The World’s Most Corrupt Countries
Author: Mike Blanchfield
Newspaper: The Toronto Star
Date: Oct. 26, 2010
Subject of Article: Corruption within the Government
Thesis: Canada is giving foreign aid to the second most corrupt country in the world, which only serves the worsen conditions.
Evidence: It is stated that “Unstable governments with a history of conflict continue to dominate the bottom rungs of the (index),” and “Corruption nourishes poverty, it seeds violence, it destabilizes countries,” as Huguette Labelle puts it. This is where Afghanistan is on the least-corrupt scale. Its president, Hamid Karzai, admits to receiving money from other countries also, but is not using it to reduce the poverty that plagues his land.
Significance: If the government uses the funds it receives for their own private gain, then none of the issues creating problems for everyone are being solved. These include poverty, to lessen climate change, and also stabilizing financial markets. This article is important because it alerts us Canadians that the taxes we are paying may end up going into the wrong hands.
