Liberals and NDP, at least, should strike deal to ensure whistleblower protection bill enacted along with key changes to stop foreign interference

Democracy Watch will challenge a prorogation of Parliament in court if it is clearly in the Liberal Party’s self-interest and happens at a time when opposition parties clearly intend to vote non-confidence in the government

(NOTE: While Governor General Mary Simon has granted today Prime Minister Trudeau’s request to prorogue Parliament until Monday, March 24th, after the prorogation, with the agreement of a majority of MPs in the House of Commons, any bill can be moved right back to whatever stage of parliamentary review that it reached before the prorogation, so the bills mentioned in this news release can still be passed before the next federal election)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, January 6, 2025

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch called on all parties, or at least the Liberals and NDP, to set aside their partisan self-interest and, before a prorogation or federal election happens, act in the public interest by enacting the long-delayed bill that strengthens federal whistleblower protection in key ways, and by enacting bills after the Hogue Inquiry reports to close all the huge loopholes that allow for secret, undemocratic and unethical spending, fundraising, donations, loans, lobbying and disinformation campaigns by foreign “proxies” and to strengthen enforcement and penalties.

Democracy Watch also announced that it will challenge in court any request by the Prime Minister that the Governor General prorogue (shut down) Parliament if the prorogation is clearly in the Liberal Party’s self-interest, and happens at a time when the opposition parties are clearly going to vote non-confidence in the government.  The challenge will be based on rulings won by DWatch in its past court cases challenging snap election calls, and the UK Supreme Court’s unanimous 2019 ruling that it was illegal for then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson to prorogue Parliament for no justifiable reason when a majority of MPs wanted Parliament to stay open and operating.

Bill C-290, which strengthens federal whistleblower protection in key ways, was introduced in the House way back in June 2022, is at second reading in the Senate.  Bill C-65, which was introduced in the House in March 2024 and changes the Canada Elections Act in some ways to prevent foreign interference and improve election fairness, is being amended by a House Committee.

The Hogue Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions will issue its final report by the end of January setting out recommendations for key changes to stop foreign interference.  Another bill will be needed after the Inquiry reports to close the many huge loopholes left open by Bill C-65 and Bill C-70.

These bills are among only 17 government bills that have not been enacted by Parliament out of the total of 79 government bills introduced since the 2021 election, and only a couple of the other bills are close to being enacted (Bill C-26 and Bill C-27 – the other outstanding bills that are only at initial stages of review are: Bill C-7, Bill C-17, Bill C-23, Bill C-33, Bill C-37, Bill C-38, Bill C-52, Bill C-53, Bill C-61, Bill C-63, Bill C-66, Bill C-71, Bill C-72, Bill C-73 and Bill C-77).

“The federal parties all worked together to enact Bill C-70 in five weeks last spring, and there is no good reason why, before a prorogation or the next federal election happens, they can’t work together to pass bills to strengthen whistleblower protection and close all the loopholes that allow for secret, unethical and undemocratic foreign interference in Canadian politics,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “Any party that prevents these bills from passing into law before a prorogation or the next election will show that they are clearly more self-interested than dedicated to protecting the public interest by  stopping foreign interference and ensuring fair, democratic elections and policy-making processes and accountability for government wrongdoing.”

“Every voter should seriously consider not voting for any party that prevents these bills from passing before a prorogation or federal election happens,” said Conacher.

Democracy Watch intervened in the Hogue Inquiry, and submitted 6 policy papers to the Hogue Inquiry, as well as a report on the loopholes in Bill C-70.  DWatch’s final submission to the Inquiry contains links to all 6 policy papers, and summarizes the key points and recommendations for key changes set out in the papers.  Democracy Watch was represented at the Inquiry by Wade Poziomka and Nick Papageorge of Ross & McBride LLP.

Click here see a summary of all the key changes called for in Democracy Watch’s submissions to the Hogue Inquiry to close all the huge loopholes that allow for secret, undemocratic and unethical spending, fundraising, donations, loans, lobbying and disinformation campaigns by foreign “proxies” and to strengthen enforcement and penalties.

Click here to see the Backgrounder that summarizes all the loopholes and weak enforcement problems that make foreign interference legal and easy to do across Canada at every level of government.

Click here to see summary list of 17 key changes that need to be made to stop foreign interference.

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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 Protect Whistleblowers Who Protect You Campaign and Stop Foreign Interference in Canadian Politics Campaign and Honesty in Politics Campaign and Money in Politics Campaign and Stop Secret Unethical Lobbying Campaign and Government Ethics Campaign and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign

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

Big Six Banks gouged out $51 billion in profits in 2024 ($30 billion more than in 2010), paid their CEOs an average of $12 million each, and gave out more than $23 billion in total bonuses to employees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, December 19, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, as Canada’s big banks again recorded huge, gouging profits in 2024, Democracy Watch called on the Trudeau Liberals to keep all five of their 2021 election promises to increase bank accountability in Canada.  The Liberals have only partially kept two of their five election promises, and they have broken their other three promises, leaving Canadians still vulnerable to bank gouging, discrimination and other abuses.

Democracy Watch called on all federal parties to work together to make all the key changes needed to stop bank gouging, discrimination and abuse, as called for by 120,000+ voters who have signed on to Democracy Watch’s letter-writing campaign or Change.org petition, some of which the U.S. enacted decades ago (See Full List of Key Bank Accountability Changes).

None of the federal parties have shown any concern for rampant online banking fraud and the fact that the banks often blame their customers for the fraud and refuse to compensate them for lost money even if the fraudsters do account transactions that the customer has never done in decades.The parties need to change the Bank Act to ensure customers are compensated if they don’t have adequate safeguards to prevent fraudulent account transactions.

The Liberals are still breaking their 2021 election promises to enact the following three key bank accountability measures, measures called for by 120,000 voters (all five promises were also listed in the Finance Minister’s mandate letter):

1. Empower the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) to “review the prices charged by banks and impose changes if they are excessive” (including reviewing interest rates, as Australia did in 2017).

