Government Ethics Campaign

Advocating stronger, more effectively enforced ethics rules for politicians, political staff and government officials.

Canada’s political ethics laws are weaker than the laws in a dozen other countries, including the U.S.

Please send your letter now using the form on this page, and please help spread the word by Sharing and Tweeting this page.

Key Links

Government Ethics Fund (please support ethics complaints and lawsuits across Canada)
Federal Anti-Corruption Fund (please donate to support private prosecutions in corruption cases)
Ontario Anti-Corruption Fund (please donate to support private prosecutions in Ontario corruption cases)
List of loopholes and key changes to make enforcement effective in Canada’s federal ethics law for Cabinet ministers and top government officials
List of loopholes and key changes to make enforcement effective in the federal ethics code for MPs
List of loopholes and key changes to make enforcement effective in the Canadian Senate ethics code
Summary of studies showing even small gifts influence decisions
Summary of Ethics Court Cases and Ethics Complaints from 2016 on
Please download and post on social media or print and post everywhere the I’m Voting for Good Government sign
Call on the politicians that represent you to Make the Democratic Good Government Pledge
Summary of Ethics Court Cases and Ethics Complaints (archive website)

Campaign News

DWatch wins unanimous Supreme Court ruling removing statutory barriers to challenging decisions of the federal Ethics Commissioner and similar tribunals across Canada

July 30, 2026 7:33AM

Democracy Watch calls on Integrity Commissioner to reverse approval of mining minister’s advisor taking job with mining company

June 15, 2026 6:32AM

Liberals vote against changes to Bill C-25 to stop secret, undemocratic influence of wealthy interests, lobbyists and foreigners in federal elections and policy-making processes

June 4, 2026 6:36AM

Read all campaign news

Government Ethics Campaign 1993-2011 archive (archive website)

Background

There are many political ethics and government ethics scandals across Canada every year, often involving politicians and their relationships with lobbyists. Weak rules, weak enforcement systems and weak penalties encourage these unethical activities.

The rules and enforcement were even weaker when Democracy Watch started up in 1993, but several changes were made by 2012 to strengthen rules (MPs and Senators didn’t have ethics codes before 2005), and to strengthen enforcement (the federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner was established in 2006, and similar commissioners were created up to 2010 in provinces and territories). Click here to see details on Democracy Watch’s archive website.

But the ethics laws still have loopholes that allow politicians to mislead voters, have unethical relationships with lobbyists, and to have secret investments in businesses and participate in decisions and policy-making processes that they can profit from because they help the businesses they are invested in make more money.

In addition, the enforcement commissioners across Canada still lack independence from the politicians they watch over, and are not required to enforce ethics and lobbying laws in transparent, timely and effective ways, and they often lack powers to impose penalties, and can’t be held accountable for failing to enforce the law properly. Penalties also remain too low to encourage compliance and discourage violations.

217594 messages sent!

Send your letter to key politicians calling for changes to stop unethical decision-making in politics
(See list of politicians below)

Enter your details:

Message Subject (Please change as you like)

CAPTCHA

Not readable? Change text.

Your Message (Please change as you like)

Hello,

I am calling on governments across Canada to stop unethical decision-making in politics through implementing the following measures:

Make ethics rules stronger by:

