{"id":12247,"date":"2020-10-15T10:42:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T14:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/?p=12247"},"modified":"2025-05-25T07:17:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T11:17:22","slug":"supreme-court-of-canada-strikes-a-blow-against-publics-right-to-complain-about-government-and-lobbyist-wrongdoing-by-refusing-to-allow-dwatch-to-appeal-federal-court-of-appeal-ruling-in-aga-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/supreme-court-of-canada-strikes-a-blow-against-publics-right-to-complain-about-government-and-lobbyist-wrongdoing-by-refusing-to-allow-dwatch-to-appeal-federal-court-of-appeal-ruling-in-aga-k\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court of Canada strikes a blow against public\u2019s right to complain about government and lobbyist wrongdoing by refusing to allow DWatch to appeal Federal Court of Appeal ruling in Aga Khan caseSupreme Court of Canada strikes a blow against public\u2019s right to complain about government and lobbyist wrongdoing by refusing to allow DWatch to appeal Federal Court of Appeal ruling in Aga Khan case"},"content":{"rendered":"

FCA ruled public has no right to have a complaint ruled on by Lobbying Commissioner and no right to challenge the Commissioner\u2019s rulings in court \u2013 SCC ruling also stops two other court cases vs. the Commissioner<\/span><\/h3>\n

FCA ruling nixed Federal Court ruling that ordered Commissioner to investigate Aga Khan and his foundation further for possible lobbying law violations<\/span><\/h3>\n

Federal Court ruling also extended lobbying disclosure and ethics rules to many more business, union and organization board members, and expanded Lobbying Commissioner\u2019s investigation mandate<\/span><\/h3>\n\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<\/b>
Thursday, October 15, 2020<\/p>\n\n

OTTAWA \u2013 Today, Democracy Watch announced that the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has ruled<\/a> that DWatch can\u2019t appeal the Federal Court of Appeal\u2019s ruling<\/a> in the Aga Khan case issued last April, and has ordered it to pay costs to the government.<\/p>\n\n

The FCA ruled that the public has no right to have complaints investigated by the federal Commissioner of Lobbying, and so members of the public are prohibited from challenging the Commissioner\u2019s rulings in court, even if a ruling ignores all the evidence and is full of errors, and even on the basis of public interest standing. Sebastian Spano is representing Democracy Watch in the application to appeal, which is SCC file no. 39202<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling makes the Lobbying Commissioner into an unaccountable czar, which is dangerous given the Commissioner has let off 84% of lobbyists<\/a> caught violating the federal lobbying law and\/or code since 2007.<\/p>\n\n

In its submissions to the SCC, DWatch argued that the FCA\u2019s ruling set a bad precedent<\/a> that contradicts past SCC and FCA rulings<\/a> as it shuts out the public from the enforcement system for the lobbying law and code, which is one of several key federal government public accountability systems.<\/p>\n\n

Lawyers expressed concern here<\/a> and here<\/a> about the negative implications of the FCA\u2019s ruling on the rights of the public to hold government officials and watchdogs accountable for bad decisions.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cIn its shocking refusal to allow Democracy Watch\u2019s appeal, the Supreme Court has joined the Federal Court of Appeal in striking a serious blow against the public\u2019s rights to complain about corruption and wrongdoing by politicians, government officials and lobbyists, and to hold democracy watchdogs accountable for failing to do their jobs properly and issuing rulings that protect wrongdoers,\u201d<\/em> said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. \u201cVery unfortunately, the Federal Court of Appeal\u2019s bad ruling will now be used across Canada to stop the public from holding government and other watchdogs accountable for wrongful decisions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

By refusing to allow DWatch\u2019s appeal, the Supreme Court has also stopped two other ongoing DWatch cases that were challenging rulings by the Lobbying Commissioner:<\/p>\n\n

  1. DWatch\u2019s case challenging<\/a> the Commissioner\u2019s ruling letting Apotex Inc. off for Barry Sherman\u2019s fundraising for, and lobbying of, the Trudeau Liberals;<\/li>\n
  2. DWatch\u2019s case challenging<\/a> the Commissioner\u2019s ruling letting Clearwater Seafoods off for Mickey McDonald\u2019s fundraising for, and Clearwater\u2019s lobbying of, the Trudeau Liberals;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

    In March 2019, Democracy Watch won the landmark Federal Court ruling<\/a> that rejected former Commissioner of Lobbying Karen Shepherd\u2019s secret September 2017 ruling that, even though the Aga Khan was lobbying Prime Minister Trudeau, and is chair of the Aga Khan Foundation, which is registered to lobby the PM<\/a>, because someone at the Foundation claimed the Aga Khan wasn\u2019t paid to lobby for it, the Lobbying Act<\/em> and Lobbyists\u2019 Code of Conduct<\/em> were not violated when the Aga Khan gave Trudeau and his family and friends free vacations on his private island in the Bahamas.<\/p>\n\n

