Compas Poll / Survey

The COMPAS panel of CEOs and business leaders was asked for its views of how Canada should deal with business crime.

(see http://www.canadianbusiness.com/managing/strategy/article.jsp?content=20070918_19904_19904)

This followed a statement from the head of enforcement at the Ontario Securities Commission official saying that Canadian investors do not want to see white-collar criminals sentenced to the same lengthy jail terms as American courts are imposing in securities crime cases.

Panelists take a far harsher viewpoint. By huge margins, they call for catching violators with greater regularity and imposing tougher sentences. They give mediocre grades to securities administrators, the courts, and our legal system for their performance on the matter along with appreciably higher grades to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. By a 2:1 margin, they reject the idea that “Canada is a more compassionate society and we don’t want white collar criminals sentenced to the same lengthy jail terms as U.S. courts are imposing.”

In their volunteered comments, some panelists believe that the Exchange Commission may be going a little too far while others attribute its performance, seen as solid, to leadership from Congress.

These are the key findings from the current web-survey of the panel of CEOs and business leaders undertaken for Canadian Business under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.