Instead, the Liberals have not given the FCAC the power to review or change any gouging interest rate or fee, and are only reviewing one gouging bank fee and consulting on low-cost, small-value credit;
(See Backgrounder on Weak Enforcement of Financial Consumer and Investment Protection);

2. Require financial institutions to offer options to delay consumer debt payments when needed.

Instead, the Liberals have only issued unenforceable mortgage guidelines and an unenforceable Mortgage Charter.

3. 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 the review has not been completed.

“As usual, the Trudeau Liberals spouted half-truths with their 2021 election promises, and since then have proposed half-measures that only partially keep two of their five bank accountability promises while breaking the other three promises,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “The Liberals continue to protect the big bank’s gouging profits and their executives’ excessive multi-million salaries instead of making the changes needed to stop banks from gouging billions from their 30 million customers and to protect bank customers from discrimination and other abuses.”

“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 six key measures, which 120,000 Canadians have called for, 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 to cut credit card interest rates in half now, and allow people renewing their mortgages to re-renew without a penalty at a lower interest rate as interest rates decrease, and require banks to lower all their interest rates the same time as the Bank of Canada lowers its interest rate;

2. Require banks and insurance companies to promote a national financial consumer organization, and a national individual investor organization in their communications with individual customers and investors (as recommended in 1998 by the Liberal-controlled MacKay Task Force, House Finance and Senate Banking committees);

3. 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;

4. Require the banks to re-open basic banking branches in every neighbourhood that offer low-interest rate, small-value lines of credit to everyone to stop predatory lending across Canada (including through partnering with Canada Post outlets for postal banking, as TD started to do in November 2022 but then paused and then cancelled);

5. 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 for every violation (and the maximum $50 million for systemic violations, and;

6. Require the Big Banks and other financial institutions to cut the pay of their CEO and top executives to no more than 40 times their lowest paid employee (as in some European countries).

The Liberals have only partially kept the following two of their five 2021 election promises to increase banking accountability and fairness:

1. They imposed a temporary excess profits tax on banks and insurance companies that earn more than $1 billion a year (of 15%, but for one year only in 2022), and an increase in their annual tax rate of 1.5%.

But the Liberals promised they would impose a higher 3% increase in the annual rate (England imposed a more than 8% tax hike on banks in 2011, and Australia increased its bank tax rate in 2017).

2. As of November 1, 2024, they finally required all banks to use the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) as the complaint-appeal entity.

But banks will not be required to use OBSI until November 2024, and the Liberals are breaking their promise to give OBSI “the power to impose binding arbitration.”

Canada’s Big 6 Banks reported, yet again, excessively high annual profits totalling $51.28 billion in 2024, $30 billion higher than their 2010 profits, all reaped through gouging their customers with excessively high credit card and other credit interest rates and mutual fund and other banking fees.

Five of Canada’s Big 6 Banks are listed in Fortune’s Global 500 for 2024 (based on 2023 profits), and RBC, TD and Scotiabank were also in the top 35 most profitable banks in the world in 2023 (more profitable than most other larger banks) and RBC, TD and Scotiabank were among the top five most profitable Canadian companies in 2023.

Canada’s Big 6 Banks also paid their CEOs an average of $11 million each in 2023, and the average increased to $12.3 million in 2024 – 55% higher than in 2008).

Canada’s Big 6 Banks handed out $23.75 billion in bonuses to their employees in 2024, 12% more than the $21.2 billion total in bonuses.

See Canada’s Big Banks Backgrounder.

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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 Bank Accountability Campaign

No need to wait for final report of Hogue Inquiry into foreign interference due at end of January

Foreign “proxies” allowed to spend unlimited funds in secret in nomination and party leadership contests, including on disinformation campaigns, and to hide their funders, and to fundraise in secret, and high donation limits make it easy to funnel big money amounts into political system

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, November 21, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, as Elections Canada officials testify before the House Procedure and House Affairs Committee, Democracy Watch released the submission it has filed with the Committee calling for 20 key changes to Bill C-65 to close, as soon as possible, some of the huge loopholes in Canada’s election law that allow for secret, undemocratic and unethical spending, fundraising, donations, loans, and disinformation campaigns by foreign “proxies”.

Many of these loopholes can be closed by strengthening Bill C-65.  There is no need to wait for the final report at the end of January of the Hogue Inquiry into foreign interference, which Democracy Watch participated in as an intervener.

Democracy Watch already testified on November 5th before the Committee.  Among the 20 key changes Democracy Watch’s calls on the Committee to make to Bill C-65, all of which are legal amendments, are the following overall sets of changes:

1. Prohibit all false claims made by anyone at any time anywhere about elections and other processes in Canada, including false election promises by parties and party leaders;

2. Prohibit the publishing of survey results in the few days before the election, given how easy it is to mislead voters with an invalid survey;

3. Prohibit foreign influence activities that are currently legal;

4. Prohibit foreigners and people under age 18 from voting in nomination and party leadership contests

5. Require third parties to register and disclose all their donors and spending if they spend more than $100 during a nomination contest, party leadership contest, or during a pre-election period, election period or policy-making process, including trying to influence political party officials, and prohibit them from colluding with contestants;

6. Only allow a third-party individual to spend $100, and citizen groups to spend an amount based on how many voters support them, and prohibit businesses from spending at all, during contests, elections and policy-making processes, and;

7. Only allow citizen group third parties to spend money raised from Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

“Bill C-65 proposes some ineffective half-measures aimed at stopping the influence of wealthy interests, disinformation and foreign interference, and MPs on the committee should take the opportunity to strengthen these measures and make other key changes to close many other huge, unethical and undemocratic loopholes in Canada’s election law,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “There is no need to wait for the final report of the inquiry into foreign interference at the end of January when these changes can be made now through Bill C-65.”