    \u201cThe Trudeau Liberals wasted taxpayers\u2019 money on protecting Trudeau\u2019s old family friend the Aga Khan from accountability for unethical lobbying by appealing the Federal Court\u2019s ruling, and very unfortunately the Federal Court of Appeal\u2019s ruled that the Lobbying Commissioner is a czar who can\u2019t be held accountable by the public or the courts no matter how bad the Commissioner\u2019s rulings are,\u201d<\/em> said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.<\/p>\n\n

    The Federal Court ruling<\/a> rejected Commissioner Shepherd\u2019s ruling as \u201cunreasonable\u201d because it was \u201ca narrow, technical, and targeted analysis that is lacking in transparency, justification, and intelligibility when considered in the context the Commissioner\u2019s duties and functions\u201d<\/em> (para. 146). As a result, the court ordered new Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy B\u00e9langer) to re-examine the actions of everyone at the Aga Khan Foundation with \u201ca broad view of the circumstances<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

    The Lobbyists\u2019 Code<\/em>, which the Commissioner enforces, prohibits<\/a> lobbyists registered under the Lobbying Act<\/em> from doing anything for, or giving anything to, anyone they are lobbying, and requires compliance with several strongly worded principles.<\/p>\n\n

    The Federal Court ruling also greatly broadened the scope of the Lobbying Act<\/em> to cover board members of businesses and other organizations who are compensated in any way or receive \u201canything of value\u201d \u2013 including even the value of being given a position as a member of board (paras. 134-143). In the past, the Lobbying Commissioner has interpreted the Act<\/em> as requiring board members to disclose their lobbying in the Registry of Lobbyists<\/a> only if they were paid more than their expenses<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

    In addition, the Federal Court\u2019s ruling required the Commissioner to investigate and issue a public ruling whenever there are \u201cpotential compliance questions<\/em>\u201d (para. 133) concerning the actions of anyone, or any business or organization that relate to the requirements of the Lobbying Act<\/em> or Lobbyists\u2019 Code<\/em> (paras. 127-134).<\/p>\n\n

    The Trudeau government, represented by the Attorney General of Canada, appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA). The FCA didn\u2019t rule on any part of the Federal Court\u2019s ruling other than deciding that the public has no right to file complaints with the Lobbying Commissioner, and so is prohibited from challenging the Commissioner\u2019s rulings in court, no matter how much the rulings ignore the facts and the law.<\/p>\n\n

    – 30 \u2013<\/p>\n

    FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:<\/strong>
    Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
    Tel: (613) 241-5179
    Cell: 416-546-3443
    Email:     info@democracywatch.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

    Democracy Watch\u2019s Government Ethics Campaign<\/a> and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign<\/a><\/p>\n\n

    FCA ruled public has no right to have a complaint ruled on by Lobbying Commissioner and no right to challenge the Commissioner\u2019s rulings in court \u2013 SCC ruling also stops two other court cases vs. the Commissioner<\/span><\/h3>\n

    FCA ruling nixed Federal Court ruling that ordered Commissioner to investigate Aga Khan and his foundation further for possible lobbying law violations<\/span><\/h3>\n

    Federal Court ruling also extended lobbying disclosure and ethics rules to many more business, union and organization board members, and expanded Lobbying Commissioner\u2019s investigation mandate<\/span><\/h3>\n\n

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<\/b>
    Thursday, October 15, 2020<\/p>\n\n

    OTTAWA \u2013 Today, Democracy Watch announced that the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has ruled<\/a> that DWatch can\u2019t appeal the Federal Court of Appeal\u2019s ruling<\/a> in the Aga Khan case issued last April, and has ordered it to pay costs to the government.<\/p>\n\n

    The FCA ruled that the public has no right to have complaints investigated by the federal Commissioner of Lobbying, and so members of the public are prohibited from challenging the Commissioner\u2019s rulings in court, even if a ruling ignores all the evidence and is full of errors, and even on the basis of public interest standing. Sebastian Spano is representing Democracy Watch in the application to appeal, which is SCC file no. 39202<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

    The Supreme Court\u2019s ruling makes the Lobbying Commissioner into an unaccountable czar, which is dangerous given the Commissioner has let off 84% of lobbyists<\/a> caught violating the federal lobbying law and\/or code since 2007.<\/p>\n\n

    In its submissions to the SCC, DWatch argued that the FCA\u2019s ruling set a bad precedent<\/a> that contradicts past SCC and FCA rulings<\/a> as it shuts out the public from the enforcement system for the lobbying law and code, which is one of several key federal government public accountability systems.<\/p>\n\n

    Lawyers expressed concern here<\/a> and here<\/a> about the negative implications of the FCA\u2019s ruling on the rights of the public to hold government officials and watchdogs accountable for bad decisions.<\/p>\n\n

