Other main parties’ top donors also provided too-high amount of funding

Ford doubled donation limit in spring 2021, allowing wealthy donors to buy even more influence over parties and politicians, especially Ford’s PC Party

To make system democratic and ethical, donations and loans should be limited to $100 annually (as in Quebec) and per-vote funding should be reviewed to prove it is needed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, May 31, 2022

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch released its analysis showing that the Doug Ford PC Party’s doubling of Ontario’s political donation limit in spring 2021 (to $3,300 annually) has made the system even more undemocratic, especially because the PC Party is supported more now by wealthy donors than they were before, and more than the other three parties.

According to preliminary data from Elections Ontario’s donations database, in 2021 Ford’s PC Party received 63% of its donations from only 25% of donors who each donated $1,000 or more. In 2020 the amounts were lower, as the PCs received almost 50% of their donations from only 20% of their donors who each donated $1,000 or more.

The other main parties’ top 2021 donors also provided disproportionate amount of funding, and much higher amounts than in 2020. The Ontario Liberals received almost 50% of their donations from only 8% of their donors who donated $1,000 or more (in 2020 the figures were 15% and 5%); the Greens received 51% of their total from only 21.4% of their donors who each donated $1,000 or more (in 2020 the figures were 14.5% and 2.8%). The NDP received 30% of their total donations from only 2.7% of their donors (in 2020 the figures were 8% and 1.5%).

The Ford government’s Bill 254, enacted in May 2021, doubled the annual donation limit, which has allowed wealthy donors to buy even more unethical influence over parties and politicians, including by having business executives and their family members all make donations.

“Ontario’s undemocratic, unethical donation limit is much higher than the average voter can afford and the parties are relying on wealthy donors for a lot of the money they raise, which gives those wealthy donors unethical influence over the parties,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch and Chairperson of the Money in Politics Coalition. “The Ford PC Party’s doubling of the donation limit has created a pay to play, cash-for-access system that allows wealthy donors to buy even more unethical influence over parties and politicians.”

Based on the donation patterns in 2020, Democracy Watch and the Money in Politics Coalition (made up of 50 groups with a total of more than 3 million members), joined by thousands of Ontario voters who support the call for these changes, called on Ontario’s political parties to make the following changes to get big money out of Ontario politics finally:

1. set an individual donation limit of $100 per year (as in Quebec);
2. set a limit of what candidates can give to their own campaign of $100 per year;
3. prohibit loans to parties except from a public fund;
4. review the per-vote annual public funding and, if the parties can actually prove they need it, set it at most $1 per vote (and instead use annual donation-matching public funding if parties prove it is needed as that is a better system), and;
5. strengthen enforcement and penalties for violations.

Democracy Watch also called on Elections Ontario to conduct an audit to ensure that businesses are not funneling donations through their executives and family members, and to ensure that lobbyists are not holding fundraising events to be “bundlers” of donations as a way of having undue influence over parties or politicians.

To see a summary of donation funneling scandals across Canada, click here.

“Ontario’s too-high donation limit is also likely encouraging funneling of donations from businesses through their executives and employees and their families, and bundling of donations by lobbyists, both of which happened in Quebec and at the federal level, and Elections Ontario must conduct an audit to ensure these things are not happening,” said Conacher.

Years of experience and scandals across Canada show clearly that setting a donation limit that allows individuals to donate more than $1,000 each year allows the unethical influence of big money donations, and cash-for-access fundraising schemes, to continue.

“As donation scandals across Canada show clearly, the only way to stop the unethical, undemocratic influence of money in Ontario politics is to stop big money donations by allowing only individuals to donate only $100 a year,” said Conacher.

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Money in Politics Campaign

PC Party’s F fail grade for 2022 election platform shows voters should not get fooled again

Green Party receives overall C- best grade, Liberals and NDP both receive a D, in Report Card on parties’ 2022 election platforms

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, May 30, 2022

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch issued its Report Card on the Doug Ford PC Party’s seriously unethical and undemocratic record since it was elected in 2018, and its Report Card on the Ontario Parties’ 2022 Democracy and Accountability Platforms (To see the criteria and grading system used to assess the parties, click here).

Democracy Watch gives the Ford PC Party government an F fail grade for the past four years because of 25 seriously unethical and undemocratic actions (To see the list of 25 bad actions, click here).

The Ford PC Party’s 2022 platform also received an F fail grade overall, and in all five areas of the Report Card, as it doesn’t contain any promises for any changes to require Ontario and municipal politicians, lobbyists, government appointees and employees to be honest, ethical, open, representative and waste-preventing.

“Don’t get fooled again Ontario voters, as the Ford PC Party’s dozens of seriously unethical, secretive and undemocratic actions in the past four years, and negligently bad election platform, show clearly that if the PC Party wins the election we’re in for another four years of wasteful, dishonest, unethical, secretive, unrepresentative government,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.

The other three main Ontario parties have not promised nearly enough changes to reverse the Ford PC Party government’s bad record, or prevent ongoing unethical, secretive and undemocratic actions. The Green Party received a C- as the best grade of overall bad grades for all the parties, while the Liberals and NDP each received a D.

“While the Greens, Liberals and NDP have some key democracy and accountability reforms in their platforms, they unfortunately continue to fail to promise key changes,” said Conacher. “One can only hope that the parties will actually address these concerns when the Ontario legislature opens again so that everyone in Ontario politics will, finally after 155 years, be effectively required to act honestly, ethically, openly, representatively and to prevent waste.”

The lack of an honesty-in-politics law in Ontario means voters should be skeptical of all the parties’ promises, as it is legal for misleaders to bait voters with false election promises.

