While Canada’s second largest city is mired in accusations of corruption, its largest city fares no better. Toronto’s colorful mayor, Robert Bruce “Rob” Ford, seems to be all over the news for all the wrong reasons: illegally driving while talking on a phone, making an obscene gesture to a woman and her six-year-old daughter and being intoxicated in public on several occasions. He has also been accused of much more serious offenses; three reporters claim to have seen a video of him smoking crack cocaine, but after a week of silence (during which several of his trusted senior staff members quit), he confidently declared, “I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine.” In spite of the accusations, Ford’s popularity remains high.
The picture is no better for national leadership. Four appointed senators are currently facing legal scrutiny; three for allegedly taking illegal tax deductions, and another for claiming inappropriate expense claims. Interestingly, two of the four were well-known television journalists before being appointed to the Senate.
Even the Canadian Forces took it on the chin several years ago with a shocking scandal. Colonel Russell Williams was the highly decorated commander of Canada’s largest airbase, CFB Trenton. He was also chosen to transport various international and Canadian VIPs, such as the Prime Minister, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. All this ended when he was arrested and later convicted of rape and the murder of two women.
Recently, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau confessed that he smoked marijuana more than once while holding a seat in Parliament. In response, many politicians around Canada quickly jumped on the pot-smoking bandwagon, saying they too had broken the law by smoking marijuana while in office. Apparently, they calculated that their admissions would help them gain popularity with a public morally adrift.