Ethics and Criminal Code measures prohibit accepting benefits that relate to premiers’ official duties, and trading favours

Thursday, July 25, 2013

OTTAWA — Democracy Watch announced today that it will file complaints with every provincial and territorial ethics/integrity commissioner about the benefits every premier is receiving from various corporations who are sponsoring the Council of the Federation meeting, and will also ask the police to investigate as the premiers are directly selling access to themselves at the meeting, given the Criminal Code anti-bribery measures.

The premiers are benefiting from the corporations’ sponsorship of the meeting. Premiers oversee all decision-making in their governments, and so every gift or benefit they receive relates to every decision the government makes. Almost all provincial and territorial ethics laws across Canada prohibit politicians from accepting any benefit that relates to their position except their pay and pension etc., and the usual hospitality and protocol gifts they receive when meeting with other governments or speaking at events. The corporate sponsorship of the event is far more than usual hospitality and protocol gifts, as it covers a significant portion of the costs of the event.

As well, sponsors get the benefit in return of reserved attendance at social events held during the three-day meeting, events attended by the premiers and their staff. Other people are also invited to those events, but only sponsors are guaranteed a spot. As a result, in effect the premiers are selling access to themselves and their staff.

The Criminal Code of Canada prohibits politicians and other public officials from accepting any direct or indirect gift or benefit in respect of doing anything or making any decision — the politician or official does not actually have to do anything or make any decision to violate these measures. In a leading 1996 case ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada interpreted government integrity measures in the Criminal Code and stated:

“it is not necessary for a corrupt practice to take place in order for the appearance of integrity to be harmed. Protecting these appearances is more than a trivial concern. . .” and “given the heavy trust and responsibility taken on by the holding of a public office or employ, it is appropriate that government officials are correspondingly held to codes of conduct which, for an ordinary person, would be quite severe . . .” and “The magnitude and importance of government business requires not only the complete integrity of government employees and officers conducting government business but also that this integrity and trustworthiness be readily apparent to society as a whole.”

Corporate sponsorship of the event has gone on for years, and so Democracy Watch complaints will also cover past years‘ meetings.

“Corporate lobbyists providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in sponsorship to cover the costs of a meeting of premiers, and getting special access in return, is dangerously unethical and undemocratic, and hopefully ethics commissioners and the police will finally put a stop to this unethical favour-trading,” said Duff Conacher, Founding Director of Democracy Watch and Adjunct Professor in good governance and ethics law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

It is true that corporations and other organizations often hold events at which premiers and other politicians speak, and their attendance gives the corporation or organization access to them. But these events do not excuse the corporate sponsorship of the Council of the Federation meeting — instead they highlight how ethics commissioners and police forces cross the country should be auditing politicians to ensure they are not, in effect, selling special access to themselves in many of these situations, access that voters do not have, in clear violation of ethics rules, and possible violation of the Criminal Code.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
[email protected]

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Democracy Watch’s Government Ethics Campaign

With the birth of their son, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have unwittingly given the British government some breathing room in efforts to modernize royal succession laws.

Corporate sponsors and lobby groups are offering nearly $270,000 in funding, goods and services for the upcoming retreat of Canadian premiers this week in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Do you suspect that your MP, now back in the riding for the summer break, has been cheating on his or her expense claims? According to a recent Harris-Decima poll, an overwhelming number of Canadians – an astonishing 89 per cent of British Columbians among them – believe it’s “very or somewhat likely” their political representative has had a hand in the cookie jar.

RCMP details show it is fair to say Wright should be charged for bribing Duffy and Duffy for accepting the bribe

Thursday, July 11, 2013

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch called for transparency in the Wright-Duffy situation in order to ensure that Canadians can be confident that those making decisions relating to charges and prosecution are fully independent and cannot be influenced by the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister’s Office, or any federal politician.

The RCMP recently revealed that the Prime Minister’s former Chief of Staff, Nigel Wright, gave Senator Mike Duffy $90,000 in return for two things, which means that it is fair to say that Wright should be charged and prosecuted for bribing Senator Duffy, and Senator Duffy for taking the bribe.

The problem is that, in a widely criticized new policy, the RCMP Commissioner has aligned his office with the office of the Minister of Public Safety in all communications about the RCMP’s actions.  Many commentators have raised concerns about how this policy affects the ability of the RCMP to make independent law enforcement decisions (See criticisms here, and here, and here).

“The public has a clear right to know who is making decisions relating to whether to charge and prosecute in the Wright-Duffy situation,” said Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch.  “Transparency is essential to this process so that Canadians can keep a close eye out for any signs that anyone is attempting to influence key decision makers.  This is especially important with reports relating to Duffy having been watered down already.”

