Given past consultations, committee reports and private member bills, federal parties can and should agree upon and enact changes before summer break

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, March 31, 2015

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch and the Open Government Coalition it coordinates applauded federal Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault’s report that calls for many changes to strengthen the federal Access to Information Act and open government system.

Given that the public has been consulted for this report, and on changes to the Act and system in 2000, and again in 2009 when a House Committee issued a unanimous report calling for changes, and again in 2011 and in 2013 (twice) through the international Open Government Partnership (OGP) process, and given that the Conservatives promised several key changes in their 2006 election platform and that federal Treasury Board minister Tony Clement has agreed the Act needs to be changed (as did Rob Nicholson in 2009), and given that the NDP and Liberals have both introduced private member bills aimed at changing the Act, Democracy Watch and the Open Government Coalition called on all federal political parties to agree upon and enact changes before the summer break.

“The federal political parties can, and should, implement the important open government changes proposed in the Information Commissioner’s report by June,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch and Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa. “Given that the Access to Information Act and system have been reviewed several times in the past 15 years, and that there is a consensus on key changes that must be made, there is no justifiable reason for any further delay in making the changes.”

“The Information Commissioner’s recommendations will, if implemented, finally change the current federal ‘Guide to Keeping Secrets Act’ into a real access to information act,” said Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch and Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa.

The Information Commissioner’s report recommends the following key changes that Democracy Watch and the Open Government Coalition have been advocating for 15 years:

• the Access to Information Act should cover all federal public, public-function and publicly funded institutions;
• give the Information Commissioner the power to order the disclosure of any record;
• give the Information Commissioner the power to impose fines for violations, and increase the fines for convictions;
• require proactive disclosure of all records that can clearly be disclosed;
• close excessive secrecy loopholes and enact a public interest override that covers all exemptions, the only exception being that disclosure could be refused under a proof-of-harm test if it would harm international relations, the defence of Canada, law enforcement or someone’s personal safety or disclose sensitive personal information;
• extend the Act to cover: information and options provided to Cabinet; ministers’ offices (with exemption for parliamentary functions), and; Parliament and the Ethics Commissioner and Senate Ethics Officer;
• require everyone in these institutions to create a record of decisions and actions;
• require all information to be disclosed in useable formats for free without unjustifiable delay, and;
• require approval from more than the ruling party for the appointment of the Information Commissioner (report recommends two-thirds of MPs approve the appointment).

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: 613-241-5179 – Cell: 416-546-3443

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Democracy Watch’s Open Government Campaign

Link to Ottawa Citizen article

Link to Vancouver Observer article

Link to CBC.ca article

Link to Toronto Star article

 

Link to Edmonton Journal article

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The following letter-to-the-editor by Democracy Watch Co-founder Duff Conacher was published on March 19, 2015 in the Globe and Mail

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The article about the extension of Governor General David Johnston’s term to 2017 ignores some basic good governance principles (Harper extends Governor-General David Johnston’s term until 2017 – Mar 17).  No matter how qualified, nice or dedicated Mr. Johnston is, he was given his job by Prime Minister Harper who can take away his job at any time for any reason, and as a result he lacks independence.

The Governor General’s legal duties include the very important decisions about: which party or parties form the government after an election; whether a vote of non-confidence in the government has happened; whether a change in government or an election will happen, and; when Parliament can be shut down.  In other words, he is one of Canada’s key democracy watchdogs.

According to international best-practice standards, the Prime Minister should not select any government watchdogs alone.  Approval by opposition party leaders should be required or all leaders should together appoint a multi-member committee that conducts a public, merit-based search, and then submits a shortlist from which the Prime Minister (or all leaders together) must choose the watchdog.  Also, watchdogs should serve a fixed term during which they can only be fired for cause.

Also, all watchdogs should enforce clear, written rules.  The rules the Governor General currently enforces are unwritten, and therefore very unclear.

Recent surveys show that a majority of Canadians want the Governor General and provincial lieutenant governors chosen in a more democratic way, with clear, written rules to enforce (as the governors general in Australia, New Zealand, and the Queen in Britain, have).  Until these changes are made, we will unfortunately very likely see the Governor General continue to do whatever the Prime Minister wants no matter how questionable — as happened in 2008 and in other situations in the past several decades.

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Democracy Watch’s Democratic Head Campaign

Link to CBC.ca article

CBC.ca Online record unavailable

Even more important to close this gap if powers are extended by Bill C-51 – Minister Tony Clement must initiate illegally overdue review of whistleblower protection law and strengthen it

NEWS RELEASE
Tuesday, March 17, 2015

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch released the letter it has sent to Prime Minister Harper and the federal Cabinet calling for key changes to ensure people who work within Canada’s spy agencies and military are required to be ethical and honest, and are protected if they blow the whistle on wrongdoing.