The three parties had their best grades in the areas of:

1. Representative Government – as they all promise to change Ontario’s voting system and consult with the public in many policy areas (in contrast to the Ford government’s regular practice of imposing decisions on Ontarians without any consultation), and;
2. General Accountability – as they all promise to increase the independence and strength of watchdogs over various Ontario industries and sectors (in contrast to the Ford government which has weakened accountability in many industries and sectors).

However, the three parties’ grades were not good in the areas of: Honest, Ethical Government; Open Government, and; Efficient Government.

Many surveys over the past 15 years have shown that a large majority of voters do not trust politicians, and want honesty, ethics, lobbying, open government and other key reforms to stop politicians from abusing their power. Tens of thousands of messages have been sent to Ontario party leaders and politicians through Democracy Watch’s campaigns calling for dozens of key changes needed to ensure fully democratic, ethical, open, representative, waste-preventing and accountable government and politics across Ontario.

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Campaigns page

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Democracy Watch’s Report Card on the Ontario Parties’ 2022 Democracy and Accountability Platforms

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Sources

To see the criteria and grading system used to assess the parties’ platforms, click here

Doug Ford’s Ontario Progressive Conservative Party platform webpage

Mike Schreiner’s Green Party of Ontario platform webpage
(NOTE: See pages 20, 34, 42-43 and 54-55 (and re: General Accountability see pages 11-12, 14-15, 23-24, 26, 31-32, 48, 51 and 53-55 of platform PDF)

Steven Del Duca Ontario Liberal Party platform webpage
(NOTE: See pages 16 and 81 (and re: General Accountability see pages 12, 17, 24, 34, 39, 61, 72-73, 75, 78 and 80) of platform PDF)

Andrea Horwath’s Ontario NDP platform webpage
(NOTE: See pages 85-87 (and re: General Accountability see pages 6, 7, 11, 23, 26, 29-30, 39, 42-43, 61-62, 67, 69-70, 77, 81-82 and 94) of platform PDF)

UK Supreme Court set strong precedent by ruling in 2019 that PM Boris Johnson shutting down Parliament was illegal because it violated the sovereignty of Parliament

Case is not to overturn election results – just for ruling that future snap election calls will be illegal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, May 24, 2022

OTTAWA – Democracy Watch announced that its appeal of its lawsuit challenging Premier Blaine Higgs’ advice in August 2020 to the Lieutenant Governor to call the provincial snap election is being heard by the New Brunswick Court of Appeal today in Fredericton (File no. 126-21-CA – hearing at 10 am at: Courtroom #6, 427 Queen St). Jamie Simpson is providing legal counsel to Democracy Watch for the court case.

The case is not aimed at overturning the 2020 election results. Instead, Democracy Watch is arguing the court should declare that Premier Higgs’ action:

1. violated the fixed election date measure in the Legislative Assembly Act (ss. 3(4));
2. violated the constitutional principles of the sovereignty of parliament and responsible government (for this reason, the UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2019 that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s prorogation of the British Parliament was illegal), and;
3. violated the constitutional convention that has been created by premiers calling elections only on the fixed date in 2010, 2014 and 2018.

New Brunswick’s legislature enacted its fixed election date measures with Bill 75 in 2007. Then-House Leader Stuart Jamieson said at the time that: “It was thought by both parties in the legislature and by other provinces that it would be better to remove the political nuances and give everybody a fair and even playing field.” Bill 62 in 2017 changed the fixed election date from September to October. The fixed date for the next provincial election was set for the third Monday in October 2022.

“By calling a snap election during a pandemic instead of waiting for the fixed election date in 2022, Premier Higgs acted like an old-school power-hungry politician, not a leader committed to fair and democratic elections and inter-party cooperation,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “Premier Higgs’ snap election call was self-interested and unfair, and it violated New Brunswick’s provincial law that fixed election dates, and the good democratic tradition of fixed elections every four years that had developed through the previous three provincial elections.”

“Hopefully the court will rule that the Premier violated the law when he called his self-interested and unfair snap election, which will prevent future snap elections,” said Conacher.

Calling a snap election in violation of a provincial law and a constitutional convention is bad – calling a snap election during a pandemic was even worse. Premier Higgs also used the completely invalid excuse that the three opposition parties refused to agree support the government in every vote until October 2022, or at least until after the pandemic. In a parliamentary system of government, or in any form of democratic government, opposition parties are not required to agree to support the government. In the 2020 election, Premier Higgs’ Progressive Conservative Party won 55% of the seats in the legislature with the support of only 39% of voters.

Snap elections are unfair not only to opposition parties (as they are usually called when having an election favours the ruling party), but also to people who want to run as a candidate but can’t afford to suddenly drop everything and run. That’s why the federal Parliament, and every province and territory, have enacted fixed election date measures. The UK Parliament also enacted such measures.

Justice Christie of New Brunswick’s Court of Queen’s Bench ruled against Democracy Watch’s case last October but, as set out in DWatch’s appeal arguments, the ruling made a false claim about what DWatch’s lawyer argued in the case; made a false claim about what the Federal Court ruled in DWatch’s case vs. Prime Minister Harper’s 2008 snap election call; ignored the UK Supreme Court’s ruling, and; ignored other key legal arguments.

An additional issue that the Court of Appeal will consider is that the Acadian Society of New Brunswick recently won a ruling, that is now being appealed, that the appointment of New Brunswick’s current Lieutenant Governor was unconstitutional because the Lt. Governor is unilingual. If the final ruling in that case nullifies all actions of the Lt. Gov., it would also nullify the 2020 provincial election call (a result that DWatch does not support as it is simply trying to prevent future snap elections). See Democracy Watch’s submission about this issue, as requested by the Court of Appeal.