Adding a requirement to the ethics law or code that all politicians, their staff, Cabinet appointees and senior government officials (including in municipal governments) be honest at all times, including when they are speaking in the legislature or in committee;
Adding a requirement that all these people disclose all assets and liabilities worth more than $1,000, and in most cases sell significant investments and financial interests they (and their spouses and dependents) own or, if they do not sell them, prohibit them from taking part in discussions or votes on all matters (general and specific) in which they have a direct or indirect financial interest;
Adding a requirement that these people also disclose all work they have done in the five years before they began their public office job (including as a director of any type of organization) to ensure that it is easy to track whether they use their public official position to help private businesses or organizations that they have ties with through their past work;
Specifically, prohibiting these people also from taking part in discussions or votes on matters in which they have an apparent conflict of interest, even if they don’t have a direct financial interest, and delete the exemption that is currently in the definition of “private interest” in every political ethics law and code across Canada that states that no one can be in a conflict of interest if they are dealing with a “general application” matter or matter that affects a “broad class of persons” (because this exemption means the law/code does not apply to 99% of the decisions made);
Requiring politicians, their staff, and all public officials to work a set minimum 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 for outside activities (and 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, and they receive a substantial benefit by speaking at such events of the opportunity to connect with voters and promote themselves and their political party);
Increasing the post-public service restriction on taking a job with a person, company or organization that you had significant dealings with while in office to 3 years for Cabinet ministers, and to 2 years for Cabinet staff and senior government officials and opposition party leaders and critics, and to 1 year for backbench politicians, to help ensure that companies and organizations can’t offer jobs as a payoff to politicians and officials for what they did while in office;
Increasing the post-public service lobbying restriction for Cabinet ministers, their staff, Cabinet appointees and senior government officials to 3-5 years (depending on the decision-making power of the person), and for backbench politicians and senators and their staff, and junior government officials and employees to 1-4 years depending on their decision-making powers (to help close the revolving door through which these people sell their expertise and inside knowledge to private interests when they retire, are defeated in an election, or leave their position for another reason);
Requiring all these people to report their post-public service activities to the ethics enforcement agency during the cooling-off period to ensure they are complying with the rules;
Prohibit all these people (and their family members) from accepting any commission, gift, reward, benefit or advantage (including sponsored travel), directly or indirectly, from anyone who has dealings of any kind with the government or who is trying to influence their decisions because independent psychological tests worldwide have shown that even small gifts have influence over decisions (and change clauses 121(1)(b) and (c) in the Criminal Code to prohibit all commissions, benefits etc.); and
Enacting a general anti-avoidance provision in all ethics rules to prevent people from exploiting any loopholes.

And ensure ethics laws/codes/rules are effectively enforced by:

Ensuring a “whistleblower” protection law exists that gives anyone the right to reports a violation of any law, policy, code, guideline etc. to a fully independent integrity commissioner who has the power and resources to fully investigate complaints, and to protect all whistleblowers from retaliation and to compensate them fully if they suffer retaliation;
As Quebec has for appointing provincial court judges, create an independent commission to conduct open, merit-based searches for Cabinet appointments, and to require the Cabinet to choose from a short list of candidates the commission proposes, and require approval from opposition party leaders of the appointment of all ethics, integrity or lobbying commissioners;
Appoint all ethics, integrity and lobbying commissioners, and all government watchdogs, for fixed, multi-year, non-renewable terms with full independence and investigative powers;
Requiring all integrity, ethics and lobbying commissioners to conduct regular, unannounced audits of the activities of the people who are covered by the law they enforce, to ensure everyone is complying with the rules;
Requiring all integrity, ethics and lobbying commissioners to review complaints filed by the public, and rule publicly on every complaint;
Requiring the commissioners to issue a ruling every time they give advice to anyone on how the law/code rules apply to specific situations;
Allowing complainants to go to court if the integrity, ethics or lobbying commissioner delays an investigation an unreasonable length of time, or makes any legal or factual error in a ruling; and
Increase the maximum penalties for violations of any ethics law or code to at least match the current penalties for violating the federal Lobbying Act (ie. $50,000 to $200,000 fines and jail terms of 6 months to 2 years), and preferably make them even stronger given how much politicians and public officials are paid, including loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments, and require the enforcement agency/commissioner to impose a mandatory minimum fine of at least $10,000 for every violation, to ensure that any politician or public official who violates a rule is penalized.

Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.