Many more changes are needed to ensure fair, democratic, ethical elections, and to stop foreign interference, and Democracy Watch’s final submission to the Hogue Inquiry called on the Inquiry’s final report to recommend these changes (Click here to see details), including:

1. Prohibit anonymous social media accounts and Internet sites, and bots;

2. Prohibit media and social media outlets from allowing posts with false claims, including fake videos and audio files;

3. Have complaints about disinformation go to federal agencies, boards, commissions and tribunals (ABCTs) that already have expertise in various issue areas;

4. Empower the ABCTs to order Internet and social media companies to remove false posts and webpages, and to block sites that refuse to remove or prevent false claims from being posted on their site;

5. Empower the ABCTs to penalize misleaders and misleading social media companies and websites with significant fines;

6. Lower the annual donation and loan limit to $75 which is the amount that 75% of donors give, as DWatch’s study of donations from 2016-2022 showed (to match Quebec’s world-leading $100 donation limit);

7. Prohibit financial institutions from making loans (if parties can prove they need more funds than they can raise from voters in $75 donations, establish matching and per-vote public funding and a public loan fund to close the gap);

8. Prohibit giving fake jobs, compensation or other benefits or advantages to anyone who is considering running in a nomination or party leadership contest, and to contestants, election candidates or political party officials;

9. Prohibit donations to nomination contestants, candidates and electoral district associations (EDAs) from outside the electoral district;

10. Require disclosure of all the identity of all donors/lenders and the amount donated/loaned, and spending, before voting begins, and require quarterly disclosure between elections of donations, loans and spending by EDAs and parties;

11. Require public disclosure of staff, top-level volunteers, fundraisers (and amounts raised and how) by nomination contestants, candidates, EDAs and parties, and disclosure of all volunteers to Elections Canada.

12. Close all the loopholes that currently allow for secret lobbying, and prohibit lobbyists from sponsoring interns in MP offices;

13. Reverse the changes made to the Lobbyists’ Code last year so lobbyists will again be prohibited from fundraising, campaigning and assisting politicians and party leaders, and;

14. Prohibit politicians, their staff, Cabinet appointees and government employees from having outside jobs, secret investments, and from accepting gifts or other benefits, and prohibit them from taking part in decision-making processes when they have even an appearance of a conflict of interest.

15. Make all enforcement ABCTs, including the RCMP and CSIS, fully independent from Cabinet, with the heads appointed through an independent process, and require them to do regular, random audits, to issue public rulings after reviewing any situation, and make them accountable to the courts for proper enforcement of whichever law they enforce.

“The only way to stop foreign big money from flowing into Canada’s political finance system is to stop big money donations and loans,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “As long as big money donations and loans are allowed, it will be easy for foreign governments, businesses and organizations to funnel large amounts of money secretly to nomination and party leadership contestants, election candidates, riding associations and parties.”

“Loopholes in key laws mean third-party businesses, organizations and individuals are currently allowed to spend an unlimited amount of money in secret supporting or opposing nomination and party leadership contestants, to hide the identity of their funders, and to lobby Cabinet ministers, government officials, politicians and political party officials in secret, unethical ways,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “These loopholes must be closed or third parties will continue to be used as fronts for foreign governments and entities to interfere in and influence Canadian elections and government policy-making processes in secret, unethical and undemocratic ways.”

– 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 Stop Foreign Interference in Canadian Politics Campaign and Honesty in Politics Campaign and Money in Politics Campaign and Stop Secret Unethical Lobbying Campaign and Government Ethics Campaign and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign

Commissioner Nancy Bélanger has issued secret rulings letting off 98% of lobbyists she has found violating the lobbying law or code

Commissioner also gutted key rules in the lobbying code in ways that allow for unethical lobbying

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, November 14, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch released its report on Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Bélanger’s negligently weak enforcement record, and called on the Senate to reject her reappointment for a second 7-year term.  Last week, without examining any details of Commissioner Bélanger’s enforcement record, MPs on the House Ethics Committee, and MPs overall in Parliament, approved the Trudeau Cabinet’s nomination of Commissioner Bélanger for a second term.

Democracy Watch’s 17-page report details Commissioner Bélanger’s bad enforcement record, including that:

1. Commissioner Bélanger has let off 98% (894 out of 911) of the lobbyists she has caught violating the Act or Code with a secret ruling that hid the identity of the lobbyist and did not identify the violator publicly.

2. In addition, Commissioner Bélanger and the RCMP are both currently violating the Access to Information Act by hiding their investigation records in 9 key cases of violations of the Lobbying Act that they both let go without any charges or penalties, likely including violations by lobbyists for Facebook, WE Charity, SNC-Lavalin and others that would have embarrassed the Trudeau Liberal Cabinet. Click here to see details.

3. As well, Commissioner Bélanger let off two lobbyists who clearly violated the Code by helping Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland win an election, and serving on her riding association executive, and then lobbying her office and department soon afterwards. Click here to see details.

4. Commissioner Bélanger also gutted key rules in the Code in 2023 in ways that allow for rampant unethical lobbying, ignoring the opposition to the changes from a coalition of 26 citizen groups with 1.5 million total supporters, and 41 lawyers and professors from across Canada, and 20,000+ voters. Click here for details.

5. Commissioner Bélanger also used her power to grant 67 exemptions to the (loophole-filled) 5-year prohibition on lobbying after leaving public office.

The 9 violations Commissioner Bélanger and the RCMP are currently hiding likely include the following situations that have never been ruled on publicly by the Commissioner:

1. The unregistered lobbying and favours for Cabinet ministers that Kevin Chan and others at Facebook did (click here to see DWatch’s April 2018 complaint to the Commissioner);

2. The unregistered lobbying that WE Charity lobbyists did from January 2019 to August 2020, and the trip gifts they gave to former Finance Minister Bill Morneau and his family;

3. The lobbying by former PCO Clerk Kevin Lynch for SNC-Lavalin that was not registered by CEO Neil Bruce (click here to see DWatch’s March 2019 complaint), and by SNC-Lavalin lawyer Robert Pritchard and others;

4. The lobbying by Imperial Oil of then-Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer, and by CPA Canada of Minister Karina Gould, at a May 2019 event they sponsored?

“Senators should not approve Commissioner Bélanger’s reappointment for a second term because of her negligently weak enforcement record, which MPs ignored showing that they don’t really care about stopping secret, unethical lobbying,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “Canadians deserve a commissioner of lobbying who enforces the law and lobbying ethics rules strictly, strongly and transparently, and who pushes for stronger ethics rules instead of gutting those rules.”