Because they are illegal, dishonest and unfair, Democracy Watch and Wayne Crookes also went to court to challenge the snap election calls by B.C. NDP Premier John Horgan in September 2020 and by Liberal Prime Minister Trudeau in August 2021, both of which violated fixed election date laws.

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Democratic Voting System Campaign and the Stop PM/Premier Power Abuses Campaign

UK Supreme Court set strong precedent by ruling in 2019 that PM Boris Johnson shutting down Parliament was illegal because it violated the sovereignty of Parliament

Case is not to overturn election – just to have the court rule election call was illegal for same reason as in UK, and because snap election was called one year before the legal fixed election date

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, May 12, 2022

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch announced that, after a long delay caused mainly by a backlog in the B.C. courts, the B.C. Supreme Court will hear today and tomorrow its court case filed together with Wayne Crookes, founder of IntegrityBC, challenging Premier John Horgan’s advice to the Lieutenant Governor to call the provincial snap election in September 2020 (B.C. Supreme Court file no. S2010710; the hearing is at the Vancouver courthouse at 800 Smithe St., and starts at 10 am both days).

Emily MacKinnon, Sergio Ortega and Brodie Noga at Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP in Vancouver are providing legal counsel to Democracy Watch and Wayne Crookes for the court case.

The case is not aimed at overturning or voiding the election results. Instead, it is aimed at preventing future illegal, unfair snap elections and asks the court to declare that the Premier’s action:

1. violated the fixed election date measure in B.C.’s Constitution Act;
2. violated the constitutional principles of the sovereignty of parliament and responsible government (for this reason, the UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2019 that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s prorogation of the British Parliament was illegal), and;
3. violated the constitutional convention that has been created by premiers calling elections only on the fixed date in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017.

B.C. was the first jurisdiction in Canada to enact fixed election date measures with Bill 7 in 2001. The B.C. NDP showed it was in favour of fixed election dates when it introduced Bill 5 in 2017 to change the fixed election date from May to October. The fixed date for the next provincial election was set for the third Saturday in October 2021.

“By calling a snap election during a pandemic instead of waiting for the fixed election date, Premier Horgan acted like an old-school power-crazed politician, not a new democrat committed to fair and democratic elections,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “The B.C. legislature wanted to keep operating when the Premier called the snap election, and no single MLA, not even the Premier, has the right to shut down the legislature for no good reason, as the UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2019.”

“Hopefully the B.C. courts will rule that the Premier violated the law when he called his self-interested, hypocritical and unfair snap election, which will prevent snap elections in the future,” said Conacher.

Calling a snap election in violation of B.C.’s constitution is bad – Premier Horgan calling a snap election during the COVID pandemic was even worse. Elections B.C. was forced by Premier Horgan’s cynical power grab-scheme to issue 16 emergency orders to change how polling stations will run and people will vote, and it will likely hurt voter turnout. Wayne Crookes filed an affidavit in support of the case setting out all the evidence about how bad the snap election call was.

Snap elections are unfair not only to opposition parties (as they are usually called when having an election favours the ruling party, as was the case in B.C.), but also to people who want to run as a candidate but can’t afford to suddenly drop everything and run. That’s why the federal Parliament, and every province and territory, followed B.C.’s lead and enacted fixed election date measures. The UK Parliament has also enacted fixed election date measures.

Because they are illegal, dishonest and unfair, Democracy Watch and Wayne Crookes also went to court to challenge the snap election calls by the New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Premier in August 2020, and by Liberal Prime Minister Trudeau in August 2021, both of which violated fixed election date laws.

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Democratic Voting System Campaign and Stop PM/Premier Abuses Campaign

MPs voting today in secret on changes to their own unethical ethics rules

Current code is so full of loopholes it should be called the
“Almost Impossible to be in a Conflict of Interest Code”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch pointed to Pierre Poilievre’s investments in cryptocurrency mutual funds while he advocates for crypto in his Conservative Party leadership campaign, as reported in the media here and here, as highlighting #4 in the list of 10 huge loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons (“MP Code”). Under the MP Code, MPs are allowed to have secret investments in mutual funds (we only know about Poilievre’s investments because he disclosed them) and are allowed to lobby in secret for changes to laws, taxes, subsidies etc. that would increase the value of the companies the funds invest in so that the MP makes money.

“It’s clearly unethical for MPs, or party leadership candidates, to advocate for changes that will help businesses they are invested in, and the ethics rules for MPs, and disclosure rules for candidates, need to be changed to prohibit having secret investments,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.

Democracy Watch called on Poilievre and all Conservative Party leadership candidates, all MPs (including Liberal Cabinet ministers – for example Prime Minister Trudeau has a trust with secret investments), and all top government officials, to disclose all their investments, and for MPs to change the MP Code to prohibit MPs from having investments and prohibit secret trusts that hide those investments from the public – the Parker Commission recommended both prohibitions way back in 1987. Investments and secret trusts also need to be prohibited under the Conflict of Interest Act (which covers Cabinet ministers and top government officials) and the Directive on Conflict of Interest for federal government employees.

Democracy Watch also called on MPs on the House Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) to come out from behind closed doors at their meeting today and discuss the 10 loopholes in public, invite further experts, and hold more open meetings, before they vote on changes to the MP Code. The public has a clear right to know how each party’s MPs are voting on Code changes, given the Code sets out key rules on all MPs’ decisions and interactions with voters.

The Committee is undertaking a secretive, rushed, superficial review of the Code for the first time in seven years (two years overdue). It held only three brief public meetings before it first went behind closed doors on Thursday, March 3rd to begin voting on proposed Code changes.

