One of our team members just told me that our client Lufthansa German Airlines has been voted by Travel + Leisure readers as the world’s safest airline.  None of this should surprise us.  Certainly this is due to the airlines superior track record, but we shouldn’t underestimate the halo the airline receives from the German reputation for precision and superior engineering.  Which leads me to our own country’s tarnished image.

CTV News called me today to comment on a headline from the Seattle Times: “Misconduct Investigations Put Canada in a Different Light.”  The story laid out the many political scandals plaguing the country from the arrest of Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum, the Senate spending controversies, to the drug allegations surrounding our own Mayor Rob Ford.  They wanted to know if I thought all of these tawdry stories are impacting Canada’s corruption-free image — and will this shadow on our squeaky clean reputation have broader implications.

Certainly, it’s all anyone wanted to talk about on my recent trip to New York.  Even when I pointed out that Washington had had its own scandal with the conviction of Mayor Marion Berry, people seemed to expect that Canadians would operate to a higher standard. There is no question that country images have brand equity and these recent high-profile scandals could potentially be extremely damaging to us as a nation.  From our trustworthiness as a peacekeeper to our position as a safe and reliable tourism destination, the impact could be far-reaching.  Will we be welcomed as international investors?  Will international businesses feel confident in our reliability as partners?  Will students safely and proudly wear our flag on their back-packs when they travel abroad?

There is only one thing that can restore our international profile – political representatives willing to take bold measures to do the right thing.  But it may take an engaged citizenry to speak out and demand nothing less.  When we look at countries like Turkey and Brazil where people are speaking out strongly despite the risk of reprisal, Canadians remain largely indifferent to these assaults on our hard-one reputation.