– 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 Stop Secret, Unethical Lobbying Campaign and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign

Foreign “proxies” allowed to spend unlimited funds in secret in nomination and party leadership contests, including on disinformation campaigns, and to hide their funders, and to fundraise and lobby in secret, and high donation limits make it easy to funnel big money amounts into our system

Enforcement entities lack independence from ruling party Cabinet, are slow to act, in effective, secretive and unaccountable

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, November 13, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch released the final submission it recently filed with the Hogue Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Canadian politics calling for key changes to close huge loopholes that allow for secret, undemocratic and unethical spending, fundraising, donations, loans, lobbying and disinformation campaigns by foreign “proxies”, and to strengthen enforcement and penalties.

Democracy Watch intervened in the Inquiry and submitted 6 policy papers to the Hogue Inquiry, as well as a report on the loopholes in Bill C-70, which was enacted by Parliament in June.  The final submission contains links to all 6 policy papers, and summarizes the key points and recommendations for key changes set out in the papers. Democracy Watch was represented at the Inquiry by Wade Poziomka and Nick Papageorge of Ross & McBride LLP.

Two of DWatch’s policy papers, one on how to stop funneling of foreign big money donations and loans through “proxies”, and the other on how to stop third-party “proxy” interference by businesses, organizations and individuals, also detail the loopholes in Bill C-65 that is under review by the House Procedure and House Affairs Committee.

DWatch’s policy paper on Canada’s undemocratic, unethical donation and loans calls for the following key changes to stop the secret funneling of foreign big money through “proxies”:

1. Lower the annual donation and loan limit to $75 which is the amount that 75% of donors give, as DWatch’s study of donations from 2016-2022 showed (to match Quebec’s world-leading $100 donation limit);

2. Prohibit financial institutions from making loans (if parties can prove they need more funds than they can raise from voters in $75 donations, establish matching and per-vote public funding and a public loan fund to close the gap);

3. Prohibit giving fake jobs, compensation or other benefits or advantages to anyone who is considering running in a nomination or party leadership contest, and to contestants, election candidates or political party officials;

4. Prohibit donations to nomination contestants, candidates and electoral district associations (EDAs) from outside the electoral district;

5. Require disclosure of all the identity of all donors/lenders and the amount donated/loaned, and spending, before voting begins, and require quarterly disclosure between elections of donations, loans and spending by EDAs and parties, and;

6. Require public disclosure of staff, top-level volunteers, fundraisers (and amounts raised and how) by nomination contestants, candidates, EDAs and parties, and disclosure of all volunteers to Elections Canada.

“The only way to stop foreign big money from flowing into Canada’s political finance system is to stop big money donations and loans,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “As long as big money donations and loans are allowed, it will be easy for foreign governments, businesses and organizations to funnel large amounts of money secretly to nomination and party leadership contestants, election candidates, riding associations and parties.”

Democracy Watch’s two policy papers, one on third parties and one on lobbying and ethics rules, call on the Inquiry to recommend the following key changes to stop foreign governments from funding and using third-party businesses, interest groups and individuals as “proxies” to interfere in and influence Canadian elections and policy-making processes in secret, undemocratic and unethical ways, including through secret, unethical lobbying and unethical interests:

1. Require third parties to register and disclose all their donors and spending if they spend more than $100 during a nomination contest, party leadership contest, or during a pre-election period, election period or policy-making process, including trying to influence political party officials, and prohibit them from colluding with contestants;

2. Only allow a third-party individual to spend a very small amount, and citizen groups to spend an amount based on how many voters support them, and prohibit businesses from spending at all, during contests, elections and policy-making processes;

3. Only allow citizen group third parties to spend money raised from Canadian citizens and permanent residents;

4. Close all the loopholes that currently allow for secret lobbying, and prohibit lobbyists from sponsoring interns in MP offices;

5. Reverse the changes made to the Lobbyists’ Code last year so lobbyists will again be prohibited from fundraising, campaigning and assisting politicians and party leaders, and;

6. Prohibit politicians, their staff, Cabinet appointees and government employees from having outside jobs, secret investments, and from accepting gifts or other benefits, and prohibit them from taking part in decision-making processes when they have even an appearance of a conflict of interest.

“Loopholes in key laws mean third-party businesses, organizations and individuals are currently allowed to spend an unlimited amount of money in secret supporting or opposing nomination and party leadership contestants, to hide the identity of their funders, and to lobby Cabinet ministers, government officials, politicians and political party officials in secret, unethical ways,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “These loopholes must be closed or third parties will continue to be used as fronts for foreign governments and entities to interfere in and influence Canadian elections and government policy-making processes in secret, unethical and undemocratic ways.”

DWatch’s policy paper on disinformation calls for the following key measures:

1. Prohibit all false claims made by anyone at any time anywhere about elections and other processes in Canada, including false election promises by parties and party leaders;

2. Prohibit anonymous social media accounts and Internet sites;

3. Prohibit media and social media outlets from allowing posts with false claims, including fake videos and audio files;

4. Have complaints about disinformation go to federal agencies, boards, commissions and tribunals (ABCTs) that already have expertise in various issue areas;

5. Empower the ABCTs to order Internet and social media companies to remove false posts and webpages, and to block sites that refuse to remove or prevent false claims from being posted on their site;

6. Empower the ABCTs to penalize misleaders with significant fines;

“The right to freedom of expression does not include the right to mislead voters, and given false claims harm elections and political processes, they should be clearly prohibited in the same way it is illegal to yell fire in a crowded theatre when there is no fire, with strong penalties for misleaders,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “It is very important to establish enforcement entities that are completely independent of the government and all political parties so that they can be trusted to make rulings penalizing false claims.”

