(Democracy Watch: November 2025)
A. Key Changes Needed to Prevent, Prohibit and Penalize Unethical Activities by MPs and their Staff
The key changes needed to make the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons (MP Code) effective at preventing, prohibiting and penalizing conflicts of interest and unethical gift- and favour-trading by MPs and their staff are as follows:
1. Expand the MP Code to cover MPs as soon as their election is confirmed by Elections Canada, and to have key rules cover MP staff who, because they are not covered by the Code, can do the things that MPs are prohibited from doing on behalf of the MP who employs them, and can also accept all gifts and favours;
2. Add a rule to require MPs and their staff to tell the truth to stop the misleading spin that regularly and fatally undermines reasonable policy debates and discussions, and another rule to prohibit MPs from switching parties in between elections except when their party leader violates the law or breaks significant election promises or the party leader changes and moves the party in a completely different direction;
3. Change in section 2 the word “expected” to “required” but delete subsections 2(a), (c) and (e) because they establish standards that are either too subjective or that are found in other rules in the Code, and combine subsections 2(b) and (d) to read: “MPs and their staff are required to arrange their private affairs so that foreseeable real or apparent conflicts of interest are prevented from arising, and if they, their family member or friend have a private interest that causes a real or apparent conflict of interest they are prohibited from participating in any discussion, decision or vote that affects that interest. And delete related s. 3.1 as it essentially says that s. 2 is not enforceable.
4. Close the huge ”general application” and “broad class of persons” and “financial interest” loopholes in the definition of “private interest” in subsections 3(2) and (3) and combine those subsections into a new rule that prohibits MPs and their staff from participating in any discussion, decision or vote when they have any real or apparent conflict of interest. The loopholes currently in those subsections mean the MP Code only prohibits MPs from participating in decisions that affect very specific financial interests, and doesn’t apply to 99% of decisions MPs participate in, and so the loopholes allows them to take part in almost all decisions even when they, their family or friends can profit from the decision;
5. Extend subsection 3(4) and sections 8-11 the MP Code to cover the private interests of extended family and friends of MPs and their staff so MPs and their staff are also prohibited from participating in discussions, decisions and votes when they have an opportunity to further the interests of those people;
6. Add a new rule (as a restriction on s. 5 of the Code) to prohibit MPs from giving preferential treatment to anyone, especially anyone who has given them a gift or assisted them in any way;
7. As the Parker Commission recommended back in 1987, prohibit MPs and their staff from having investments in businesses (which is allowed under ss. 17 and 24(3)(j)), and from having blind trusts (which is allowed under ss. 17 and 19);
8. Change s. 7 of the MP Code to prohibit MPs and their staff from other outside activities, because they create clear conflicts of interest (other than professional requirements like doctors who have to practise a specific amount each year in order to retain their licence);
9. Require MPs to work full-time, and to disclose a summary of their work activities, including communications with anyone or any entity who is trying to influence their decisions, in an online, searchable database;
10. Change the gifts and benefits rule to ban MPs and their staff from accepting anything from anyone (including volunteer assistance under ss. 3(1)), who is trying to influence their decisions because even small gifts influence decisions, and delete s. 15 of the Code to ban “sponsored travel” because it is an unethical gift and essentially a form of legalized bribery;
11. Change clauses in subsections 21(1) and 24(3) to require MPs and their staff to disclose in the Public Registry their assets and liabilities worth more than $1,000 (the current disclosure requirement is for everything worth more than $10,000, which is much too high), and add new clauses to require disclosure of all income (not just income of more than $1,000), and to disclose details about their past five year’s work before they became an MP to make it easy to track which organizations and issues they have ties to, and to disclose in the Public Registry which members of their extended family they have close relationships with including being aware of their business, investments and other private interests;
12. Require the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner (Ethics Commissioner) to determine for each departing MP and MP staff person the sliding-scale time period after they leave during which they will be prohibited from communicating with their former colleagues and government officials, with the scale based on what positions and committees they served in and how close their relationships are with Cabinet ministers, officials etc., and require former MPs and MP staff to disclose their post-activities online during this time period in a searchable database;
13. Delete subsections 28(9) to (13) of the MP Code and replace them with provisions that empower and require the Ethics Commissioner, and only the Commissioner, to impose a sliding scale of penalties (specifically listed in the provisions) depending the seriousness of the violation of the MP Code, including significant fines and a loss of an MP’s seat in the House of Commons (or loss of job for an MP staff person) for the most serious violations – similar to the provision in subsection 502(3) of the Canada Elections Act (S.C. 2000, c. 9). MPs should not be participating in decisions concerning determining violations or penalizing an MP or MP staff person because MPs are tainted by partisan bias and other biases. The House of Commons has empowered the Ethics Commissioner to investigate and rule on violations, and so the Commissioner should also be empowered to impose the penalty (but penalties should be mandatory on a sliding scale so that the Commissioner is required to impose a penalty for every violation).
