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This is a list of major political scandals in Canada.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2020) |
This is a list of major political scandals in Canada.
| Scandal | Description | Associated parties | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Scandal | Allegations of bribes being taken by the government of Sir John A. Macdonald in exchange for the contract to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. [1] The affair forced Macdonald to resign as prime minister in November 1873. (Five years later, Macdonald served as prime minister for another 13 years.) [2] | Conservative Party | 1873 |
| King-Byng Affair | Scandal in the Department of Customs and Excise, leading to a constitutional crisis. | Liberal Party | 1926 |
| Beauharnois scandal | Allegations of the Beauharnois Light, Heat and Power Co making substantial contributions to the Liberal Party in return for permission to divert the St. Lawrence River 30 kilometres west of Montréal to generate hydroelectricity. [3] | Liberal Party | 1930–1932 |
| Munsinger Affair | Canada's first national political sex scandal. [4] | Progressive Conservative Party | 1960s |
| The Fuddle duddle incident | Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was accused of "using un-parliamentary language". | Liberal Party | 1971 |
| Harbourgate | The federal government hired a firm to dredge Hamilton Harbour. The subsequent investigation revealed that there were $300,000 in kickbacks to Ken Elliot, the Harbour Commissioner and $4M in unnecessary work. Elliot and his accountant were charged with fraud and served prison time. One of Trudeau's cabinet ministers (John Munro) tendered a resignation, but it was not accepted. He and others under investigation were ultimately exonerated. | Liberal Party | 1974 |
| Francis Fox | Newly appointed Solicitor General, Francis Fox forged the signature of his mistress' husband in order to obtain an abortion. He was forced to step down but later resumed his political career. | Liberal Party | 1978 |
| Tunagate | Tainted tuna. | Progressive Conservative Party | 1985 |
| Grant Bristow | Canadian Security Intelligence Service infiltration of Nationalist Party of Canada and covert founding of far-right groups. | Heritage Front | 1990s |
| Somalia affair | Military scandal prompted by the beating death of a Somali teenager. | Canadian Armed Forces | 1993 |
| Airbus affair | Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was implicated in a kickback scheme to purchase Airbus planes for Air Canada. [5] | Progressive Conservative Party | 1995 |
| APEC Inquiry | Police conduct at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vancouver. | Royal Canadian Mounted Police | 1997 |
| Shawinigate | An alleged conflict of interest lobbying effort by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. | Liberal Party | 1999 |
| Sponsorship scandal | Major misuse and misdirection of funds disbursed through the Liberal government's 1990s sponsorship program. Investigated by the Gomery Commission. | Liberal Party | 2004 |
| The "Grewal tapes" | Allegations that the Liberal Party of Canada offered Gurmant Grewal a senate seat for his wife, Nina Grewal, a cabinet post for himself, and an apology from Joe Volpe if he defected to the Liberal Party. The tapes the Conservatives relied upon, which were in possession of the party for two weeks, were found to have been crudely edited. | Liberal Party, Conservative Party | 2005 |
| In and Out scandal | Circumvention of election finance rules by the Conservatives in the 2006 election campaign. | Conservative Party | 2007 |
| Couillard Affair | Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier resigned after leaving sensitive NATO documents in the home of Julie Couillard, an ex-girlfriend who used to have links to the Hells Angels. [6] | Conservative Party | 2007 |
| Canadian Afghan detainee issue | Parliament prorogued for the second time in a single parliament, claimed to stall an inquiry into the potential maltreatment of Afghanistan War detainees. [7] | Conservative Party | 2010 |
| Juicegate | Conservative international development minister Bev Oda charged taxpayers for $16 orange juice, staying at a $665 per night hotel and ordering a limousine ride at a cost of $1000 per day to shuttle her 2km between the hotel and the conference venue. Oda paid back $1,353.81 after she was exposed by the media. [8] [9] | Conservative Party | 2012 |
| Dal Mastro Campaign Spending | In June 2012 Elections Canada was investigating Del Mastro for overspending during the 2008 elections. The investigation surrounds a payment of $21,000 made by a personal cheque to Ottawa-based polling firm Hollinshed Research Group for which Del Mastro was not reimbursed, exceeding his personal spending limit of $5,000. Del Mastro has insisted he has not broken any election law and claimed that the $21,000 cheque was for a riding-mapping software called GeoVote that Holienshed intended to launch, and not for telephone calls to constituents during the campaign. Del Mastro was convicted in 2014 and sentenced to a month in jail, four months' house arrest, and 18 months' probation. He was also banned from holding any public office while serving his conditional sentence, and from running federally for a period of five years. | Conservative Party | 2014 |
| Robocall scandal | Allegations of widespread voter fraud occurring during the 2011 Canadian federal election. Deceptive robotic and live calls were made to voters in multiple ridings, in contravention of Elections Canada rules. | Conservative Party, Dean Del Mastro | 2012 |
| ETS scandal | Alleged wrongdoing by Canadian government officials in the award of a $400-million information technology services contract. | Conservative Party | 2000s |
| Strippergate | Conflict of interest allegations caused immigration minister Judy Sgro to resign. She was later partially cleared by the ethics commissioner. | Liberal Party | 2004/2005 |
