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When it comes to corruption in Quebec, it appears the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

On June 17, Montrealers woke up to the arrest of Michael Applebaum, their interim mayor, on 14 charges — including conspiracy, fraud and corruption. Applebaum had taken the reins from the previous mayor, Gerald Tremblay, just six months prior, after the latter resigned over allegations his party took kickbacks from construction companies. Then in May 2013, Gilles Vaillancourt, long-serving mayor of the neighbouring city of Laval, was arrested and charged with 12 offences, including gangsterism. And the provincial anti-corruption squad, UPAC, isn’t finished yet: it is now turning its attention to several municipalities on the north shore of Laval.

Why all this rot in Quebec’s boroughs? Maclean’s attempted to explain the province’s culture of corruption three years ago, earning itself the wrath of French Canada and a condemnation in the House of Commons. Author Martin Patriquin advanced several theories about why corruption abounds in la belle province, from Maurice Duplessis’ practice of patronage politics to the entrenchment of the Quebec political class due to the eternal debate on separation. These rationales find support in studies of the impact of “machine politics” on corruption levels, where parties trade favours for political support.

But Quebec’s corruption problems may be caused by another consequence of the sovereignist movement: its negative impact on the province’s economy. As the movement grew between 1960 and 1975, Quebec’s economy grew at a slower pace than in previous years, compared to that of the rest of Canada. Following the election of the Parti Quebecois in 1976, the province suffered a massive outflow of capital, head offices and educated workers, as political uncertainty spooked investors and citizens alike. Over one hundred thousand Anglophones left the province between 1976 and 1980. Even thirty years later, the prospect of the election of a PQ government caused English Quebecers to reevaluate their future.

Quebec’s corruption problems may be caused by another consequence of the sovereignist movement: its negative impact on the province’s economy.

Quebec has survived successive waves of federalist and separatist governance for almost forty years now, barely remaining part of the country after the 1995 referendum. The continued uncertainty hit property values (which dropped to 71 per cent of the national average in 2012) and the province’s GDP. According to economist Marcel Boyer, from 1981 to 2006, Quebec’s GDP grew by an average of 2.3 per cent, compared to 3.0 per cent in the rest of Canada. Year over year, this represented an increase of 76.6 per cent in Quebec’s GDP — versus 109.9 per cent in Canada as a whole.

At the same time, Quebec grew the size of its government, and its debt, as it borrowed money to sustain services. Today, the province’s debt stands at over $256 billion, the highest debt load per capita in the country. Quebec’s debt ratio stands at 62 per cent of its GDP, compared to 37 per cent in Ontario and 19 per cent in British Columbia.

How does all this affect corruption? Around the world, long-term economic growth is correlated with a lower incidence of corruption. According to 2007 research published in the European Physical Journal, “countries which are presently more corrupt exhibit on average negligible or even negative growth rates. In contrast, less corrupt countries exhibit higher growth rates.”

Services also suffer as money “leaks” out of a corrupt system and government priorities change. “Corruption lowers tax revenues, increases government operating costs, increases government spending for wages and reduces spending on operations and maintenance, and often biases government toward spending on higher education and tertiary health care (rather than basic education and primary health care).”

Quebec knows this all too well, as the quality of its hospitals and schools decline, and its infrastructure deficit grows ever larger.

In other words, Quebec’s economic prospects — or lack thereof — likely have contributed to its status as “the most corrupt province in Canada.” As Quebecers ponder the arrest of yet another mayor, they may merely be harvesting the fruits of their political choices — rotten apples and all.

Tasha Kheiriddin is a well-known political writer and broadcaster who frequently comments in both English and French. In her student days, Tasha was active in youth politics in her hometown of Montreal, eventually serving as national policy director and then president of the Progressive Conservative Youth Federation of Canada. After practising law and a stint in the government of Mike Harris, Tasha became the Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and co-wrote the 2005 bestseller, Rescuing Canada’s Right: Blueprint for a Conservative Revolution. Tasha moved back to Montreal in 2006 and served as vice-president of the Montreal Economic Institute, and later director for Quebec of the Fraser Institute, while also lecturing on conservative politics at McGill University. Tasha now lives in Whitby, Ontario with her daughter Zara, born in 2009.

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