TRUDEAU & CO. RUINING CANADA'S REPUTATION

  Its image hurt by the SNC-Lavalin Group scandal, Canada faces an “ongoing challenge” of public cynicism for its federal institutions, Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion said this week.
   Dion noted Canada dropped in ranking in a Corruption Perceptions Index by the group Transparency International in the wake of the 2019 controversy.
Canada dropped from ninth place to 12th on “perceived levels of public sector corruption,” behind Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and Iceland. The United States ranked 23rd. China was 80th.
   Dion, in a report last Aug. 14, cited Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and aides for arranging at least 49 meetings and phone calls to quash a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. Dion described attempts to interfere in the SNC case as “flagrant.”