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Letter to the Editor by Democracy Watch Coordinator Tyler Sommers published in the Epoch Times, Rabble.ca, and Troy Media on February 13th, 2013 and in the Winnipeg Free Press on February 14th, 2013

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The recent scandals involving senators offer more reasons to question the Senate’s continued existence. Senators currently control investigations into other senators’ ethics, spending, attendance and actions overall, and enforcement of the rules, and the rules are very weak and/or there are no penalties for violations in most cases. This is a completely ineffective system undermined by rampant conflicts of interest — and senators are not even talking about changing it.

While there are many proposals to reform the Senate, they all leave or create more problems than they solve, and all require changes to the Constitution (as Prime Minister Harper will soon learn when the Supreme Court of Canada rules on his reference case) — so abolishing the Senate is no more difficult than any other option.

An elected Senate will result in gridlock with the House, as happens in the U.S., because both bodies will have the democratic legitimacy to reject each other’s proposals. And term limits for senators will not solve any of the Senate’s many other accountability problems.

The Senate supposedly exists to provide a “sober second thought” review of House bills, but many senators are on the boards of big businesses and so are essentially inside-government lobbyists — again, a system undermined by rampant conflicts of interest.

As well, the Senate has never developed a new proposal that was not already being advocated by some think-tank or advocacy organization — so it is not needed to generate new policy ideas in any area.

Finally, the Senate is supposed to balance the representation of Canada’s regions in the federal Parliament. This goal could easily be achieved by increasing the number of seats from some regions in the House of Commons. This would go against the democratic principle of representation by population, but so does an elected Senate, and in any case in a federation such as Canada, that principle is always ignored somewhat in order to fulfil the goal of ensuring all regions are well-represented.

For all these reasons, the most simple, least costly, and therefore best solution is to abolish the Senate and incorporate more regional representation into the House of Commons.

If Prime Minister Harper had initiated a broad consultation seven years ago to make these changes, instead of playing games by introducing so-called Senate reform bills again and again but doing nothing to move them through Parliament, we would be much closer to the goal of having an equal, elected and effective Parliament (which has always been the goal of Senate reform).

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For more information, see Democracy Watch’s Voter’s Rights Campaign

More than 63,000 messages sent in anti-robocall, pro-election law enforcement letter-writing drive

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch launched its online counter to track how much time has passed since the federal Conservatives have violated Parliament’s deadline for introducing a bill to restrict election fraud robocalls and strengthen election law enforcement.  As of today, the Conservatives have been in violation of the resolution for more than 19 weeks.

The House of Commons passed a resolution unanimously last March setting a deadline of the end of September for the Conservatives to introduce the bill.

Democracy Watch called on the federal Conservatives to end their negligence and introduce the bill.

Democracy Watch’s national letter-writing and petition drive has resulted in Canadians sending more than 63,000 messages to key politicians across Canada calling on them to pass effective laws to stop election fraud robocalls, and to strengthen enforcement of election laws.

Democracy Watch is calling for a law that requires anyone who transmits an election-related robocall to confirm the identity of the person or organization who makes or pays for the call, and for a mandatory penalty for anyone wins an election through election fraud of loss of their seat and a ban on running in another election for at least five years.

To their credit, the federal Liberals, federal NDP and Alberta Conservative government have all introduced bills to restrict election fraud robocalls.

“The new counter shows how negligent the Conservatives are being in failing to walk the walk by banning election fraud robocalls.” said Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch.

False robocalls were received by tens of thousands of voters in more than 230 ridings during the spring 2011 federal election, and were also used to mislead voters in some provincial elections.

Measures to make false robocalls illegal and essentially impossible will help, but there are also enforcement problems.  Elections Canada is investigating the false robocalls from the 2011 federal election, but there are serious questions about its enforcement.

Elections Canada has failed to disclose the rulings it has made on more than 2,000 complaints it received from 1997 to 2010, and more than 1,000 complaints it received during the 2011 federal election.  It has also recently made some very questionable rulings.

Elections Canada must be required to disclose every ruling it makes to ensure that it proves it is enforcing the law fairly and properly (and election agencies across Canada must also be required to disclose all their rulings).

