本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Majority of Canadians believe political systems are corrupt
By DONALD McKENZIE-- Canadian Press
MONTREAL (CP) -- About 70 per cent of Canadians believed their federal and provincial political systems were highly or somewhat corrupt, suggests a recent opinion poll.
Municipal politicians and their entourages fared only slightly better in the Leger Marketing survey, with 53 per cent of respondents describing them as being that corrupt.
Sixty-nine per cent of people said the federal system was highly or somewhat corrupt, compared with 26 per cent who thought it was not very corrupt or not at all corrupt.
At the provincial level, it was 68 per cent versus 26 per cent.
The numbers, which are considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points 19 times out of 20, did not surprise political science professor Gilles Paquet, who said Canadians appear as resigned to corruption as they are to the weather.
"The level of crookedness that we have come to expect from our politicians is so high that indeed people can get away with anything," the University of Ottawa's Paquet said in an interview.
"The cynicism is so profound that it will take something absolutely extraordinary to reach people. Their sensitivity has been dulled completely."
Leger Marketing conducted the poll April 2-7, just a few weeks after revelations that grabbed headlines across the country and might have influenced people's answers.
The federal government and Groupaction, a Montreal-based company considered Liberal-friendly, couldn't find any copies of a $550,000 study the firm did for Ottawa in 1998.
When Groupaction finally found some of the report on one of its computers, it resembled a $575,000 report the firm had done for the government on the same subject in 1999.
Auditor General Sheila Fraser is investigating the matter.
Another subject that sparked outrage earlier this year was the appointment of former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano as Canadian ambassador to Denmark.
Gagliano was under fire before being dropped from cabinet last January over claims he had meddled in the affairs of Crown corporations under his authority and pressed them to hire friends and political supporters.
The poll was done before last week's release of the annual auditor general's report in which Fraser pinpointed "significant weaknesses" in government, departmental and parliamentary spending accountability and good management.
"Large sums are spent without any accountability," Fraser said. "I think that this is unacceptable."
Paquet, the former head of his university's centre on governance, believes Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government is actually involved in more patronage and corruption than ex-prime minister Brian Mulroney's government was between 1984 and 1993.
"The difficulty with Mulroney was that he was so disliked," said Paquet, adding he is not involved with any political party.
"Even if this man (Mulroney) had walked on water, people would have accused him of not being able to swim."
The poll also found that 80 per cent of respondents wanted to see a major reform of the rules of conduct regulating how government contracts are awarded.
Another finding suggested that 24 per cent of Canadians believed the country's political system at the federal level was either not very democratic or not at all democratic.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
By DONALD McKENZIE-- Canadian Press
MONTREAL (CP) -- About 70 per cent of Canadians believed their federal and provincial political systems were highly or somewhat corrupt, suggests a recent opinion poll.
Municipal politicians and their entourages fared only slightly better in the Leger Marketing survey, with 53 per cent of respondents describing them as being that corrupt.
Sixty-nine per cent of people said the federal system was highly or somewhat corrupt, compared with 26 per cent who thought it was not very corrupt or not at all corrupt.
At the provincial level, it was 68 per cent versus 26 per cent.
The numbers, which are considered accurate within 2.6 percentage points 19 times out of 20, did not surprise political science professor Gilles Paquet, who said Canadians appear as resigned to corruption as they are to the weather.
"The level of crookedness that we have come to expect from our politicians is so high that indeed people can get away with anything," the University of Ottawa's Paquet said in an interview.
"The cynicism is so profound that it will take something absolutely extraordinary to reach people. Their sensitivity has been dulled completely."
Leger Marketing conducted the poll April 2-7, just a few weeks after revelations that grabbed headlines across the country and might have influenced people's answers.
The federal government and Groupaction, a Montreal-based company considered Liberal-friendly, couldn't find any copies of a $550,000 study the firm did for Ottawa in 1998.
When Groupaction finally found some of the report on one of its computers, it resembled a $575,000 report the firm had done for the government on the same subject in 1999.
Auditor General Sheila Fraser is investigating the matter.
Another subject that sparked outrage earlier this year was the appointment of former public works minister Alfonso Gagliano as Canadian ambassador to Denmark.
Gagliano was under fire before being dropped from cabinet last January over claims he had meddled in the affairs of Crown corporations under his authority and pressed them to hire friends and political supporters.
The poll was done before last week's release of the annual auditor general's report in which Fraser pinpointed "significant weaknesses" in government, departmental and parliamentary spending accountability and good management.
"Large sums are spent without any accountability," Fraser said. "I think that this is unacceptable."
Paquet, the former head of his university's centre on governance, believes Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government is actually involved in more patronage and corruption than ex-prime minister Brian Mulroney's government was between 1984 and 1993.
"The difficulty with Mulroney was that he was so disliked," said Paquet, adding he is not involved with any political party.
"Even if this man (Mulroney) had walked on water, people would have accused him of not being able to swim."
The poll also found that 80 per cent of respondents wanted to see a major reform of the rules of conduct regulating how government contracts are awarded.
Another finding suggested that 24 per cent of Canadians believed the country's political system at the federal level was either not very democratic or not at all democratic.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net