Jones: Should Canadian corporations be permitted to do business with corrupt and repressive regimes?

By:
Bruce Jones
/
12 March, 2012
By: Bruce Jones
Director and Senior Fellow of the NYU Center on International Cooperation

Of course not. So let’s immediately suspend all business with China and Russia. Few African states don’t have some corruption challenges, so they’re gone too. If we’re going to hold to very high standards, we’d probably have to acknowledge that Italy doesn’t quite hit the mark on anti-corruption. Most of Latin America’s OK, except for Bolivia (indigenous repression), Colombia (human rights abuses, corruption), Venezuela, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Cuba. Turkey is OK if we turn a blind eye to press restrictions. Oh, and most Gulf and Middle East states are either somewhat repressive, somewhat corrupt, or both, so they are out.

So: best of luck to Canadian business, and the Canadian economy.

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