Democracy Watch is calling on Canadians to send a letter and to sign the petition that both call not only on federal politicians to introduce and pass a law to stop false election robocalls and strengthen enforcement, but also for politicians in every province and territory to pass similar laws that apply to their provincial, territorial and municipal elections.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch
Tel: 613-241-5179
Email: [email protected]
Internet: http://democracywatch.ca

Democracy Watch’s Voter’s Rights Campaign

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Commissioner has rejected more than 80 complaints since 2007 without disclosing any details or reasons – in her 20 public rulings, she has found only 4 people guilty, and has let dozens of Cabinet ministers, staff and MPs off the hook with no penalty

Group launches national letter-writing campaign to push the Ethics Committee and the government to strengthen federal ethics rules and enforcement in 30 key ways – public servant ethics rules and penalties are much stronger than politicians

Monday, February 11, 2013

OTTAWA – Today, with federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson testifying at the Committee this afternoon, Democracy Watch and the national Government Ethics Coalition called on the House Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee to require Commissioner Dawson to disclose a summary of the more than 80 complaints she has rejected since 2007 with secret rulings.

The House Ethics Committee is finally, eight months after the legal deadline, undertaking the mandatory five-year review of the Conflict of Interest Act.  Democracy Watch and the Government Ethics Coalition also called on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee to stop holding secret meetings reviewing the MPs’ ethics code, mainly because when the Committee did that in 2007 and 2009 it weakened the code both times.

Democracy Watch and the Coalition launched a national letter-writing campaign to make it easy for voters across Canada to send a letter to both committees, and to key politicians across Canada, calling on them to strengthen ethics rules in 30 key ways.

According Ethics Commissioner Dawson’s annual reports, from 2007 to April 2012 she rejected at least 83 complaints filed with her without issuing a public ruling (it could be more as she did not disclose the total number of complaints she received in 2008-2009 nor in 2010-2011).

During that time period, Commissioner Dawson received complaints about, or became aware of, a total of at least 100 questionable situations, but she only issued 17 public rulings, and only found 3 people guilty of violating ethics rules (a few more were found guilty of violating administrative rules, like missing filing deadlines etc.).

“The federal Ethics Commissioner may be covering up more than 80 dangerously unethical situations that have happened since 2007, and so MPs must require her to disclose all her past rulings, and all her future rulings,” said Duff Conacher, Board member of Democracy Watch and Chairperson of the 31-member group, nation-wide Government Ethics Coalition. “Also, to end the negligent enforcement of federal ethics rules, the Ethics Commissioner must be required to conduct regular, random audits and required to penalize anyone who violates ethics rules with high fines, and anyone must be allowed to challenge the Ethics Commissioner’s rulings in court.”

The cases of the following people being let off the hook with no penalty, along with many others who escaped accountability for very questionable actions in past decades, show how much federal ethics rules and enforcement are an ongoing bad joke — Prime Minister Harper, Nigel Wright, Tony Clement, Christian Paradis, Lisa Raitt, Rick Dykstra, Jim Flaherty, and 25 Cabinet ministers, ministers of state and parliamentarians who along with 35 Conservative MPs handed out government cheques with Conservative Party logos on them, and all MPs who accept sponsored travel from lobbyists.

The Conflict of Interest Act and the MP and senator ethics codes are so full of loopholes, they should be called the “Almost Impossible to be in a Conflict of Interest Rules” — and even worse the rules don’t even apply to the staff and advisers of MPs and senators.  Currently, because of these huge loopholes, the Act and codes do not apply to 99% of the decisions and actions of the people covered by the Act and codes.

The ethics codes that federal politicians have imposed on public servants contain much stronger rules than the rules the politicians have written for themselves, and the penalties are stronger, including the possibility of being fired.

“Unethical decision-making in federal politics is legal, even by Cabinet ministers, and some political staff and appointees are still not covered by any ethics rules, so loopholes must be closed and enforcement strengthened to finally stop dangerously undemocratic and corrupting actions and relations with lobbyists,” said Conacher.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Board member of Democracy Watch
Chairperson of the Government Ethics Coalition
Tel: (613) 241-5179
[email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Government Ethics Campaign

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OTTAWA—Senators found cheating on their housing allowances should be forced to repay taxpayers, an opposition MP says.