“The MP’s ethics code is so full of loopholes it should be called the Almost Impossible to be in a Conflict of Interest Code, the Ethics Commissioner doesn’t do basic enforcement actions like auditing MPs, and MPs decide whether to penalize other MPs which is a kangaroo court,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “MPs are rushing their first review of their ethics code in seven years behind closed doors and, unless they slow down and do their job properly and publicly, they will likely once again fail to close loopholes or strengthen enforcement or penalties, leaving it open for MPs to continue to corrupt federal politics by being inside lobbyists for their own interests, their investments in big businesses, and the interests of their families and friends.”

Democracy Watch and the Government Ethics Coalition it coordinates, made up of 30 citizen groups from across Canada, filed its submission to PROC on February 27th calling for changes to close huge loopholes in the MP Code that allow MPs to take part in most decisions even when they have a financial conflict of interest, and that allow MPs and their staff to accept unethical gifts and favours, and also calling for key measures to strengthen enforcement and for mandatory penalties to discourage violations.

The Code, which was enacted in 2004, is supposed to be reviewed every five years, but was last reviewed in 2015, and before that in 2008 to 2009, and before that in 2006-2007. The original version of the Code had loopholes in it, a weak enforcement system, and penalties that MPs themselves decide in a “kangaroo court” process, and past reviews by the Committee have added more loopholes, allowing for even more conflicts of interest and unethical favours, or have done nothing to close loopholes or strengthen penalties, and little to strengthen enforcement.

Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has made six recommendations for changes to the MP Code (and also for nine other technical changes), and while they will all somewhat improve the Code, they completely ignore huge loopholes that allow for unethical decision-making by MPs, and do nothing to strengthen enforcement. As well, Ethics Commissioner Dion has made the self-contradictory claim that the Code is working well and doesn’t need to be reviewed, and issued several highly questionable rulings since he began in January 2018 that allowed clear violations of federal ethics rules. Democracy Watch has an ongoing case in the Federal Court of Appeal challenging Commissioner Dion’s weak ruling that Prime Minister Trudeau didn’t violate the Conflict of Interest Act when he approved the grant in June 2020 to WE Charity, for which his wife served as an ambassador at the time.

All of this is not surprising given Mr. Dion had a record of eight unethical and questionable actions when he was the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, and was handpicked by the Trudeau Cabinet through a secretive, dishonest process that the Federal Court of Appeal ruled was biased, and given the sister-in-law of Trudeau’s old friend and Cabinet Minister Dominic LeBlanc is the Ethics Commissioner’s senior lawyer (which may explain why the Ethics Commissioner has failed to issue a ruling on whether LeBlanc violated the ethics law by participating in the appointment process for judges in New Brunswick with financial and other connections to him).

“Ethics Commissioner Dion has failed to enforce federal ethics laws effectively, even when the law has been clearly violated, and also made self-contradictory, confusing and unclear statements about the rules,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “It’s clear that the only way to ensure federal ethics rules are enforced effectively is for MPs to require the Ethics Commissioner to issue a clear guideline for every rule, investigate and issue a public ruling on every situation and complaint, and to impose a penalty for every violation.”

Many other changes are needed to other federal laws, including: closing similarly huge loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Act (which applies to Cabinet ministers, staff and appointees) and the Senate Ethics Code; closing huge secret, unethical lobbying loopholes; decreasing the donation and loan limit in the Canada Elections Act to $75 (as the current donation and loan limit of $3,300 is essentially legalized bribery for those who can afford to make the maximum donation); closing huge excessive secrecy loopholes in the federal Access to Information Act; strengthening the whistleblower protection law, and; changing the appointment process for the Ethics Commissioner and other democratic good government watchdogs (given MPs currently have a clear conflict of interest as they choose their own watchdogs) and banning re-appointments (as that gives a watchdog an incentive to please MPs in order to secure a re-appointment).

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Government Ethics Campaign and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign

All five promises must be fully kept, and five other key measures enacted (some of which U.S. enacted decades ago), to ensure banks pay their fair share in taxes, and to stop bank gouging, discrimination and abuse

Big Six Banks gouged out record profits of $57.7 billion in 2021 – close to triple their 2010 profits, and higher than all similar banks worldwide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, April 12, 2022

OTTAWA – Today, following the release last week of the federal government’s 2022 Budget, Democracy Watch called on the Trudeau Liberal Cabinet and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to include in the budget bill not only the three promised measures mentioned in the budget, but also the two other measures also promised in the last election, and called for by 120,000 voters who have signed on to Democracy Watch’s letter-writing campaign or Change.org petition.

The campaign also calls on Finance Minister Freeland to enact five other key measures to close bank tax loopholes, reign in excessive executive pay, and actually stop bank gouging, discrimination and abuse of customers (See Full List of Key Bank Accountability Changes). A recent national poll also showed 70% of Canadians want governments to take these kind of actions.

Canada’s Big 6 Banks reported, yet again, record-high 2021 annual profits totalling $57.7 billion, almost triple their 2010 profits, and double-digit hikes in their 2022 first-quarter profits, all reaped through gouging of their customers. Four of Canada’s Big 6 Banks are listed in the top 50 of Fortune’s Global 500 for 2021, and are the 17th (TD), 18th (RBC), 34th (Scotiabank) and 47th (BMO) most profitable financial institutions in the world, and are four of the five most profitable Canadian companies in the Global 500. Canada’s Big 6 Banks also paid their CEOs a total of $74.4 million in 2021 (an average of $12.4 million each) in salary and bonuses (55% higher than in 2008) – See Canada’s Big Banks Backgrounder.