Currently, the federal whistleblower protection law exempts the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canadian Security Establishment (CSE) and the Canadian Forces from the requirement to have an employee code of conduct, and does not protect people who work at these institutions if they blow the whistle on wrongdoing. In contrast, Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) is required to have a code of conduct and people who work there are covered by the whistleblower protection law.

“Conduct codes and independent, effective whistleblower protection are essential to prevent abuses of power and it is extremely dangerous that Canada’s spy agencies and military are not required to have these key accountability measures,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch and Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa. “Even if the federal government’s unconstitutional proposed Bill C-51 doesn’t become law, these measures are essential to increase the ethics and accountability of Canada’s spy agencies and military.”

Democracy Watch’s position is, as most experts have concluded, that proposed Bill C-51 is unconstitutional in its current form because it increases the police powers of CSIS in overly vague ways that include actions that violate Charter rights.  However, even if the federal government’s Bill C-51 does not become law, the code of conduct and whistleblower protection measures are essential to help ensure the ethics and accountability of Canada’s spy agencies and military.

The exemptions are buried in the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA), as follows:

• section 6 seems to require the chief executive of every federal “public sector” government institution to establish a code of conduct that at least matches the requirements in the Treasury Board’s Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector;
• but the section 2 definition of “public sector” explicitly says CSIS, CSE and the Canadian Forces are not included in the public sector;
• then section 52 and 53 say CSIS, CSE and the Canadian Forces must have internal disclosure of wrongdoing processes, but people who use those processes can’t appeal to the independent Public Sector Integrity Commissioner because they are not covered by the PSDPA.

In addition, Democracy Watch called on the Cabinet to, finally, undertake the illegally overdue review of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, and to strengthen the PSDPA. Under section 54 of the PSDPA, Treasury Board minister Tony Clement was supposed to have an independent review of the PSDPA completed by now.

Democracy Watch calls on all federal political parties to make the following changes to the federal whistleblower protection system to make it effective:

1. all whistleblowers must be effectively protected from retaliation, including politicians, political staff, Cabinet appointees, all public servants, government suppliers and contractors, and members of the public;
2. whistleblowers must be allowed, in all cases, to file their complaint directly with the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner;
3. everyone who witnesses or receives evidence of wrongdoing by anyone in politics or government must be required to report it to the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner (with the Commissioner strictly and strongly required to keep their identity secret, and people allowed to submit evidence anonymously);
4. the identity of anyone in government or politics found guilty of wrongdoing must be made public in all cases;
5. the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner must be clearly designated as the trainer (including by issuing interpretation bulletins), investigator and enforcer of all Treasury Board manual or equivalent policies (other than the policies enforced by the Auditor General) and must be required to conduct training sessions, conduct regular random audits of compliance and to investigate complaints about violations of these policies;
6. when the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner refers a whistleblower complaint about the violation of another law, regulation or policy for which a designated investigative and enforcement agency exists, the Commissioner must be required to ensure that the agency investigates the complaint within 90 days, and if an investigation does not begin within this time period the Commissioner must be required to investigate the complaint;
7. the law must require employers to prove that no retaliation against a whistleblower has taken place (as opposed to requiring the whistleblower to prove that retaliation has occurred);
8. the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner must be given the power to order chief executives/heads of departments to take corrective action, and chief executives/heads must be required to report to the Commissioner on corrective actions taken;
9. the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner must be given the power to penalize any chief executive/head with a fine, suspension or firing if the chief executive does not comply with the commissioner’s order, or if anyone retaliates against a whistleblower or does not maintain a system that complies with the law;
10. the minimum fine for taking a reprisal against a whistleblower must be increased to $50,000, with a maximum range of fines from $100,000 to $200,000;
11. whistleblowers must receive adequate funding for legal advice;
12. whistleblowers must receive compensation from the government general revenue fund adequate to seek another job (at least 6 months salary) if they want to (for example, if the whistleblowing process leaves them completely alienated from all their co-workers) and/or priority in switching jobs in the federal public service;
13. any person nominated and chosen to be the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner must be required to have legal experience enforcing ethics rules or laws to ensure proper enforcement of whistleblower protection measures, and must not be eligible for a renewal of their fixed term in office (to ensure that the Commissioner does not act as a lapdog to Cabinet to try to get re-appointed for a second term), and;
14. at least every 3 years, it must be required that an independent audit (by the Auditor General or other independent body) of the entire whistleblower protection system be conducted.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: 613-241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443

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Democracy Watch’s Open Government Campaign