Hello,
I am calling on governments across Canada to stop unethical decision-making in politics through implementing the following measures:
Make ethics rules stronger by:
<ol>
<li>Adding a requirement to the ethics law or code that all politicians, their staff, Cabinet appointees and senior government officials (including in municipal governments) be honest at all times, including when they are speaking in the legislature or in committee;</li>
<li>Adding a requirement that all these people disclose all assets and liabilities worth more than $1,000, and in most cases sell significant investments and financial interests they (and their spouses and dependents) own or, if they do not sell them, prohibit them from taking part in discussions or votes on all matters (general and specific) in which they have a direct or indirect financial interest;</li>
<li>Adding a requirement that these people also disclose all work they have done in the five years before they began their public office job (including as a director of any type of organization) to ensure that it is easy to track whether they use their public official position to help private businesses or organizations that they have ties with through their past work;</li>
<li>Specifically, prohibiting these people also from taking part in discussions or votes on matters in which they have an apparent conflict of interest, even if they don’t have a direct financial interest, and delete the exemption that is currently in the definition of “private interest” in every political ethics law and code across Canada that states that no one can be in a conflict of interest if they are dealing with a “general application” matter or matter that affects a “broad class of persons” (because this exemption means the law/code does not apply to 99% of the decisions made);</li>
<li>Requiring politicians, their staff, and all public officials to work a set minimum 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 for outside activities (and 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, and they receive a substantial benefit by speaking at such events of the opportunity to connect with voters and promote themselves and their political party);</li>
<li>Increasing the post-public service restriction on taking a job with a person, company or organization that you had significant dealings with while in office to 3 years for Cabinet ministers, and to 2 years for Cabinet staff and senior government officials and opposition party leaders and critics, and to 1 year for backbench politicians, to help ensure that companies and organizations can’t offer jobs as a payoff to politicians and officials for what they did while in office;</li>
<li>Increasing the post-public service lobbying restriction for Cabinet ministers, their staff, Cabinet appointees and senior government officials to 3-5 years (depending on the decision-making power of the person), and for backbench politicians and senators and their staff, and junior government officials and employees to 1-4 years depending on their decision-making powers (to help close the revolving door through which these people sell their expertise and inside knowledge to private interests when they retire, are defeated in an election, or leave their position for another reason);</li>
<li>Requiring all these people to report their post-public service activities to the ethics enforcement agency during the cooling-off period to ensure they are complying with the rules;</li>
<li>Prohibit all these people (and their family members) from accepting any commission, gift, reward, benefit or advantage (including sponsored travel), directly or indirectly, from anyone who has dealings of any kind with the government or who is trying to influence their decisions because independent psychological tests worldwide have shown that even small gifts have influence over decisions (and change clauses 121(1)(b) and (c) in the Criminal Code to prohibit all commissions, benefits etc.); and</li>
<li>Enacting a general anti-avoidance provision in all ethics rules to prevent people from exploiting any loopholes.</li>
</ol>
And ensure ethics laws/codes/rules are effectively enforced by:
<ol>
<li>Ensuring a “whistleblower” protection law exists that gives anyone the right to reports a violation of any law, policy, code, guideline etc. to a fully independent integrity commissioner who has the power and resources to fully investigate complaints, and to protect all whistleblowers from retaliation and to compensate them fully if they suffer retaliation;</li>
<li>As Quebec has for appointing provincial court judges, create an independent commission to conduct open, merit-based searches for Cabinet appointments, and to require the Cabinet to choose from a short list of candidates the commission proposes, and require approval from opposition party leaders of the appointment of all ethics, integrity or lobbying commissioners;</li>
<li>Appoint all ethics, integrity and lobbying commissioners, and all government watchdogs, for fixed, multi-year, non-renewable terms with full independence and investigative powers;</li>
<li>Requiring all integrity, ethics and lobbying commissioners to conduct regular, unannounced audits of the activities of the people who are covered by the law they enforce, to ensure everyone is complying with the rules;</li>
<li>Requiring all integrity, ethics and lobbying commissioners to review complaints filed by the public, and rule publicly on every complaint;</li>
<li>Requiring the commissioners to issue a ruling every time they give advice to anyone on how the law/code rules apply to specific situations;</li>
<li>Allowing complainants to go to court if the integrity, ethics or lobbying commissioner delays an investigation an unreasonable length of time, or makes any legal or factual error in a ruling; and</li>
<li>Increase the maximum penalties for violations of any ethics law or code to at least match the current penalties for violating the federal Lobbying Act (ie. $50,000 to $200,000 fines and jail terms of 6 months to 2 years), and preferably make them even stronger given how much politicians and public officials are paid, including loss of any severance payment, and a partial clawback of any pension payments, and require the enforcement agency/commissioner to impose a mandatory minimum fine of at least $10,000 for every violation, to ensure that any politician or public official who violates a rule is penalized.</li>
</ol>
Please let me know what you will do to ensure that these changes are made as soon as possible. I will be deciding which political party to vote for in the next election based on the responses I receive from representatives in each party. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for sending your letter, and please help keep this campaign going until these key democracy reforms are won. To donate now, please click here.

NOTE: Democracy Watch will protect your privacy, and keep you informed about this campaign and others.

To see where your letter goes, click here

Please support democracy

Advocating stronger, more effectively enforced ethics rules for politicians, political staff and government officials.

Canada’s political ethics laws are weaker than the laws in a dozen other countries, including the U.S.

Key Links

Campaign News

Background