The Budget proposed to enact the following measures which partially keep three of five promises made by the Liberals in the 2021 election:

1. Impose a temporary excess profits tax on banks and insurance companies that earn more than $1 billion a year (of 15%, for one year only in 2022), and an increase in the annual tax rate for these companies of 1.5%) – the Liberals promised they would impose a higher 3% increase in the annual tax rate (England imposed a more than 8% tax hike on banks in 2011, and Australia increased the tax rate on banks in 2017);
2. Review closing tax loopholes to prevent banks and other financial institutions from pretending to make their money in low-tax countries in order to lower the taxes they pay in Canada (the Liberals promised to close the tax loopholes, not just to review them); and;
3. To establish and require all banks to use “single non-profit, external complaints body” (the Liberals promised a single ombudsperson “who has the power to impose binding arbitration”).

The Budget did not contain the following two other promised key bank accountability measures called for by 120,000 voters (all five promises were also listed in Minister Freeland’s mandate letter):

1. Require financial institutions to offer options to delay consumer debt payments when needed, and;
2. Empower the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada to “review the prices charged by banks and impose changes if they are excessive” (which must also include reviewing interest rates, as Australia did in 2017).

(See Backgrounder on Weak Enforcement of Financial Consumer and Investment Protection)

“As usual, the Trudeau Liberals spouted half-truths with their election promises, and are now proposing half-measures that only partially keep their promises, as Finance Minister Freeland continues to protect the big bank’s gouging profits and their executives’ multi-million salaries instead of making the changes needed to actually require the banks to pay their fair share of taxes, to stop the banks from paying their extra taxes by gouging 30 million bank customers even more, and also to effectively protect bank customers from discrimination and other abuses,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.

“Every dollar of excessive profit for the banks, and every person and business the banks unjustifiably refuse to loan to, costs the Canadian economy because it means that the banks are overcharging for their essential services and loans, and choking off job creation and spending,” said Conacher.

The following additional five key measures are needed to actually stop gouging and abuse, to stop discrimination in bank lending and service, and ensure the banks serve everyone across Canada fairly and well at fair prices and interest rates (See the Full List of Key Bank Accountability Changes):

1. Require banks and insurance companies to promote a national financial consumer organization, and a national individual investor organization (as recommended in 1998 by the Liberal-controlled MacKay Task Force, House Finance and Senate Banking committees);
2. Require the banks to disclose detailed information annually about their lending and service records (as the U.S. has required banks to do for 30 years, including the U.S. banks that 4 of Canada’s Big 6 Banks own), categorized by race, gender, income level and neighbourhood, and require corrective action whenever banks discriminate against customers;
3. Require every bank to have basic branches in every neighbourhood (including through partnering with Canada Post outlets for postal banking, as TD has started to do);
4. Require the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) to do unannounced, mystery-shopper audits to find violations of consumer protection laws, and to identify all violators and fine them a minimum of $1 million up to a maximum of $50 million, and;
5. Require the Big Banks and other financial institutions to cut the pay of their CEO and other top executives to no more than 40 times their lowest paid employee (as in some European countries).

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Big Banks Coronavirus Accountability Campaign

Big Six Banks gouged out record profits of $57.7 billion in 2021 – close to triple their 2010 profits, and higher than all similar banks worldwide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, April 4, 2022

OTTAWA – Today, following Canada’s Big 6 Banks reporting, yet again, record-high 2021 annual profits that are almost triple their 2010 profits, and double-digit hikes in their 2022 first-quarter profits, all reaped through gouging of their customers, Democracy Watch called on Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to use this week’s federal budget bill to make the key changes the Trudeau Liberals promised in their 2021 election platform to tax excess bank profits (but permanently not just for a few years), close tax reduction loopholes the Big Banks exploit, and to stop Big Bank gouging and abuse of customers.

Four of Canada’s Big 6 Banks are listed in the top 50 of Fortune’s Global 500 for 2021, and are the 17th (TD), 18th (RBC), 34th (Scotiabank) and 47th (BMO) most profitable financial institutions in the world (more profitable than most other larger banks) and are four of the five most profitable Canadian companies in the Global 500 (See Canada’s Big Banks Backgrounder).

The excess profits tax and tax loophole closure changes, and changes to stop gouging and abuse of bank customers, that the Liberals promised in their 2021 election platform are among the 11 Key Bank Accountability Changes called for by Democracy Watch’s letter-writing campaign and Change.org petition that a combined total of more than 120,000 voters have endorsed. A recent national poll also showed 70% of Canadians want governments to take these kind of actions.

The Liberals’ election platform promised the following five key measures called for by these 120,000 voters (all the promises were also listed in Minister Freeland’s mandate letter):

1. A temporary excess profits tax on banks and insurance companies that earn more than $1 billion a year (which should be permanent, as England has had since 2011, and Australia since 2017);
2. Close tax loopholes to prevent banks and other financial institutions from pretending to make their money in low-tax countries in order to lower the taxes they pay in Canada;
3. Require financial institutions to offer options to delay consumer debt payments when needed;
4. Require all banks to use one ombudsperson who has the power to impose binding arbitration, and;
5. Empower the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada to “review the prices charged by banks and impose changes if they are excessive” (which must also include reviewing interest rates, as Australia did in 2017).

(See Backgrounder on Weak Enforcement of Financial Consumer and Investment Protection)

“Will the federal Liberals continue to protect big bank’s gouging profits and their executives’ multi-million salaries, or will they make the changes they promised to increase protections from gouging and abuse for 30 million bank customers, and to require the banks to pay their fair share of taxes?” asked Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.