Democracy Watch’s policy paper on strengthening enforcement recommends the following key changes:

1. Establish fully independent, merit-based appointment processes for all key watchdogs, and have them all serve for one fixed term of 5-7 years, fully independent from Cabinet with dismissal only for cause;

2. Establish a new, fully independent police force to take over from the RCMP and FINTRAC enforcement of anti-foreign interference, anti-corruption, anti-money laundering and proceeds of crime laws;

3. Require all the watchdogs to issue a public notice summarizing the reasons for every enforcement decision they make;

4. Require all the watchdogs to do regular, random, unannounced audits and inspections;

5. Require all of the watchdogs to investigate and rule on allegations of wrongdoing in a timely manner;

6. Empower all the watchdogs to impose any penalties for violations, and require them to impose a penalty for every violation, and increase the penalties to discourage violations;

7. Allow anyone to challenge in court any decision of any watchdog;

8. Make Elections Canada the auditor for nomination contestants, election candidates, EDAs, parties, party leadership contestants and third parties, and;

9. Establish a strong, best-practice whistleblower protection system for all wrongdoing related to foreign interference.

“Laws don’t enforce themselves, and unfortunately the inquiry is so far largely ignoring that the ruling party Cabinet and opposition politicians choose their own anti-foreign interference watchdogs, and many are Cabinet-controlled as well as underfunded, ineffective, secretive, slow to act and unaccountable,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “Canadians can only hope the inquiry will, in the end, make strong recommendations for key changes to make enforcement of all the key laws fully independent, well-resourced, effective, transparent, timely and accountable, and to establish a new, fully independent anti-corruption and anti-foreign interference police force.”

Click here to see the Backgrounder that summarizes all the loopholes and weak enforcement problems that make foreign interference legal and easy to do across Canada at every level of government.  Click here to see summary list of 17 key changes that need to be made to stop foreign interference.

– 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 Stop Foreign Interference in Canadian Politics Campaign and Honesty in Politics Campaign and Money in Politics Campaign and Stop Secret Unethical Lobbying Campaign and Government Ethics Campaign and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign

Foreign “proxies” allowed to spend unlimited funds in secret in nomination and party leadership contests, and to hide their funders, and to fundraise and lobby in secret, and high donation limits make it easy to funnel big money amounts into Canada’s political system

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, October 24, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, as the Hogue Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Canadian politics holds its last policy roundtable on political finance loopholes, Democracy Watch released the three policy papers it has submitted to the Inquiry calling for key changes to close huge loopholes that allow for secret, undemocratic and unethical spending, fundraising, donations, loans and lobbying by foreign “proxies”.

Click here to see the policy paper on how to stop funneling of foreign big money donations and loans through “proxies”. 

Click here to see the policy paper on how to stop “proxy” third parties funded by foreign governments, entities and individuals from undemocratically and unethically influencing elections and policy making processes.

Click here to see the policy paper on how to stop secret, unethical lobbying by “proxies” for foreign governments, entities and individuals.

DWatch’s policy paper on Canada’s undemocratic, unethical donation and loans system calls for the following key changes to stop funneling of foreign big money through “proxies”:

1. Lower the annual donation and loan limit to $75 which is the amount that 75% of donors give, as DWatch’s study of donations from 2016-2022 showed (to match Quebec’s world-leading $100 donation limit);
2. Prohibit financial institutions from making loans (if parties can prove they need more funds than they can raise from voters in $75 donations, establish matching and per-vote public funding and a public loan fund to close the gap);
3. Prohibit giving fake jobs or other benefits or advantages to anyone who is considering running in a nomination or party leadership contest;
4. Prohibit donations to nomination contestants, candidates and electoral district associations (EDAs) from outside the electoral district;
5. Prohibit giving fake jobs, compensation, gifts or other benefits to contestants, election candidates or political party officials, and prohibit paying candidates for their personal, care, litigation expenses, and prohibit paying for candidates’ representatives at polling stations;
6. Require disclosure of all the identity of all donors/lenders and the amount donated/loaned, and spending, by nomination contestants, candidates and parties before voting begins, and require quarterly disclosure between elections of donations, loans and spending by EDAs and parties;
7. Require public disclosure of staff, top-level volunteers, fundraisers (and amounts raised and how) by nomination contestants, candidates, EDAs and parties, and disclosure of all volunteers to Elections Canada, and;
8. Make Elections Canada the auditor for nomination contestants, election candidates, EDAs, parties and leadership contestants.

“The only way to stop foreign big money from flowing into Canada’s political finance system is to stop big money donations and loans,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “As long as big money donations and loans are allowed, it will be easy for foreign governments, businesses and organizations to funnel large amounts of money secretly to nomination and party leadership contestants, election candidates, riding associations and parties.”

Democracy Watch also called on the Inquiry to recommend the following key changes to stop foreign governments from funding and using third-party businesses, interest groups and individuals as “proxies” to interfere in and influence Canadian elections and policy-making processes in secret, undemocratic and unethical ways, including through secret, unethical lobbying:

1. As in elections, require third parties to register and disclose all their donors and spending if they spend more than $100 during a nomination contest or party leadership contest, and prohibit them from colluding with contestants;
2. Only allow a third-party individual to spend a very small amount, and citizen groups to spend an amount based on how many voters support them, and prohibit businesses from spending, during contests, elections and policy-making processes;
3. Only allow third parties to spend money raised from Canadian citizens and permanent residents;
4. Given how many voters can be reached through low-cost social media posts and ads, require third parties to register if they spend more than $100 during a pre-election period, election period or policy-making process, including trying to influence political party officials;
5. Make Elections Canada the auditor for third parties;
6. Close all the loopholes that currently allow for secret lobbying so that all lobbying is required to be disclosed, and;
7. Reverse the changes made to the Lobbyists’ Code last year so lobbyists will again be prohibited from fundraising, campaigning and assisting politicians and party leaders.

“Loopholes in key laws mean third-party businesses, organizations and individuals are currently allowed to spend an unlimited amount of money in secret supporting or opposing nomination and party leadership contestants, to hide the identity of their funders, and to lobby Cabinet ministers, government officials, politicians and political party officials in secret,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “These loopholes must be closed or third parties will continue to be used as fronts for foreign governments and entities to interfere in and influence Canadian elections and government policy-making processes in secret, unethical and undemocratic ways.”

Democracy Watch has also submitted a list of key questions to the Hogue Inquiry to be asked of the participants in the Policy Phase roundtables held this week about the many loopholes and flaws in Canada’s election, political finance, lobbying and ethics rules, and weak enforcement systems, that make secret, unethical and undemocratic foreign interference and misinformation legal across Canada.  Click here to see the list of key questions.