To ensure that the decisions whether to prosecute anyone are made independently, the government must also verify that every prosecutor who will be involved in those decisions is fully independent from the federal Conservative Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and if they are not then the government should appoint a special prosecutor chosen with the approval of opposition party leaders to ensure the prosecutor’s independence from the government.

The evidence of violations in this situation is so clear that the watchdogs investigating should all be able to issue rulings charging and/or finding people guilty by the end of August at the latest.  Any delay should be viewed as a red flag as Canadians closely watch to ensure that the facts of this situation come to light and all parties involved are charged and prosecuted in accordance with the law.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
[email protected]

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Democracy Watch’s Government Ethics Campaign

Link to Hill Times article

Link to CTV News online article

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The following op-ed by Coordinator Tyler Sommers was published by iPolitics on June 20th, Rabble.ca on June 24th, and the Huffington Post and Straight Goods News on June 25, 2013

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Justin Trudeau’s speaking fees affair, and the Senate and MP expense and ethics scandals, all reveal how negligent federal politicians have been in establishing strong, clear rules for their jobs and ethics.  And as many other ongoing scandals reveal, politicians across Canada have been equally negligent.

Canada is 146 years old, and the first provincial legislature opened more than 220 years ago, but still the rules for politicians are full of huge loopholes — the staff of MPs and senators and other non-Cabinet politicians across Canada are still not even covered by any ethics rules.

Again and again, Canadian politicians have circled the wagons and protected each other by failing to strengthen rules, enforcement and penalties.  Not one political party leader since 1867 has proposed, let alone pushed for, all the changes needed to clean up politics.

And many changes are needed.  Politicians should be required to work a set number of hours each week, with their required duties clearly defined, along with allowed and prohibited outside activities, all disclosed in an online searchable database, including any pay received over $1,000.

Speaking to groups and any other appearance at any event should be something all politicians are required to do for free because their role is to be a representative of government to the broader community.  They also already receive a substantial benefit at such events of the opportunity to connect with voters and promote themselves and their political party.

As well, politicians and their staff should be required to disclosure online detailed receipts and reports about who was on each trip, who attended each event, how much was spent by each person, and everything that was done, to ensure they are not having the public pay for their personal or party activities.

Auditor Generals across Canada should have been auditing all these people for decades – they have the clear legal power to do so and should start right away.  The Senate has invited the AG in for a one-time audit, and federal MPs just voted to review their self-auditing system.  This is not good enough – regular, comprehensive audits by the AG of the expenses of everyone in politics must be required by law.  The AG should also have the power to penalize violators for administrative, non-criminal wrongdoing.

In addition, ethics laws across Canada must be strengthened to prohibit politicians and their staff from taking part in any discussions or decisions if they have even the appearance of a conflict of interest between their official duties, and their other activities, financial or other personal, family and friend interests.

Ethics enforcement must also be strengthened across the country, especially for both MPs (the Ethics Commissioner has made more than 80 secret rulings in the past five years, as well as let dozens of ministers and MPs off the hook) and senators (the Senate Ethics Officer is controlled by a committee of senators, and can also make secret rulings).  And much stronger penalties are also needed for ethics rules violations — currently there are none at the federal level, and weak penalties elsewhere.

The House of Commons ethics committee is reviewing the federal ethics law and codes right now, and if it fails to recommend dozens of much-needed changes to strengthen rules and enforcement, it will be a clear sign that federal parties are once again circling the wagons instead of making unethical politics as usual finally illegal.

Last year, the House ethics committee reviewed the federal lobbying law and failed to recommend requiring disclosure of all lobbying and fundraising and other favours lobbyists do for politicians (and most provinces have even bigger lobbying and donation loopholes).  Weak as the committee’s report was, Treasury Board Minister Tony Clement has failed to act on it.

So while politicians across Canada are talking the talk more than ever on ethics and accountability, and while Quebec politicians have finally some steps to clean up their mess, the overall poor record for the past 146 years means no one should ever hold their breath waiting for politicians to walk the walk on democratic good government.

However, the pressure is on, and they will hear an earful this summer from voters, and scandals will undoubtedly keep popping up, and the elections federally and in most provinces in 2015-2016 are looming.  So we can only hope all that will be enough to convince them, finally, to clean up all the rules and enforcement so they all have to clean up their act.  Canadians deserve no less.

Tyler Sommers is the Coordinator of Democracy Watch, Canada’s leading democracy and good government organization (http://democracywatch.ca)

OTTAWA — An MP stands accused of trying to get taxpayers to help foot the bill for haircuts and tooth whitener.

Two others are engaged in a battle with Elections Canada over whether they have to claim as election ads certain ads they erected before the election.

They are landlords, lawyers, restaurateurs, store owners, consultants, investors, public speakers, corporate directors, a realtor, a chiropractor, an insurance broker, a nurse, a doctor and a club director. They are also our members of Parliament.