The following other key measures are needed to actually stop gouging and abuse, and to stop discrimination in bank lending and service, and to wipe out predatory lending companies and ensure the banks serve everyone across Canada fairly and well at fair prices and interest rates (See the Full List of Key Bank Accountability Changes):

1. Require banks and insurance companies to promote a national financial consumer organization, and a national individual investor organization, in their emails and mailings to their customers and investors, to give financial consumers and investors across Canada a very easy way to band together, without any cost to the government or financial instutions, to help and protect themselves through joining the organizations (as recommended in 1998 by the Liberal-controlled MacKay Task Force, House Finance and Senate Banking committees);
2. Require the banks to disclose detailed information annually about their lending and service records (as the U.S. has required banks to do for 30 years, including the U.S. banks that 4 of Canada’s Big 6 Banks own), categorized by race, gender, income level and neighbourhood, and require corrective action whenever banks discriminate against customers;
3. Require every bank to have basic branches in every neighbourhood (including through partnering with Canada Post outlets for postal banking, as TD has started to do);
4. Require the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) to do unannounced, mystery-shopper audits to find violations of consumer protection laws, and to identify all violators and and fine them a minimum of $1 million up to a maximum of $50 million, and;
5. Require the Big Banks and other financial institutions to cut the pay of their CEO and other top executives to no more than 40 times their lowest paid employee (as in some European countries).

“Every dollar of excessive profit for the banks, and every person and business the banks unjustifiably refuse to loan to, costs the Canadian economy because it means that the banks are overcharging for their essential services and loans, and choking off job creation and spending,” said Conacher.

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Big Banks Coronavirus Accountability Campaign

Current code is so full of loopholes it should be called the
“Almost Impossible to be in a Conflict of Interest Code”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, March 22, 2022

OTTAWA – Democracy Watch called on MPs on the House Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) to come out from behind closed doors at their meeting today discussing changes to the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons (“MP Code”), and to invite further experts and hold more open meetings before making changes to the Code.

Democracy Watch and the Government Ethics Coalition it coordinates, made up of 30 citizen groups from across Canada, filed its submission to PROC on February 27th calling for changes to close huge loopholes in the MP Code that allow MPs to take part in most decisions even when they have a financial conflict of interest, and that allow MPs and their staff to accept unethical gifts and favours, and also calling for key measures to strengthen enforcement and for mandatory penalties to discourage violations.

The Committee is undertaking a secretive, rushed, superficial review of the Code for the first time in seven years (two years overdue). It held only three brief public meetings before it first went behind closed doors on Thursday, March 3rd to begin voting on proposed Code changes.

The public has a clear right to know how each party’s MPs are voting on Code changes, given the Code sets out key rules on all MPs’ decisions and interactions with voters.

The Code, which was enacted in 2004, is supposed to be reviewed every five years, but was last reviewed in 2015, and before that in 2008 to 2009, and before that in 2006-2007. The original version of the Code had loopholes in it, a weak enforcement system, and penalties that MPs themselves decide in a “kangaroo court” process, and past reviews by the Committee have added more loopholes, allowing for even more conflicts of interest and unethical favours, or have done nothing to close loopholes or strengthen penalties, and little to strengthen enforcement.

Click here to see the Backgrounder listing the 10 key changes needed to make the MP Code effective at preventing, prohibiting and penalizing conflicts of interest and unethical gift- and favour-trading.

“The MP’s ethics code is so full of loopholes it should be called the Almost Impossible to be in a Conflict of Interest Code, the Ethics Commissioner doesn’t do basic enforcement actions like auditing MPs, and MPs decide whether to penalize other MPs which is a kangaroo court,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “MPs are rushing their first review of their ethics code in seven years and, unless they slow down and do their job properly and publicly, they will likely once again fail to close loopholes or strengthen enforcement or penalties, leaving it open for MPs to continue to corrupt federal politics by being inside lobbyists for their own interests, and the interests of their families, friends and their investments in big businesses.”

Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has made six recommendations for changes to the MP Code (and also for nine other technical changes), and while they will all somewhat improve the Code, they completely ignore huge loopholes that allow for unethical decision-making by MPs, and do nothing to strengthen enforcement. As well, Ethics Commissioner Dion has made the self-contradictory claim that the Code is working well and doesn’t need to be reviewed, and issued several highly questionable rulings since he began in January 2018 that allowed clear violations of federal ethics rules. Democracy Watch has an ongoing case in the Federal Court of Appeal challenging Commissioner Dion’s weak ruling that Prime Minister Trudeau didn’t violate the Conflict of Interest Act when he approved the grant in June 2020 to WE Charity, for which his wife served as an ambassador at the time.

All of this is not surprising given Mr. Dion had a record of eight unethical and questionable actions when he was the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, and was handpicked by the Trudeau Cabinet through a secretive, dishonest process that the Federal Court of Appeal ruled was biased, and given the sister-in-law of Trudeau’s old friend and Cabinet Minister Dominic LeBlanc is the Ethics Commissioner’s senior lawyer (which may explain why the Ethics Commissioner has failed to issue a ruling on whether LeBlanc violated the ethics law by participating in the appointment process for judges in New Brunswick with financial and other connections to him).

“Ethics Commissioner Dion has failed to enforce federal ethics laws effectively, even when the law has been clearly violated, and also made self-contradictory, confusing and unclear statements about the rules,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “It’s clear that the only way to ensure federal ethics rules are enforced effectively is for MPs to require the Ethics Commissioner to issue a clear guideline for every rule, investigate and issue a public ruling on every situation and complaint, and to impose a penalty for every violation.”

