SPPA PhD candidate, Christian Bordeleau, awarded the Grand Prix Druide for the Grand Montreal

It’s a question that often comes up in city halls across Canada: How exactly does a municipal government reduce the risk of corruption?

Carleton University PhD candidate Christian Bordeleau hopes he knows the answer. He has designed Canada’s first certification protocol that municipalities can use to become more transparent and democratic while decreasing the systemic risk of unethical behaviour and corruption. The certification tool, known as IGO 9002, has been piloted in Blainville, Québec.

The process, according to Bordeleau, “… is the equivalent of taking a Polaroid picture of the way a municipal government currently functions and then overlaying the snapshot with the protocol,” said Bordeleau, a student in Carleton’s School of Public Policy and Administration.”  IGO 9002, designed for municipalities wishing to subscribe to best practices in governance, is now accessible to all cities in Quebec. But Bordeleau has his sights set on the bigger picture.

“The city council of Blainville’s commitment to obtaining this certification is akin to them throwing down the gauntlet for other cities in Quebec – a friendly challenge as it were,” said Bordeleau. The City of Blainville has obtained a conditional certification and has 12 months to implement the report’s recommendations. The certification process contains 111 points of inspection that address a wide range of subjects. One example is the receipt of gifts: some municipalities state that gifts valued at $200 or up must be declared, but the IGO 9002 protocol sets that value at $25.

“By creating a bridge between academia and needs of the Quebec population, we are leveraging the expertise developed in our universities and abroad, to the benefit of society and individuals,” said Leslie Pal, director of the Centre for Governance and Public Management at Carleton University. Pal is Bordeleau’s thesis supervisor and also a member of an expert committee that helps oversee the project.

Bordeleau’s idea recently won the prestigious prize of the public Gaz Metro/Rogers at the 14th Concours Québécois en Entrepreneuriat (CQE) among more than a thousand project.