Democracy Watch also filed a 32-page submission in September calling on the Inquiry to broaden the scope of its examination to address all the loopholes and flaws in federal laws, and weak enforcement systems.

Parliament did pass Bill C-70 in June after a rushed review, but Bill C-70 only closes some of the foreign interference loopholes, and it establishes a very weak, ruling-party Cabinet controlled enforcement system.  Click here to see Democracy Watch’s full submission to the House of Commons on Bill C-70, and click here to see a summary of the submission.

Click here to see the Backgrounder that summarizes all the loopholes and weak enforcement problems that make foreign interference legal and easy to do across Canada at every level of government.  Click here to see summary list of 17 key changes that need to be made to stop foreign interference.

– 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 Stop Foreign Interference in Canadian Politics Campaign and Money in Politics Campaign

Current enforcement agencies are all partisan, underfunded, ineffective, secretive, too slow to act and unaccountable

New, fully independent anti-foreign interference, anti-corruption police force needed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, October 23, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, as the Hogue Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Canadian politics holds policy roundtables on national security and anti-foreign interference enforcement systems, Democracy Watch released the policy paper it submitted to the Inquiry calling for key changes to make every enforcement agency independent, well-resourced, effective, transparent, timely and accountable.  Click here to see the policy paper.

Among the needed changes, a new, fully independent anti-corruption and anti-foreign interference police force needs to be established.  The RCMP and FINTRAC are currently too much under the control of the ruling party Cabinet, and the RCMP was clearly ineffective, secretive and very slow in investigating the SNC-Lavalin and Aga Khan scandals, and has also been very secretive and slow in enforcing the federal lobbying law (Click here to see details) and anti-money laundering law, and FINTRAC also has a weak enforcement record.

The Inquiry has, so far, largely ignored systemic weaknesses that mean enforcement systems for all the key laws are subject to political interference by the ruling party Cabinet, and are underfunded, ineffective, secretive, slow to act and unaccountable, as follows:

1. All key watchdogs over elections, political finance, lobbying, ethics anti-corruption and anti-foreign interference laws are chosen by the ruling party Cabinet through secretive, partisan processes;
2. Almost all the key watchdogs serve at the pleasure of the ruling party Cabinet, including the heads of CSIS, the RCMP and FINTRAC, and so they can be fired at any time for any reason;
3. All the watchdogs are allowed to make secret rulings, and to bury investigations without any public disclosure;
4. None of the watchdogs are required to do audits or inspections or any other enforcement action that is proven to be effective;
5. None of the watchdogs are required to investigate or rule on allegations of wrongdoing in a timely manner;
6. The lobbying and ethics watchdogs cannot impose any penalties for violations of key rules, and most of the penalties in other areas are too low to discourage violations;
7. The public is not allowed to challenge a watchdog’s decision to drop an investigation, even if the law was clearly violated;
8. Political parties, candidates, riding associations, nomination and party leadership contestants and third parties are all allowed to choose their own auditor to audit their spending;
9. Anti-money laundering and proceeds of crime enforcement is weaker than in many other countries, and;
10. Whistleblower protection is weak and much worse than in many other countries.

“Laws don’t enforce themselves, and unfortunately the inquiry is so far largely ignoring that the ruling party Cabinet and opposition politicians choose their own anti-foreign interference watchdogs, and many are Cabinet-controlled as well as underfunded, ineffective, secretive, slow to act and unaccountable,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “Canadians can only hope the inquiry will, in the end, make strong recommendations for key changes to make enforcement of all the key laws fully independent, well-resourced, effective, transparent, timely and accountable, and to establish a new, fully independent anti-corruption and anti-foreign interference police force.”

Democracy Watch has also submitted a list of key questions to the Hogue Inquiry to be asked of the participants in the Policy Phase roundtables that are being held this week about the many loopholes and flaws in Canada’s election, political finance, lobbying and ethics rules, and weak enforcement systems, that make secret, unethical and undemocratic foreign interference and misinformation legal across Canada.  Click here to see the list of key questions.

Democracy Watch also filed a 32-page submission in September calling on the Inquiry to broaden the scope of its examination to address all the loopholes and flaws in federal laws, and weak enforcement systems.

Parliament did pass Bill C-70 in June after a rushed review, but Bill C-70 only closes some of the foreign interference loopholes, and it establishes a very weak, ruling-party Cabinet controlled enforcement system.  Click here to see Democracy Watch’s full submission to the House of Commons on Bill C-70, and click here to see a summary of the submission.

Click here to see the Backgrounder that summarizes all the loopholes and weak enforcement problems that make foreign interference legal and easy to do across Canada at every level of government.  Click here to see summary list of 17 key changes that need to be made to stop foreign interference.

– 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 Stop Foreign Interference in Canadian Politics Campaign and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign and Stop Unfair Law Enforcement Campaign

Strong measures also needed to stop foreign interference in nomination and party leadership contests – Elections Canada should run them

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, October 22, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, as the Hogue Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Canadian politics holds policy roundtables on disinformation and foreign interference in nomination contests and political party leadership contests, Democracy Watch released the policy paper it submitted to the Inquiry calling for strong measures to stop disinformation, expanding on the many laws in Canada that already prohibit false claims.  Click here to see the policy paper.

Democracy Watch also called on the Inquiry to recommend strong measures to stop foreign interference in nomination and party leadership contests.

DWatch’s policy paper calls for the following key anti-disinformation measures:

1. Prohibit all false claims made by anyone at any time anywhere about elections and other processes in Canada, including false election promises by parties and party leaders;
2. Prohibit anonymous social media accounts and Internet sites;
3. Prohibit Internet, social media and all other companies from allowing fake videos and audio files to be posted on their sites and prohibit TV, radio and telecommunications companies from allowing the transmission of a fake audio or video;
4. Have complaints about disinformation go to federal agencies, boards, commissions and tribunals (ABCTs) that already have expertise in various issue areas;
5. Change all ABCTs into fully independent enforcement entities with the heads appointed through a fully independent, merit-based process that does not involve any politicians;
6. Empower the ABCTs to order Internet and social media companies to remove false posts and webpages, and to block sites that refuse to remove or prevent false claims from being posted on their site;
7. Empower the ABCTs to penalize misleaders with significant fines;
8. Strengthen and expand whistleblower protection for anyone who reports clear evidence of wrongdoing in politics.