Many other changes are needed to other federal laws, including: closing similarly huge loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Act (which applies to Cabinet ministers, staff and appointees) and the Senate Ethics Code; closing huge secret, unethical lobbying loopholes; decreasing the donation and loan limit in the Canada Elections Act to $75 (as the current donation and loan limit of $3,300 is essentially legalized bribery for those who can afford to make the maximum donation); closing huge excessive secrecy loopholes in the federal Access to Information Act; strengthening the whistleblower protection law, and; changing the appointment process for the Ethics Commissioner and other democratic good government watchdogs (given MPs currently have a clear conflict of interest as they choose their own watchdogs) and banning re-appointments (as that gives a watchdog an incentive to please MPs in order to secure a re-appointment).

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Government Ethics Campaign and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign

Current code is so full of loopholes it should be called the
“Almost Impossible to be in a Conflict of Interest Code”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, March 1, 2022

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch and the Government Ethics Coalition it coordinates, made up of 30 citizen groups from across Canada, released its submission to the House Procedure and House Affairs Committee calling for changes to close huge loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons that allow MPs to take part in most decisions even when they have a financial conflict of interest, and allow MPs and their staff to accept unethical gifts and favours, and also calling for key measures to strengthen enforcement and for mandatory penalties to discourage violations.

The Committee is rushing a superficial, long-overdue review of the Code – having held only three brief meetings it will go behind closed doors this Thursday to review possible proposals for Code changes.

The Code, which was enacted in 2004, is supposed to be reviewed every five years, but was last reviewed in 2015, and before that in 2008 to 2009, and before that in 2006-2007. The original version of the Code had loopholes in it, a weak enforcement system, and penalties that MPs themselves decide in a “kangaroo court” process, and past reviews by the Committee have added more loopholes, allowing for even more conflicts of interest and unethical favours, or have done nothing to close loopholes or strengthen penalties, and little to strengthen enforcement.

Click here to see the Backgrounder listing the 10 key changes needed to make the MP Code effective at preventing, prohibiting and penalizing conflicts of interest and unethical gift- and favour-trading.

“The MP’s ethics code is so full of loopholes it should be called the Almost Impossible to be in a Conflict of Interest Code, the Ethics Commissioner doesn’t do basic enforcement actions like auditing MPs, and MPs decide whether to penalize other MPs which is a kangaroo court,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “MPs are rushing their first review of their ethics code in seven years and, unless they slow down and do their job properly, they will likely once again fail to close loopholes or strengthen enforcement or penalties, leaving it open for MPs to continue to corrupt federal politics by being inside lobbyists for their own interests, and the interests of their families, friends and their investments in big businesses.”

Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has made six recommendations for changes to the MP Code (and also for nine other technical changes), and while they will all somewhat improve the Code, they completely ignore huge loopholes that allow for unethical decision-making by MPs, and do nothing to strengthen enforcement. As well, Ethics Commissioner Dion has made the self-contradictory claim that the Code is working well and doesn’t need to be reviewed, and issued several highly questionable rulings since he began in January 2018 that allowed clear violations of federal ethics rules. Democracy Watch has an ongoing case in the Federal Court of Appeal challenging Commissioner Dion’s weak ruling that Prime Minister Trudeau didn’t violate the Conflict of Interest Act when he approved the grant in June 2020 to WE Charity, for which his wife served as an ambassador at the time.

All of this is not surprising given Mr. Dion had a record of eight unethical and questionable actions when he was the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, and was handpicked by the Trudeau Cabinet through a secretive, dishonest process that the Federal Court of Appeal ruled was biased, and given the sister-in-law of Trudeau’s old friend and Cabinet Minister Dominic LeBlanc is the Ethics Commissioner’s senior lawyer (which may explain why the Ethics Commissioner has failed to issue a ruling on whether LeBlanc violated the ethics law by participating in the appointment process for judges in New Brunswick with financial and other connections to him.

“Ethics Commissioner Dion has failed to enforce federal ethics laws effectively, even when the law has been clearly violated, and also made self-contradictory, confusing and unclear statements about the rules,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “It’s clear that the only way to ensure federal ethics rules are enforced effectively is for MPs to require the Ethics Commissioner to issue a clear guideline for every rule, investigate and issue a public ruling on every situation and complaint, and to impose a penalty for every violation.”

Many other changes are needed to other federal laws, including closing similarly huge loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Act (which applies to Cabinet ministers, staff and appointees) and the Senate Ethics Code, closing huge secret, unethical lobbying loopholes, decreasing the donation limit in the Canada Elections Act to $75 (as the current donation limit of $3,300 is essentially legalized bribery for those who can afford to make the maximum donation), closing huge excessive secrecy loopholes in the federal Access to Information Act, strengthening the whistleblower protection law, and changing the way that the Ethics Commissioner and other democratic good government watchdogs are appointed (given MPs currently have a clear conflict of interest as they choose their own watchdogs) and banning re-appointments (as that gives a watchdog an incentive to please MPs in order to secure a re-appointment).

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Government Ethics Campaign

Current code is so full of loopholes it should be called the
“Almost Impossible to be in a Conflict of Interest Code”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, February 15, 2022

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch and the Government Ethics Coalition it coordinates, made up of 30 citizen groups from across Canada, is calling for key changes during testimony from 12 noon-1 pm before the House Procedure and House Affairs Committee to close huge loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons that allow MPs to take part in most decisions even when they have a conflict of interest, and allow them to accept unethical gifts and favours, and is also calling for key measures to strengthen enforcement and penalties to discourage violations.

The Committee is conducting a long overdue review of the Code, which was enacted in 2004, is supposed to be reviewed every five years, was last reviewed in 2015, and before that in 2008 to 2009 , and before that in 2006-2007. The original version of the Code had loopholes in it, a weak enforcement system, and penalties that MPs themselves decide in a “kangaroo court” process, and past reviews by the Committee have added more loopholes, allowing for even more conflicts of interest and unethical favours, or have done nothing to close loopholes or strengthen penalties, and little to strengthen enforcement.