| F-35 scandal | Involved misleading costs of F-35 fighter jets to replace former CF-18s. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was found to be in contempt of parliament for refusing to share information on the procurement. | Conservative Party | 2012 |
| CFIA scandal | Controversy surrounding Canadian Food Inspection Agency being insufficient after budget cuts and the temporary closure of XL Foods, due to a widespread E. coli outbreak in Alberta. [10] | Canadian Food Inspection Agency | 2012 |
| Canadian Senate expenses scandal | An investigation concerning the expense claims of certain Canadian senators. Senators Mike Duffy, Mac Harb, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau and others claimed travel and housing expenses from the Senate for which they were not eligible. [11] | Senate of Canada | 2012 |
| Illegal Donations | Conservative MP Peter Penashue resigned his seat after overspending his campaign limit and accepting corporate donations to his campaign. Penashue later claimed this was done in error by volunteer staff member Reg Bowers. Bowers (who had been appointed to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board by the Harper government shortly after the election) also resigned his seat on the board. [12] | Conservative Party | 2013 |
| Nadon Appointment | Despite rules indicating his ineligibility, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed former Judge Marc Nadon to the supreme Court of Canada. This appointment (as well as modifications to allow for his eligibility) were soundly rejected by the Supreme Court 6-1. Prime Minister then accused Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of making inappropriate lobbying calls to his office, a claim denied by the Chief Justice who claims to have never attempted to reach the Prime Minister but only the Justice Minister Peter Mackay. | Stephen Harper | 2014 |
| Phoenix pay system | Due to procurement mismanagement, lack of sufficient testing before rollout and terminating HR employees before transition was completed, [13] [14] a new payroll system that was supposed to save $78 million a year [15] ended up costing more than $2.2 billion to fix and causing payroll issues to hundreds of thousands of federal government employees. [16] | Conservative Party, Liberal Party | 2015-2016 |
| Elbowgate | On May 18, 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came into physical contact with two opposition MPs in the House of Commons during a parliamentary session on the final reading of Bill C-14. During the incident, Trudeau grabbed Conservative MP Gord Brown by the arm and then inadvertently elbowed New Democratic MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau in the chest. Trudeau subsequently apologized and was not subject to parliamentary sanctions for the incident. [17] [18] | Justin Trudeau | 2016 |
| Trudeau cash-for-access scandal | Reports of Trudeau attending cash-for-access events at the homes of wealthy Chinese-Canadians. | Justin Trudeau | 2016 |
| Aga Khan scandal | Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was found to have broken four provisions of the Conflict of Interest Act by accepting a 2016 Christmas vacation on the Aga Khan's private island. The ruling made Trudeau the first Prime Minister in Canadian history to break federal ethics rules. [19] [20] [21] | Justin Trudeau | 2017 |
| Cultural appropriation | During a February 2018 visit to India, Justin Trudeau and his family were regularly photographed donning traditional Indian garb. Outlook India , one of the country's most popular English-language news magazines, headlined an article "Trudeau Family’s Attire Too Flashy Even For An Indian?" [22] Various Canadian and international media criticized the prime minister. [23] [24] [25] [26] | Justin Trudeau | 2018 |
| Trudeau Grope Gate | In 2018, an allegation resurfaced that Justin Trudeau, before becoming Prime Minister, had inappropriately touched a female reporter at a music festival in 2000. Trudeau acknowledged the incident but remembered it differently, stating he did not feel he acted inappropriately but apologized if the reporter felt otherwise. The situation sparked discussions on perceptions and standards of behavior, especially for public figures. [27] | Justin Trudeau | 2018 |
| SNC-Lavalin affair | Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion investigation into the allegation that the Prime Minister's Office interfered with the Justice Department's probe of Quebec construction giant SNC-Lavalin by pressuring former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to consider a deferred prosecution agreement. [28] Wilson-Raybould, who was then the Minister of Veterans Affairs, resigned from Justin Trudeau's cabinet. [29] [30] Gerald Butts, the Principal Secretary, categorically denied the accusation and resigned. [28] Jane Philpott resigned as President of the Treasury Board in protest. [31] The Ethics Commissioner ruled in August 2019 that the Prime Minister's team had breached ethics rules and that Trudeau and his officials had tried in 2018 to undermine a decision by federal prosecutors. | Liberal Party | 2019 |
| 2016 SNC Lavalin election donation | On 30 April 2019, it surfaced that SNC-Lavalin made illegal donations to the federal Liberal Party for a period of 5 years ending in 2009. The Liberals received the information in 2016 and did not make it public for 3 years. Employees made contributions totalling over $110,000 to the party which were later reimbursed by the company, actions which were prohibited. For this 1 executive was charged and a compliance agreement was signed with the company to not break the rules again in the future. [32] | Liberal Party | 2019 |