Act and MP and senator ethics codes are so full of loopholes they should be called “Almost Impossible to be in a Conflict of Interest Rules” – ethics rules for federal public servants are much stronger than the rules for politicians, as are penalties

Cases since 2007 involving dozens of Cabinet ministers, staff and MPs being let off the hook with no penalty show how much federal ethics rules and enforcement are a bad joke – will Prime Minister Harper finally get tough on undemocratic crimes?

Federal Ethics Commissioner has rejected more than 80 complaints with secret rulings since 2007 – disclosure must be required and penalties increased

Duff Conacher is testifying before the Committee at 3:30 pm on Wed. in Room 237-C, Centre Block, Parliament Hill, Ottawa

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

OTTAWA – Today, in its submission and testimony before the House Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee, Democracy Watch and the national Government Ethics Coalition called on the Committee to recommend strengthening the federal Conflict of Interest Act and MP and senator ethics codes, and enforcement system, in 30 key ways (and changing related laws in 14 key ways) to finally make corruption in federal politics illegal.  The House Ethics Committee is finally, eight months after the legal deadline, undertaking the mandatory five-year review of the Act.

Democracy Watch and the Government Ethics Coalition also called on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee to stop holding secret meetings reviewing the MPs’ ethics code, mainly because when the Committee did that in 2007 and 2009 it weakened the code both times.

The Conflict of Interest Act and the MP and senator ethics codes are so full of loopholes, they should be called the “Almost Impossible to be in a Conflict of Interest Rules” — and even worse the rules don’t even apply to the staff and advisers of MPs and senators.  Currently, because of these huge loopholes the Act and codes do not apply to 99% of the decisions and actions of the people covered by the Act and codes.

The ethics codes that federal politicians have imposed on public servants contain much stronger rules than the rules the politicians have written for themselves, and the penalties are stronger, including the possibility of being fired.

The cases of the following people being let off the hook with no penalty, along with many others who escaped accountability for very questionable actions in past decades, show how much federal ethics rules and enforcement are an ongoing bad joke — Prime Minister Harper, Nigel Wright, Tony Clement, Christian Paradis, Lisa Raitt, Rick Dykstra, Jim Flaherty, and 25 Cabinet ministers, ministers of state and parliamentarians who along with 35 Conservative MPs handed out government cheques with Conservative Party logos on them, and all MPs who accept sponsored travel from lobbyists.

The Ethics Commissioner is a major part of the problem with ethics enforcement – since 2007 she has rejected at least 80 complaints filed with her without issuing a public ruling (it could be more as she did not disclose the total number of complaints she received in 2008-2009 nor in 2010-2011).  She has received complaints about, or become aware of, at total of at least 100 situations, but has only issued 17 public rulings.  In other words, the Ethics Commissioner may be covering up more than 80 dangerously undemocratic ethics violations.

“Unethical decision-making in federal politics is legal, even by Cabinet ministers, and some political staff and appointees are still not covered by any ethics rules, so loopholes must be closed and enforcement strengthened to finally stop these dangerously undemocratic and corrupting actions,” said Duff Conacher, Board member of Democracy Watch and Chairperson of the 31-member group, nation-wide Government Ethics Coalition.

“To end the negligent pattern of enforcement of the federal ethics rules, the Ethics Commissioner must be required to conduct regular, random audits, and to investigate and rule publicly whenever there are questions about violations, and the Commissioner must be given the power, and required, to fine anyone who violates ethics rules,” said Conacher. “Also, the Commissioner must not be eligible for a second term in office because that creates an incentive to please the Prime Minister and Cabinet by covering up corruption.”

The Conservatives have also joined the international Open Government Partnership which requires, among other key changes, strengthening laws like the Conflict of Interest Act and the other ethics codes and related laws.