    \u201cIn its shocking refusal to allow Democracy Watch\u2019s appeal, the Supreme Court has joined the Federal Court of Appeal in striking a serious blow against the public\u2019s rights to complain about corruption and wrongdoing by politicians, government officials and lobbyists, and to hold democracy watchdogs accountable for failing to do their jobs properly and issuing rulings that protect wrongdoers,\u201d<\/em> said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. \u201cVery unfortunately, the Federal Court of Appeal\u2019s bad ruling will now be used across Canada to stop the public from holding government and other watchdogs accountable for wrongful decisions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

    By refusing to allow DWatch\u2019s appeal, the Supreme Court has also stopped two other ongoing DWatch cases that were challenging rulings by the Lobbying Commissioner:<\/p>\n\n

    1. DWatch\u2019s case challenging<\/a> the Commissioner\u2019s ruling letting Apotex Inc. off for Barry Sherman\u2019s fundraising for, and lobbying of, the Trudeau Liberals;<\/li>\n
    2. DWatch\u2019s case challenging<\/a> the Commissioner\u2019s ruling letting Clearwater Seafoods off for Mickey McDonald\u2019s fundraising for, and Clearwater\u2019s lobbying of, the Trudeau Liberals;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

      In March 2019, Democracy Watch won the landmark Federal Court ruling<\/a> that rejected former Commissioner of Lobbying Karen Shepherd\u2019s secret September 2017 ruling that, even though the Aga Khan was lobbying Prime Minister Trudeau, and is chair of the Aga Khan Foundation, which is registered to lobby the PM<\/a>, because someone at the Foundation claimed the Aga Khan wasn\u2019t paid to lobby for it, the Lobbying Act<\/em> and Lobbyists\u2019 Code of Conduct<\/em> were not violated when the Aga Khan gave Trudeau and his family and friends free vacations on his private island in the Bahamas.<\/p>\n\n

      \u201cThe Trudeau Liberals wasted taxpayers\u2019 money on protecting Trudeau\u2019s old family friend the Aga Khan from accountability for unethical lobbying by appealing the Federal Court\u2019s ruling, and very unfortunately the Federal Court of Appeal\u2019s ruled that the Lobbying Commissioner is a czar who can\u2019t be held accountable by the public or the courts no matter how bad the Commissioner\u2019s rulings are,\u201d<\/em> said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch.<\/p>\n\n

      The Federal Court ruling<\/a> rejected Commissioner Shepherd\u2019s ruling as \u201cunreasonable\u201d because it was \u201ca narrow, technical, and targeted analysis that is lacking in transparency, justification, and intelligibility when considered in the context the Commissioner\u2019s duties and functions\u201d<\/em> (para. 146). As a result, the court ordered new Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy B\u00e9langer) to re-examine the actions of everyone at the Aga Khan Foundation with \u201ca broad view of the circumstances<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

      The Lobbyists\u2019 Code<\/em>, which the Commissioner enforces, prohibits<\/a> lobbyists registered under the Lobbying Act<\/em> from doing anything for, or giving anything to, anyone they are lobbying, and requires compliance with several strongly worded principles.<\/p>\n\n

      The Federal Court ruling also greatly broadened the scope of the Lobbying Act<\/em> to cover board members of businesses and other organizations who are compensated in any way or receive \u201canything of value\u201d \u2013 including even the value of being given a position as a member of board (paras. 134-143). In the past, the Lobbying Commissioner has interpreted the Act<\/em> as requiring board members to disclose their lobbying in the Registry of Lobbyists<\/a> only if they were paid more than their expenses<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

      In addition, the Federal Court\u2019s ruling required the Commissioner to investigate and issue a public ruling whenever there are \u201cpotential compliance questions<\/em>\u201d (para. 133) concerning the actions of anyone, or any business or organization that relate to the requirements of the Lobbying Act<\/em> or Lobbyists\u2019 Code<\/em> (paras. 127-134).<\/p>\n\n

      The Trudeau government, represented by the Attorney General of Canada, appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA). The FCA didn\u2019t rule on any part of the Federal Court\u2019s ruling other than deciding that the public has no right to file complaints with the Lobbying Commissioner, and so is prohibited from challenging the Commissioner\u2019s rulings in court, no matter how much the rulings ignore the facts and the law.<\/p>\n\n

      – 30 \u2013<\/p>\n

      FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:<\/strong>
      Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
      Tel: (613) 241-5179
      Cell: 416-546-3443
      Email:       info@democracywatch.ca<\/a><\/p>\n

      Democracy Watch\u2019s Government Ethics Campaign<\/a> and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      FCA ruled public has no right to have a complaint ruled on by Lobbying Commissioner and no right to challenge the Commissioner\u2019s rulings in court \u2013 SCC ruling also stops two other court cases vs. the Commissioner FCA ruling nixed Federal Court ruling that ordered Commissioner to investigate Aga Khan and his foundation further for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12247"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18455,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12247\/revisions\/18455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democracywatch.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}