| Blackface Scandal | On 18 September 2019, during the federal election, images were published in Time magazine of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wearing brownface makeup from his time as a teacher at West Point Grey Academy. [33] A total of three images and one video surfaced of three different events when Trudeau wore racist makeup. [34] Trudeau has faced questions since about how his past actions reflect on his ability to lead the country on the issue of racism. [35] [36] | Justin Trudeau | 2019 |
| Sole Source Contracts | During an ethics committee meeting on February 10, 2023, International Trade and Small Business Minister Mary Ng faced scrutiny over her decision to award contracts to Amanda Alvaro, a communications professional and Power & Politics panelist, for media training and public relations work. This decision, involving contracts worth $16,950, was criticized by opposition MPs as a breach of federal conflict of interest laws, damaging trust in the government. Ng, who was reprimanded by the ethics commissioner for not recusing herself from the contracting process, justified her actions by stating the need for additional communications support at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to manage an increased volume of media requests while distributing federal support to small businesses. [37] | Mary Ng | 2020 |
| WE Charity controversy | Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on 25 June 2020 that the government had chosen WE Charity to run the long-promised $912 million Canada Student Service Grant. Following complaints by opposition parties that the Trudeau family had ties to WE Charity, the Ethics Commissioner on 3 July 2020 announced an investigation into Trudeau's and the government's decision to have the charity administer the program. [38] Because of the complaints, WE and the federal government decided to "part ways" leaving administration of the grant program to the federal government. [39] At a press conference on 13 July 2020, Trudeau apologized for not recusing himself from cabinet discussions of the program. [40] Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion's report confirmed Trudeau's assertion that Canada's civil service had recommended WE Charity to manage the Canada Student Service Grant program. The report exonerated Trudeau, but also found that finance minister Bill Morneau had "given WE preferential treatment by permitting his ministerial staff to disproportionately assist it when it sought federal funding.” | Justin Trudeau, Bill Morneau | 2020 |
| ArriveCAN app | Canada's ArriveCAN app was developed and introduced in April 2020 as a COVID-19 screening and communication tool requiring travelers entering Canada to upload their contact information, travel information and quarantine plans. The app was initially developed as a joint effort between the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) for $80,000. The app became mandatory to use for all travelers entering Canada in November 2020 and after a new version was launched in July 2021 its use was kept a compulsory public health screening requirement for all travelers entering Canada until October 1, 2022. There has been much scrutiny over how much this app cost to develop and who was subcontracted for its development. Contracts show that the federal government will spend close to $54 million with 23 separate subcontractors. A Parliamentary committee ordered federal departments to submit contracting documents related to the app but have been told that the names of subcontractors cannot be released citing issues of confidentiality. In July 2022 a glitch in the app erroneously instructed more than 10,000 travelers to quarantine. Over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend (October 8 – 10, 2022) developers at two separate IT companies each developed duplicates of the ArriveCAN app in less than 2 days for an estimated cost of $250,000. [41] On November 2, 2022, a motion was passed calling on the Auditor General of Canada to "conduct a performance audit, including the payments, contracts and sub-contracts for all aspects of the ArriveCan app, and to prioritize this investigation." This was the second such motion to pass. [42] [43] | Liberal Party, Marco Medicino, Bill Blair, Jean Yves Duclois | 2022 |
| Sister In-Law Ethic Commissioner | In 19 April 2023, Martine Richard, initially appointed as the interim ethics commissioner of Canada, resigned due to concerns over her familial ties to Dominic LeBlanc, the Intergovernmental Affairs Minister. Richard's appointment was criticized for potential conflicts of interest given her relationship to a cabinet minister. She had been part of the ethics commissioner's office since 2013, serving in a senior role before her brief tenure as interim commissioner was cut short by her resignation amid these concerns. [44] | Martine Richard, Dominic LeBlanc | 2023 |
| Chinese government interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections | In late 2022, various media outlets around the world reported on a suspected attempt by the People's Republic of China to infiltrate the Parliament of Canada by funding a network of candidates, in majority liberals members, to run in the country’s 2019 federal election. [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] | Government of China, CSIS, Liberal Party, Justin Trudeau, Han Dong, Vincent Ke, Conservative Party | 2023 |
| Yaroslav Hunka scandal | On September 22, 2023, during the visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Parliament of Canada, Waffen-SS veteran Yaroslav Hunka was thanked for his service in the SS Division Galicia by Speaker Anthony Rota and praised as a Canadian and Ukrainian hero for fighting Russians. He received a standing ovation from House members, Justin Trudeau, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Germany's Ambassador to Canada Sabine Anne Sparwasser. [50] [51] [52] | House of Commons, Justin Trudeau, Anthony Rota, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sabine Anne Sparwasser | 2023 |
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