MONTREAL — In recent times, Quebec has been under fire for bribery scandals. But as a recent Leger survey shows, Quebecers aren’t the only ones handing over money under the table.
“One adult out of four, representing more than a billion people, admitted to paying a bribe over the last few years,” said Jean-Marc Leger, president of Canadian polling and marketing firm Leger. “So it’s not only in Quebec that we have corruption problems, it’s across the world.”
The Canadian marketing firm conducted the world’s largest corruption poll in 107 countries. The most corrupt countries were found to be in Africa and the Middle East, in countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia and Yemen. Fortunately, Canada placed at the other end of the scale, ranking as the 6th least corrupt country behind Japan, Finland, Denmark, Australia and Spain.
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Within the country itself, the survey found Quebec to be the second most corrupt province, behind Alberta. And this doesn’t surprise Eric Arseneault.
“To me, it seems pretty low compared to what I’ve witnessed,” said the 23-year-old.
Arseneault works as a freelance security guard at different Montreal events. He says it’s common for guards to be offered bribes.
“I’ve seen a lot of people accept it,” he said. “You’re in a position where you’re getting paid already. And then if you can make a little extra money, it’s like you’re making his day, he’s making your day.”
But Mohamed Mhand knows things could be much worse. In the ten years that he has been in Canada, he has never seen anyone offer, or accept a bribe – a daily occurrence however in his native Morocco.
“It’s very frequent,” he said. “A police officer might stop you for nothing at all but with a small bribe, he will let you go and not waste your time.”
It’s a sad reality in many countries, but there is hope. The survey also turned up that the vast majority of people polled say it’s time for change.
“People are very upset,” said Leger. “We’ve known that for many years but this time it’s 90 per cent of the population that said we must do something.”
In Quebec, it was public opinion that forced the creation of the Charbonneau Commission, bringing corruption in the construction industry to the surface.
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