The Ethics Commissioner has made 75 recommendations to change ethics rules, but has ignored the biggest loopholes, and also recommended changes that will weaken the rules.  To finally make corruption in federal politics effectively illegal, the Committee must recommend the following changes:

• Ensure everyone is covered by ethics rules (currently some ministerial staff and advisers, Cabinet appointees, and staff and advisers of MPs and senators are not covered by any rules);
• Enact a general ethics/integrity rule to ensure that no one can escape accountability by exploiting technical loopholes (as already applies to public servants);
• Enact an honesty-in-politics rule that everyone is required to comply with at all times, even in statements made in Parliament (as already applies to public servants);
• Enact a rule prohibiting everyone from being in an apparent or foreseeable potential conflict of interest (as already applies to public servants, and as applies to B.C. politicians) with anyone or any entity, including for their political interests like fundraising or campaigning for re-election;
• Delete the loopholes that allow everyone to take part in general application decisions even if they have a conflict of interest;
• Require disclosure of all assets worth more than $1,000 (the current threshold of $10,000 is much too high) and require divestment of more assets;
• Strengthen gift rules to make it clear gifts from anyone, including family and friends, that create even the appearance of a conflict of interest must be refused, and delete the loopholes that allow MPs to accept sponsored travel and volunteer service from lobbyists;
• Enact a rule prohibiting acceptance of any benefit in return for switching parties, or giving up one’s seat or nomination as a candidate in an election;
• Enact a rule prohibiting the personal use of government property, especially for political activities;
• Enact a sliding scale for everyone prohibiting lobbying after leaving office for one year to five years (increasing in length as the decision-making power and potential conflicts of the person increase) to ensure everyone must take a cooling-off period;
• Require everyone to report to the Ethics Commissioner their post-employment activities to ensure they are complying with their cooling-off period;
• Require the Ethics Commissioner to issue a public ruling for every complaint received, and every time advice is given to anyone;
• Require the Ethics Commissioner to do regular, random audits;
• Ban the use of the illegal “conflict of interest screens” the Ethics Commissioner is currently using, and requiring disclosure of all recusals from decision-making;
• Require the Ethics Commissioner to impose mandatory minimum penalties for ethics violations that match the penalties for lobbying violations (ie. $50,000 to $200,000 fines and jail terms);
• Allow anyone to challenge any decision or ruling by the Ethics Commissioner in court for any error of fact or law;
• Establish the Public Appointments Commission, and close the loopholes in the Lobbying Act to prohibit secret, unethical lobbying, and in Canada Elections Act to prohibit secret donations and loans, and in the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act to strengthen whistleblower protection and extend it to everyone (including political staff), and strengthen enforcement of all of these laws to prevent related unethical actions.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Board member of Democracy Watch
Chairperson of the Government Ethics Coalition
Tel: (613) 241-5179
[email protected]

Democracy Watch’s Government Ethics Campaign

Democracy Watch’s Money in Politics Campaign

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Letter to the Editor by Democracy Watch Board Member Duff Conacher published in the Hill Times on February 4th, 2013

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Re: “Ritz most lobbied Cabinet minister in 2012: lobbying registry,” (The Hill Times, Jan. 28, p. 1). In your article, you write, “Meanwhile, there were 11,608 total meetings between lobbyists and all designated public office holders in 2012.” It should say that there were at least 11,608 meetings and very likely many more.

Secret, unregistered lobbying is legal under the Lobbying Act because the federal Conservatives broke their 2006 election promise to require politicians and government officials to disclose their contacts with lobbyists.

Unfortunately, the House Committee that reviewed the Lobbying Act last spring failed to recommend closing all the loopholes that allow secret lobbying, and although the committee made some good recommendations Treasury Board President Tony Clement has said he won’t implement most of them.

In other words, the federal Conservatives have made it clear that they approve of people like Bruce Carson and Rahim Jaffer, and presumably all other former Conservative politicians and staffers, lobbying in secret.

Meanwhile, Hill Times columnist Sheila Copps, a former Liberal Cabinet minister, tries vainly to claim that ministerial ethics standards were better in the past than they are now   “Whaddya got to do in this town to get fired?”  (The Hill Times,  Jan. 28, p. 9). In fact, more than 20 Liberal Cabinet ministers clearly violated ethics rules between 1993 and 2003, and only two were fired by prime minister Jean Chrétien, and only one resigned.

The truth is, as with secret, unethical lobbying, ministerial ethics were just as bad in the past as they are now.

Canadians deserve better, and it is clear that they won’t get any better from the federal Conservatives. The key question is whether any of the federal opposition parties will offer any better. If they don’t, none of them should expect to do any better in the next election than they did in the last election.

