List of Canadian political scandals

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This is a list of major political scandals in Canada:

Contents

[edit] Federal

[edit] Alberta

[edit] British Columbia

  • Robert Bonner (Social Credit Party) - influence peddling
  • 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
  • Phil Gaglardi (Social Credit Party) - improper use of expenses
  • British Columbia Resource Investment Corporation (BCRIC or "Brick") 1980-81 (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 - backroom influence by underworld alleged over Premier Glen Clark
  • 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
  • Legislature Raids (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

[edit] New Brunswick

[edit] Ontario

  • Ontario Bond Scandal - United Farmers of Ontario (early 1920s)
  • Patti Starr in the late 1980s.
  • Ipperwash Crisis - incident involving the shooting death of an unarmed Native activist by an Ontario Provincial Police officer in 1995
  • 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.
  • 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.

[edit] 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 - 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 Canada, which upheld Macleans explusion, but declared the laws unconstitutional - MacLean ran for and re-entered the legislature in 1993.

[edit] Quebec

[edit] Saskatchewan

[edit] External links