“The right to freedom of expression does not include the right to mislead voters, and given false claims harm elections and political processes, they should be clearly prohibited in the same way it is illegal to yell fire in a crowded theatre when there is no fire, with strong penalties for misleaders,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “It is very important to establish enforcement entities that are completely independent of the government and all political parties so that they can be trusted to make rulings penalizing false claims.”

Democracy Watch also called on the Inquiry to recommend the following key measures to stop foreign interference through nomination and party leadership contests:

1. As it does for elections, Elections Canada should be running contests, including auditing spending and donations of contestants;
2. As in elections, prohibit anyone who is not a Canadian citizen or who is not 18 or older from voting in contests;
3. Require third parties (businesses, organizations and individuals) to register and disclose their donors and spending if they spend any money during a contest;
4. Only allow a third-party individual to spend a very small amount, and citizen groups to spend an amount based on how many voters support them, and prohibit businesses from spending during contests;
5. Require contestants to disclose their campaign staff and volunteers.

“As long as political parties run nomination and party leadership contests, foreign interference that happens in contests will be covered up,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “Elections Canada should run contests just like it runs elections, and all the loopholes that currently make it legal for foreign-sponsored proxies to interfere in contests in secret must be closed to actually stop foreign interference in contests.”

Democracy Watch has also submitted a list of key questions to the Hogue Inquiry to be asked of the participants in the Policy Phase roundtables that will be held this week about the many loopholes and flaws in Canada’s election, political finance, lobbying and ethics rules, and weak enforcement systems, that make secret, unethical and undemocratic foreign interference and misinformation legal across Canada.  Click here to see the list of key questions.

Democracy Watch also filed a 32-page submission in September calling on the Inquiry to broaden the scope of its examination to address all the loopholes and flaws in federal laws, and weak enforcement systems.

Parliament did pass Bill C-70 in June after a rushed review, but Bill C-70 only closes some of the foreign interference loopholes, and it establishes a very weak, ruling-party Cabinet controlled enforcement system.  Click here to see Democracy Watch’s full submission to the House of Commons on Bill C-70, and click here to see a summary of the submission.

Click here to see the Backgrounder that summarizes all the loopholes and weak enforcement problems that make foreign interference legal and easy to do across Canada at every level of government.  Click here to see summary list of 17 key changes that need to be made to stop foreign interference.

– 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 Stop Foreign Interference in Canadian Politics Campaign and Honesty in Politics Campaign

Loopholes in election, political finance, lobbying and ethics rules and weak enforcement make secret, unethical interference and misinformation legal

DWatch submits list of questions for policy roundtable participants this week to highlight the loopholes, and key changes needed to close them

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, October 21, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch released the list of key questions it has filed with the Hogue Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Canadian politics to be asked of the participants in the Policy Phase roundtables that will be held this week.  The questions need to be asked to highlight the many loopholes and flaws in Canada’s election, political finance, lobbying and ethics rules, and weak enforcement systems, that make secret, unethical and undemocratic foreign interference and misinformation legal across Canada.  Click here to see the list of key questions.

These questions also need to be asked because the Inquiry’s Stage 1 Factual Phase hearings, Stage 2 Factual Phase hearings, and also its initial Policy Phase consultation documents, largely ignored the many loopholes and flaws in Canada’s laws, and the weak, ineffective enforcement systems.

Democracy Watch filed a 32-page submission in September calling on the Inquiry to broaden the scope of its examination to address all the loopholes and flaws in federal laws, and weak enforcement systems.

Last March, Democracy Watch submitted to the Hogue Inquiry a list of 10 key witnesses and about 140 key questions to ask them, but the Inquiry did not even schedule 5 of the 10 witnesses to testify.

Parliament did pass Bill C-70 in June after a rushed review, but Bill C-70 only closes some of the foreign interference loopholes, and it establishes a very weak, ruling-party Cabinet controlled enforcement system.  Click here to see Democracy Watch’s full submission to the House of Commons on Bill C-70, and click here to see a summary of the submission.

So far, the Inquiry is largely ignoring the following “dirty dozen” major loopholes and flaws in laws across Canada, as well as many other loopholes:

1. Secret lobbying is legal;
2. Secret fundraising of unlimited amounts of money for parties contestants, riding associations, contestants and candidates is legal, including by lobbyists;
3. Secret campaigning for parties etc. is legal, including by lobbyists;
4. Secret investments by Cabinet ministers, MPs and senators, and secret jobs by MPs, are legal, and lobby groups can secretly give gifts to politicians, and sponsor interns (i.e. spies) in MP offices;
5. Third-party businesses (including foreign-owned businesses), interest groups and individuals can secretly spend an unlimited amount of money supporting or opposing a nomination contestant or party leadership contestant, or trying to influence a policy-making process;
6. One individual, or a corporation or organization with just a few shareholders/members, can spend more than $1.6 million trying to influence a federal election, and an unlimited amount to try to influence a policy-making process, with no disclosure of the source(s) of its funding;
7. Foreign governments, political parties, businesses, unions, organizations and individuals are allowed to try to influence voters in federal elections;
8. It’s legal for third-party businesses, interest groups and individuals, including foreign-owned and/or funded, to set up an online pseudo-media outlet and post as much disinformation as they want about politicians, parties and their policies;
9. Money-laundering and proceeds of crime laws are weak;
10. Businesses, organizations and individuals, including foreign-owned or funded, can provide a loan of products and services worth an unlimited amount of money to parties etc. for up to 3 years;
11. Anyone and any entity, including a foreign business, organization or individual, can pay an unlimited amount of the personal care expenses of an election candidate, and;
12. Nomination contestants, candidates and parties are not required to disclose their donors until after voting day, and riding associations only disclose donors once a year.

“Unfortunately, so far the Hogue inquiry is largely ignoring a dirty dozen loopholes in Canada’s election, political donation and spending, lobbying and ethics laws, some of which were created in the past couple of years by all federal parties, that make it easy for foreign governments, businesses, organizations and individuals to influence Canadian politics and politicians in secret, including by making false claims on social media sites,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.  “Canadians can only hope that the inquiry broadens its scope during its policy phase and, in the end, makes strong recommendations to close all of these loopholes.”