“The MP’s ethics code is so full of loopholes it should be called the Almost Impossible to be in a Conflict of Interest Code, the Ethics Commissioner doesn’t do basic enforcement actions like auditing MPs, and MPs decide whether to penalize other MPs which is a kangaroo court,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “The big question is whether MPs will finally close these loopholes, and strengthen enforcement and penalties, or will they again add more loopholes to their ethics code as they have after past reviews.”

Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion has made six recommendations for changes to the MP Code (and also for nine other technical changes), and while they will all somewhat improve the Code, they completely ignore huge loopholes that allow for unethical decision-making by MPs, and do nothing to strengthen enforcement. As well, Ethics Commissioner Dion has made the self-contradictory claim that the Code is working well and doesn’t need to be reviewed, and issued several highly questionable rulings since he began in January 2018 that allowed clear violations of federal ethics rules. Democracy Watch has an ongoing case in the Federal Court of Appeal challenging Commissioner Dion’s weak ruling that Prime Minister Trudeau didn’t violate the Conflict of Interest Act when he approved the grant in June 2020 to WE Charity, for which his wife served as an ambassador at the time.

All of this is not surprising given Mr. Dion had a record of eight unethical and questionable actions when he was the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, and was handpicked by the Trudeau Cabinet through a secretive, dishonest process that the Federal Court of Appeal ruled was biased, and given the sister-in-law of Trudeau’s old friend and Cabinet Minister Dominic LeBlanc is the Ethics Commissioner’s senior lawyer (which may explain why the Ethics Commissioner has failed to issue a ruling on whether LeBlanc violated the ethics law by participating in the appointment process for judges in New Brunswick with financial and other connections to him.

“Ethics Commissioner Dion has failed to enforce federal ethics laws effectively, even when the law has been clearly violated, and also made self-contradictory, confusing and unclear statements about the rules,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “It’s clear that the only way to ensure federal ethics rules are enforced effectively is for MPs to require the Ethics Commissioner to investigate and issue a public ruling on every situation and complaint, and to impose a penalty for every violation.”

The 10 key changes needed to make the MP Code effective at preventing conflicts of interest and unethical gift and favour trading are as follows:

1. Add a rule to require MPs and their staff to tell the truth to stop the misleading spin that regularly and fatally undermines reasonable policy debates and discussions, and another rule to prohibit MPs from switching parties in between elections except when their party leader violates the law or breaks significant election promises (and, generally, expand the Code to cover MPs as soon as their election is confirmed by Elections Canada, and to cover MP staff who, because they are not covered by the Code, can currently do the things that MPs are prohibited from doing on their MP’s behalf, and can also accept all gifts and favours);
2. Close the huge loophole in the definition of “private interest” (in ss. 3(2) and (3)) to cover all conflicts of interest, not only specific financial conflicts, because the loophole means the Code doesn’t apply to 95% of decisions MPs participate in, and that allows them to take part in decisions when they, their family or friends can profit from the decision (and extend the Code to cover the private interests of extended family and friends of MPs and their staff);
3. Prohibit MPs and their staff from having investments in businesses (which is allowed under ss. 17 and 24(3)(j)), and from having blind trusts, (both of which the Parker Commission recommended way back in 1987) and change s. 7 to prohibit them from other outside activities, because they create clear conflicts of interest (other than professional requirements like doctors who have to practise a specific amount each year in order to retain their licence);
4. Require MPs to work full-time, and to disclose a summary of their work activities, including communications with anyone or any entity who is trying to influence their decisions, in an online, searchable database;
5. Change the gifts and benefits rule to ban MPs and their staff from accepting anything from anyone (including volunteer assistance under ss. 3(1)), who is trying to influence their decisions because even small gifts influence decisions, and delete s. 15 of the Code to ban “sponsored travel” because it is an unethical gift and essentially a form of legalized bribery;
6. Add a new rule (as a restriction on s. 5 of the Code) to prohibit MPs from giving preferential treatment to anyone who has given them a gift or assisted them in any way;
7. Require MPs to disclose in the Public Registry their assets and liabilities worth more than $1,000 (the current disclosure requirement is for everything worth more than $10,000, which is much too high), and to disclose details about their past five year’s work before they became an MP to make it easy to track which organizations and issues they have ties to, and to disclose in the Public Registry which members of their extended family they have close relationships with including being aware of their business, investments and other private interests;
8. Prohibit MPs and their staff from communicating with their former colleagues and government officials for a sliding-scale time period after they leave depending on what positions and committees they served in and how close their relationships are with Cabinet ministers, officials etc., and require them to disclose their post-activities online during this time period in a searchable database;
9. Require MPs and their staff to take a formal training course when they first start their position, and annually, and require the Ethics Commissioner to publish online a summary of his/her advice each time advice is given that covers a new situation to any person covered by the Code, and to publish online all advisory opinions and guidelines issued by the Commissioner, and require the Ethics Commissioner to regularly conduct an audit of a randomly selected sample of MPs’ financial statements and activities;
10. Give members of the public, who employ and pay all MPs and their staff, the right to file a complaint with the Ethics Commissioner, and require the Commissioner to investigate and issue a public ruling on every complaint and situation s/he becomes aware of, and to impose a sliding scale of penalties depending the seriousness of the violation, and add a rule that anyone is allowed to challenge any decision by the Commissioner in court.

Many other changes are needed to the Conflict of Interest Act (which applies to Cabinet ministers, staff and appointees), and to other federal laws, including the whistleblower protection law, to stop unethical actions, wealthy interests, secret, unethical lobbying, and excessive government secrecy overall, from undermining good public policy-making.

– 30 –

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Government Ethics Campaign