Duff Conacher

Board member of Democracy Watch 

Director of GoodOrg.ca Consulting

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Democracy Watch’s Government Ethics Campaign

One week after Parliament re-opened no politicians have signed Pledge to be honest, ethical, open and democratic

Monday, February 4, 2013

OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch renewed its call for politicians across Canada to sign the Democratic Good Government Pledge as their New Year’s Resolution, and called on Canadians to contact their politicians and ask them to sign the Pledge (and to let Democracy Watch know who they are approaching by sending an email to [email protected]).

“We’re deeply disappointed that no politicians have signed the Pledge and we continue to contact federal and provincial politicians to inform them about the Pledge and invite them to sign on,” said Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch.  “We also continue to invite Canadians to push their politicians to sign on.”

Democracy Watch created the Democratic Good Government Pledge because current laws and enforcement systems across Canada do not go far enough to ensure that politicians, their staff, appointees, government employees, and election candidates act honestly, ethically, openly, representatively, efficiently and respectfully.

The 7-point Pledge reflects the best-practice international standards for democratic good governance, and the standards that surveys have shown Canadians want politicians and government officials to uphold.

By signing on to the Pledge, politicians, political staff, appointees and officials agree to all of the following 6 standards, and also to vote for changes to laws, codes, policies etc. to require these standards to be upheld (and they can choose to sign on only to parts of the Pledge):

1. To be honest;  2. To be ethical;  3. To be open;  4. To be representative;  5. To be waste-preventing;  6. To be respectful; and; 7. To support positive changes.

“We know that not all or even many people in politics are dishonest, unethical, secretive, unrepresentative and wasteful, but those who act in these undemocratic ways are usually let off the hook with no penalty because of loopholes in rules and weak enforcement, and this is not the system Canadians want or deserve,” said Sommers.  “So we’re simply asking people in politics to pledge to behave the ways Canadians want and expect and deserve, and Canadians to help by pushing politicians and others to take the pledge.”

The Pledge has already been sent to all federal politicians as well as provincial party leaders across Canada, and will be sent to all politicians in Canada.  Politicians can send in their signed copy of the Pledge by mail to Democracy Watch at P.O. Box 821, Stn. B, Ottawa K1P 5P9, by email to: [email protected] or by fax to: 613-241-4758.

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

Democracy Watch’s Voter’s Rights Campaign

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

OTTAWA – Today, as legislatures begin to open again across Canada, Democracy Watch called on Canadians to hold coffee parties through CoffeeParty.ca to write letters to politicians calling for key democracy and corporate responsibility reforms, and to let Democracy Watch if they are holding a party by sending an email to [email protected].

Democracy Watch created the CoffeeParty.ca movement to help Canadians coordinate their efforts to change politics in Canada and to raise awareness about some of the more effective ways to make governments make the changes Canadians want and deserve.

The CoffeeParty.ca movement is pushing for well-researched and broadly supported changes that will make Canadian governments and big businesses operate more honestly, ethically, openly, representatively, efficiently, and effectively.

With new governments having been elected in Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon in 2011; in Alberta and Quebec in 2012; and in British Columbia this year there is a window of opportunity before the next elections for Canadians to push politicians, governments, and opposition parties to make themselves, and big businesses, more accountable and responsible.

“We’re calling on Canadians to get together, have a coffee, and send a message to politicians,” said Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch.  “If Canadians spent as much time writing politicians about their concerns as they spend buying, making and drinking coffee, we would have the good, democratic governments and the responsible big businesses we want.”

No matter what problem concerns them, Canadians can find solutions at CoffeeParty.ca where there is key information about writing letters, sending messages to key politicians across Canada through the Action Alerts on each Campaign page, getting their politicians to sign the Democratic Good Government Pledge, printing and hanging up the “I’m Voting for Good Government” sign, donating, and contacting the media and others across Canada.

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

Democracy Watch’s Become a Democracy Watcher page

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Canada’s controversial, outgoing Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, who hopes he won’t be replaced by a lapdog, says the three men he would like to see succeed him at the office are all interested in the job, even though it’s considered a public service career ender.

Less than a week after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty found himself on the wrong end of an ethics ruling from Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson, two more parliamentary secretaries have received similar raps on the wrist for the very same act deemed “improper” by the commissioner — namely, writing a letter to the CRTC on behalf of a hopeful applicant.