The Inquiry is also ignoring systemic weaknesses that mean enforcement systems for all the key laws are subject to political interference by the ruling party  Cabinet, and are underfunded, ineffective, secretive, slow to act and unaccountable, as follows:

1. All key watchdogs over elections, political finance, lobbying, ethics and anti-corruption laws are chosen by the ruling party Cabinet through secretive, partisan processes;
2. Almost all the key watchdogs serve at the pleasure of the ruling party Cabinet, and so they can be fired at any time for any reason;
3. All the watchdogs are allowed to make secret rulings, and to bury investigations without any public disclosure;
4. None of the watchdogs are required to do audits or inspections or any other enforcement action that is proven to be effective;
5. None of the watchdogs is required to investigate or rule on allegations of wrongdoing in a timely manner;
6. The lobbying and ethics watchdogs cannot impose any penalties for violations of key rules, and most of the penalties in other areas are too low to discourage violations;
7. The public is not allowed to challenge a decision to drop an investigation, even if the law was clearly violated;
8. Political parties, candidates, riding associations, nomination and party leadership contestants and third parties are all allowed to choose their own auditor to audit their spending;
9. Anti-money laundering and proceeds of crime enforcement is weaker than in many other countries, and;
10. Whistleblower protection is weak and much worse than in many other countries.

“Laws don’t enforce themselves, and unfortunately the inquiry is so far largely ignoring that the ruling party Cabinet and opposition politicians choose their own anti-foreign interference watchdogs, and many are Cabinet-controlled as well as underfunded, ineffective, secretive, slow to act and unaccountable,” said Conacher.  “Canadians can only hope the inquiry will, in the end, make strong recommendations for key changes to make enforcement of all the key laws fully independent, effective, transparent, timely and accountable.”

Click here to see the Backgrounder that summarizes all the loopholes and weak enforcement problems that make foreign interference legal and easy to do across Canada at every level of government.  Click here to see summary list of 17 key changes that need to be made to stop foreign interference.

– 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 Stop Foreign Interference in Canadian Politics Campaign

Has Commissioner let off lobbyists to get reappointed by Trudeau Cabinet in December for another 7-year term? Her weak enforcement record and gutting of key rules in Lobbyists’ Code should stop her reappointment

Do the violations include unregistered, unethical lobbying by Facebook, WE Charity and/or SNC-Lavalin lobbyists, or unethical lobbying by Imperial Oil and other business lobbyists at events they sponsor?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, September 30, 2024

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch called on Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Bélanger to stop hiding her rulings on 9 violations of the Lobbying Act that she referred to the RCMP, and that the RCMP referred back to her after letting all the lobbyists off the hook, as well as any other rulings she has made on any other violation referred back to her by the RCMP recently. If the RCMP decides not to prosecute and refers the matter back to the Commissioner, the Commissioner can still find the lobbyist guilty of violating any of the many rules in the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct.

Commissioner Bélanger is up for reappointment by the Trudeau Cabinet in December for another 7-year term.  Is she hiding her 9 rulings because they would show she has let off lobbyists who are connected to the Cabinet or the Liberal Party, which should clearly disqualify her from being reappointed?

Democracy Watch filed an Access to Information Act (ATIA) request with the RCMP last October for the records of the investigations in the cases referred by the Commissioner, and another request with the Commissioner in May 2024 for her final rulings on each case.  The RCMP and Commissioner’s office have both been delaying releasing the records for months past the ATIA’s 30-day legal deadline for disclosing requested records. Democracy Watch also requested that the Commissioner disclose her rulings in April 2023, but she did nothing.

The Commissioner testified on April 16, 2024 before the House Ethics Committee that she had referred 15 cases to the RCMP since she became Commissioner in January 2018, and they had let off the lobbyists in 9 cases returned to her, and that the RCMP still had 4 cases under investigation (See p. 12 of testimony).

In her 2022-2023 annual report, Commissioner Bélanger stated:

“When the Commissioner refers a file to the RCMP, she must suspend her investigation. If the referral does not result in a charge or conviction, the Commissioner may decide to cease the investigation or continue to investigate and report to Parliament. Following the RCMP’s decision not to pursue 6 referrals, the Commissioner ceased 5 of those investigations as there was no compliance rationale to continue them due to changes in circumstances and the amount of time passed since the underlying events took place. As of March 31st, 2023, no decision had been made with respect to the sixth referred investigation returned to the Office.”

The 9 violations the RCMP referred back to the Commissioner may include:

1. The unregistered lobbying and favours for Cabinet ministers that Kevin Chan and others at Facebook did (click here to see DWatch’s April 2018 complaint to the Commissioner);
2. The unregistered lobbying that WE Charity lobbyists did from January 2019 to August 2020, and the trip gifts they gave to former Finance Minister Bill Morneau and his family;
3. The lobbying by former PCO Clerk Kevin Lynch for SNC-Lavalin that was not registered by CEO Neil Bruce (click here to see DWatch’s March 2019 complaint), and by SNC-Lavalin lawyer Robert Pritchard and others;
4. The lobbying by Imperial Oil of then-Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer, and by CPA Canada of Minister Karina Gould, at a May 2019 event they sponsored?

“It’s shameful that the RCMP and Crown prosecutors continue to take so long to investigate lobbyists who violate the law and to fail to prosecute most violations, and their weak record makes it clear that a new, fully independent anti-corruption police force is needed,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “By continuing to hide her rulings on nine lobbying violations, Commissioner Bélanger is not only protecting the lobbyists and politicians and public officials they were lobbying, she is also covering up situations and making it even more clear she should not be re-appointed for another seven-year term.”

Democracy Watch’s position is that Commissioner Bélanger should not be reappointed because of her weak enforcement record, and because she gutted key rules in the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct, ignoring the opposition to the changes from a coalition of 26 citizen groups with 1.5 million total supporters, and 41 lawyers and professors, and 20,000+ voters (Click here for details).

– 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 Stop Secret, Unethical Lobbying Campaign and Government Ethics Campaign