Democracy Watch has several ongoing court cases challenging the appointment of, and rulings by, the federal Ethics Commissioner and Lobbying Commissioner.

The new Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion, and new Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger, were handpicked by the Trudeau Cabinet at the same time the commissioners were investigating situations involving Trudeau and other Cabinet ministers.

During their time in office from 2007 to the end of 2017, both Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson and Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd let more than 80% of people who have violated the rules off the hook. Their dangerously weak enforcement let hundreds of federal politicians, government officials, and lobbyists get away with violating federal laws. You can also help call for an audit of both commissioner’s weak enforcement records by clicking here.

Your support is needed for the following complaints about unethical actions by Trudeau Cabinet ministers, lobbyists, and federal government officials:

1. Complaint to Ottawa police requesting that they investigate Prime Minister Trudeau and other government officials for obstructing the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, and committing a breach of trust by doing so, because the RCMP seems to be refusing to investigate (July 21, 2022)
2. Complaint to RCMP calling again (as DWatch did in Feb. 2021) for a public update about the state of the investigation into Prime Minister Trudeau and other government officials obstructing the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin (June 1, 2022) – incredibly, we are still waiting for the public update
3. Complaint to Ethics Commissioner about Minister Dominic LeBlanc’s participation in decisions to appoint judges with connections to him (filed July 4 , 2019) – incredibly, we are still waiting for a ruling on this complaint
4. Complaint to Lobbying Commissioner re: questions about Kevin Lynch lobbying for SNC-Lavalin (filed March 13, 2019) – incredibly, we are still waiting for a ruling on this complaint
5. Complaint to Lobbying Commissioner about Facebook not having employees registered as lobbyists, and doing favours for federal Liberal Cabinet ministers (filed April 25, 2018) – incredibly, we are still waiting for a ruling on this complaint

Your support is needed for the following cases:

1. Challenging the Ethics Commissioner’s ruling that let off Prime Minister Trudeau even though he clearly violated the federal government ethics law by participating in the WE Charity grant approval decision.
2. Challenging new Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger’s ruling that Council of Canadian Innovators staff Ben Bergen and Dana O’Born did not violate the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct when they lobbied senior officials of Minister of International Trade Chrystia Freeland after co-managing her 2015 federal election campaign and serving in senior roles in her riding association.
3. Challenging the federal judicial appointments system for being too politically biased, and therefore unconstitutional.

We need your help to pay the costs of pursuing all of these complaints and lawsuits – please donate now and Share and Tweet this page to spread the word to anyone you think may be interested in supporting these lawsuits.

Thank you for your support,
Duff, Josephine, Brad
and the entire Democracy Watch team

P.S. Please also click here to send a letter to your federal and provincial politicians calling for stronger rules, enforcement and penalties to stop unethical actions and decisions by politicians and government officials.