Canada is only the eleventh most honest country in the world to do business in. Or, you could call it the eleventh least corrupt country to do business with. That’s according to The Corruption Perceptions Index, a research product put out by Transparency International that is the leading global indicator of public sector corruption. The country has made zero advancement toward breaking into the top ten since last year and we are quite upset with everyone.

“When it comes to foreign bribery and financial secrecy, Canada also has major challenges,” the organization said in a release made late last month. “Anti-money laundering provisions don’t cover all professions and professionals, including real estate agents and lawyers, are not required to identify beneficial owners when conducting due diligence. In addition, the country has no central register of beneficial ownership information of companies.”

Press release: https://transparencycanada.ca/news/canada-continues-to-sit-out-of-the-top-of-the-corruption-perceptions-index

Since we clearly need reminding of what fair dealing and business ethics look like, the Competition Bureau issued a press release on Friday outlining what a fair procurement process looks like.

“As governments across Canada enact stimulus measures in support of the country’s economic recovery, competition in public procurement is becoming increasingly important,” the release reads. “If you’re involved in government procurement, you know there are many rules in place to protect the integrity of public spending. You may be aware of laws against anticompetitive behaviour, but do you know what to watch out for in your calls for tender?”

The government service offers a number of tools to those who suspect bid rigging as tenders are released over the coming months.

Press release: https://www.canada.ca/en/competition-bureau/news/2021/02/providing-value-for-taxpayer-dollars-through-competition.html

The Competition Bureau’s release sees Canada join competition bureaus around the world urging people to report businesses behaving unfairly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK strengthened its calls back in April.

It’s a trend that is certainly becoming more established. Graphcore has asked the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority to look into NVIDIA acquisition of Arm Limited for $40 billion US. The acquisition was expected to see NVIDIA’s AI computing platform combined with Arm’s ecosystem.

Press release: https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-to-acquire-arm-for-40-billion-creating-worlds-premier-computing-company-for-the-age-of-ai/

In more normal B2B news, if supply chain management is part of your procurement plans over the coming months, then you should know that E2open went public on Friday. According to the company’s press release, the cloud-based SCM SaaS platform “combines networks, data and applications to provide a deeply embedded, mission-critical platform that allows customers to optimize their supply chain across channel shaping, business planning, logistics, global trade, manufacturing and supply management.

Press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/e2open-and-cc-neuberger-principal-holdings-i-complete-business-combination-301222953.html

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Kate Baggott is a former Managing Editor of B2BNN. Her technology and business journalism has appeared in the Technology Review, the Globe and Mail, Canada Computes, the Vancouver Sun and the Bay Street Bull. She is the author of the short story collections Love from Planet Wine Cooler and Dry Stories. Find links to recent articles by following her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-baggott-9a0306/