive area of Mississauga has some residents up in arms. After weeks of continual protest from concerned community activists in Mississauga and Oakville, the Ontario Liberals decide to cancel the gas plants. NDP MPPs claim the decision was not motivated by environmental concerns but rather political ones.

Nova Scotia

• The Thornhill Affair - involved Roland Thornhill, who resigned as Deputy Premier in the 1990s after allegations dealing with a debt settlement from 1980 was brought into question.
• The Billy Joe MacLean Affair(The BJM Affair) - MLA Billy Joe MacLean was expelled from the Assembly after Premier John Buchanan's Progressive Conservative government introduced legislation prohibiting anyone from sitting in the assembly who had been indicted by the courts. MacLean pleaded guilty to four counts of submitting forged documents - went to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, which upheld Macleans expulsion, but declared the law that prohibited him from running as a candidate to be unconstitutional - MacLean was re-elected in a by-election in 1987. He was subsequently defeated in the 1988 general election by Danny Graham (Liberal).

Quebec

• Duplessis Orphans of 1940s through 1960s - Maurice Duplessis government and the Roman Catholic Church.
• Charbonneau Commission enquiry into the Quebec construction industry

Saskatchewan

• Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan scandals - Scandals that emerged in the 1990s involving Grant Devine's Progressive Conservative government implicating 16 MLAs, with the chief conviction that of Deputy Premier Eric Berntson in 1999.
• Colin Thatcher

External links

• cbc.ca Top 10 Canadian Corruption Scandals
• cbc.ca Scandals, Boondoggles and White Elephants