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Groups resign in protest from whistleblower watchdog committee after Integrity Commissioner removes another group for no good reason

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To see a related Ottawa Citizen article, click here

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch and Canadians for Accountability announced that they have resigned from the Advisory Committee for the federal Integrity Commissioner (PSIC) because Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion kicked a member off the Committee for no good reason and has refused to reinstate him.

Commissioner Dion removed David Hutton, Executive Director of  Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform (FAIR), from the Committee last week in response to a critical letter by him published in the Ottawa Citizen on October 13th.  In the letter, Hutton referred to a recent Federal Court ruling which stated that PSIC’s handling of a case had so many mistakes it was “a clear breach of the common law duty of procedural fairness”.  Hutton argued that this was not an isolated case and that FAIR had heard from more than 30 whistleblowers who expressed difficulties in dealing with PSIC.

“Democracy Watch is resigning from the advisory committee because the Integrity Commissioner’s decision is unfair and shows he is trying to use the committee to keep criticism of his office secret and behind closed doors,” said Tyler Sommers Coordinator of Democracy Watch.

“We cannot support an environment where openness, transparency and good governance are not respected,” said Allan Cutler of Canadians for Accountability.  “Further, we will not be muzzled. We had originally believed that membership on the Advisory Committee was an obligation, not something that was granted by the Commissioner and which could be removed by him at a whim.”

Democracy Watch, FAIR, and Canadians for Accountability originally raised questions (archive website) about the integrity commissioner’s appointment when the appointment of Mario Dion was rammed through committee without consultation with key groups interested in ensuring protection for whistleblowers.  Dr. Edward Keyserlingk, the former Public Sector Integrity Officer (who was charged with protecting whistleblowers before PSIC was created, but with very limited powers) also called the appointment of a senior bureaucrat ‘disastrous’ in a multi-page letter to committee chair Pat Martin.

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Contact Information:

Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch and Chair of the Open Government Coalition: (613) 241-5179

 Allan Cutler, President, Canadians for Accountability: (613) 863-4671

Ian Bron, Managing Director, Canadians for Accountability: (613) 304-8049

For more details, go to Democracy Watch’s Open Government Campaign

For more information on the Federal Court ruling click here

To be effective the Parliamentary budget office (PBO) must be given more power

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Set out below is a letter-to-the-editor by Democracy Watch Board Member Duff Conacher which was published in the Hill Times on October 22, 2012

As many commentators do, your editorial about the Parliamentary budget officer (PBO) proposes that the solution to the problems Kevin Page has been having doing his job is to make him “clearly independent,” (“PBO fights for House, make it independent,” The Hill Times, Oct. 15, p. 8).

While it is important to make the PBO a fully independent officer of Parliament, appointed with the approval of all political parties, with a fixed term of office and control over his budget and staff, recent stonewalling by the Conservatives have made it very clear that isn’t enough to make the PBO effective.

An independent PBO could still face a government like the current Conservative government that claims the PBO is making illegal requests for information, claims the information will be available so there is no need to provide it now, and delays in providing information or never disclosing it making it impossible for the PBO to determine the actual cost of any government initiative.

Delay is a very effective way to thwart accountability, especially when an election is approaching as a government tries to hide scandalous information to keep voters in the dark about its actual governing record.

The auditor general and information commissioner have been dealing with secrecy and delays like this for decades, delays that have allowed dozens of Cabinet ministers and government officials to escape accountability dozens of times.

So, to have an effective PBO, the PBO must be given the power to order the release of information (as the information commissioners have in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec).  The PBO must also be given the power to fine government officials who refuse to comply with disclosure orders, with both the PBO and the government having the right to a quick reference appeal to court to settle disagreements (an appeal that must be fast-tracked, again to avoid undue delays).

If the PBO is made fully independent, but these changes are not made, the PBO will be independent, but continue to be ineffective.

And these powers should also be given to the federal information commissioner (the Conservatives promised in the 2006 election they would give the information commissioner the power to order the release of records), and the auditor general, to make them fully effective watchdogs.

For more details, go to Democracy Watch’s Voters Rights Campaign

Democracy Watch launches national letter-writing and petition drive, and Facebook group, for laws to stop the unjustified shutdowns of legislatures across Canada

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To see a related Ottawa Citizen article, click here

Friday, October 19, 2012

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch launched a national letter-writing and petition drive on Change.org, and a Facebook group, all calling for politicians across Canada to pass effective laws to stop the unjustified shutdown (prorogation) of legislatures, and ensure legislatures are opened after elections and for a reasonable time period each year.

“The current shutdown of the Ontario legislature by Premier McGuinty, past prorogations by Prime Minister Harper and Prime Minister Chretien and some premiers, and the recent shutdowns of provincial legislatures by B.C. Premier Christy Clark and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale make it clear that new rules are needed across Canada to ensure fairness and democratic accountability in the opening and shutting down of legislatures,” said Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch.

In early 2010, more than 220,000 Canadians joined a Facebook group against the prorogation of the federal Parliament by Prime Minister Harper, and more than 20,000 protested in demonstrations across the country, but federal opposition parties failed to respond to this broad-based call to work together during the minority government situation to change the Parliament of Canada Act to set rules on the opening and closing of Parliament.

With minority governments in Ontario and Quebec, opposition parties should learn from the past mistake of federal opposition parties and work together to pass laws as soon as possible to restrict the shutting down of their provincial legislatures, and opposition parties across Canada should also be introducing private member bills to press for these changes.

In most countries in the world, including the parliamentary democracies of Britain, Australia and New Zealand, the constitution or written constitutional conventions or laws govern when the legislature opens and closes, not the whims of the ruling party leader.  A survey of 2,030 Canadians commissioned by Your Canada, Your Constitution last May showed that two-thirds want such clear, written rules established in Canada, enforced by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Democracy Watch is calling on Canadians to send a letter and to sign the petition that both call for federal and provincial politicians to pass laws calling for the following key requirements regarding the shutting down of legislatures:

1) the Prime Minister or premier must be required to open the legislature within 30 days after each election;

2) the government and opposition parties must be required to keep the legislature open other than for the usual breaks for statutory holidays, summer and mid-winter months, and during election campaigns (ie. every legislature should be required to be open for at least 25 weeks each year);

3) the Prime Minister or premier must be prohibited from requesting that the Governor General or provincial lieutenant governor shut down (prorogue) the legislature for more than two weeks;

4) the Prime Minister or premier must also be prohibited from requesting the shutdown of the legislature unless the government can show that it has completed all of its pledged actions and decisions from its last proposed plan (ie. its last Speech from the Throne), or attempted to complete them (as the opposition parties may stop or delay completion of some actions), or unless the national situation has changed in such significant ways that a new government plan is needed immediately;

5) all government watchdog agencies must be given the power to release their reports and rulings whenever they are completed, whether or not the legislature is open, and;

6) when the legislature opens after a shutdown, all government and opposition bills under review before the shutdown should be continued at the same stage of review.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch

Tel: 613-241-5179

Email: [email protected]

Internet: http://democracywatch.ca

For more details, go to Democracy Watch’s Stop unjustified shutdowns of legislatures page