B. Key Changes Needed to Make Enforcement of the MP Code Independent, Transparent, Timely, Effective and Accountable
The following changes are needed to ensure the enforcement of the MP Code is independent, transparent, timely, effective and accountable. Click here to see a policy paper that sets out details concerning these much-needed changes to the current federal ethics enforcement system (similar changes are needed to every provincial, territorial and municipal ethics law enforcement system across Canada).
1. Establish, by adding new provisions to the Parliament of Canada Act (by completely changing 81), a fully independent, fully non-partisan committee to conduct a public, merit-based search for short list (1-3) qualified candidates for the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner (Ethics Commissioner), and then have that committee make the final choice and submit the choice to an all-party committee for appointment (with no possibility of re-appointment as that gives the enforcer an incentive to please office holders by letting them off when they violate the rules). This should also be the system for the appointment of all Officers of Parliament, the Commissioner and all other top officers of the RCMP, the head of FINTRAC, the new Foreign Interference Transparency Commissioner, and all judges, all of whom need to be fully independent in order to be perceived as being capable of impartially and effectively enforcing the key democratic good government and anti-corruption laws they enforce.
2. Add a new subsection to section 26 (or a new section after) of the MP Code that requires the Ethics Commissioner to conduct regular, unannounced audits of a randomly selected sample of office holders’ financial statements, participation in discussions, decisions and votes, outside activities, gifts and benefits and other matters and activities covered by the MP Code.
3. Change subsection 26(6) of the MP Code to require the Ethics Commissioner publish online binding interpretations of every measure in the Code with examples of real situations, and to publish online a summary of the Commissioner’s advice each time an opinion about a new situation is given to any person covered by the Code, so everyone knows exactly what the law prohibits.
4. Change section 32 of the MP Code to require the staff of all MPs to take the mandatory training within 120 days after the election, or whenever a new staff person joins an MP’s office, and to require all MPs and their staff to also take annual training.
5. Add a new provision in section 27 of the MP Code to give members of the public, who employ and pay all MPs and their staff and the Ethics Commissioner, the right to file a complaint with the Ethics Commissioner.
6. Change subsection 27(5.1) and add new subsections to section 27 of the MP Code to require the Ethics Commissioner to investigate and issue a public ruling on every complaint the Commissioner receives and every situation the Commissioner becomes aware of that raises any questions about whether an MP or their staff have complied with the Code, and (as set out above) to impose a sliding scale of penalties depending the seriousness of the violation.
7. Add a new subsection to 86.1 of the Parliament of Canada Act giving any member of the public a clear right to challenge any decision by the Commissioner in court.
C. Many Other Changes Needed to Prevent, Prohibit and Penalize Conflicts of Interest and to Ensure Democratic Good Government
The following changes are needed to other federal laws to prevent, prohibit and penalize conflicts of interest and to ensure democratic good government:
• Closing all the loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Act that allow for secret, unethical activities by Cabinet ministers, their staff, Cabinet appointees and top government officials (Click here to see details);
• Closing all the loopholes in the Ethics and Conflict of Interest Code for Senators that allow for secret, unethical activities by Senators, and extend key rules in that code to apply to the staff of Senators (Click here to see details (in English only));
• Closing all the loopholes that allow for secret, unethical lobbying (Click here to see details (in English only));
• Decreasing the donation limit in the Canada Elections Act to $75 (as the current annual individual donation limit of $3,500 (which increases by $50 each year) is essentially legalized bribery for those who can afford to make a top donation) (Click here to see details (in English only));
• Closing huge excessive secrecy loopholes in the federal Access to Information Act and strengthening enforcement (Click here to see details (in English only));
• Preventing, prohibiting and penalizing foreign interference (Click here to see a policy paper on key needed measures (in English only));
• Strengthening the whistleblower protection law (Click here to see details).
Join the call for these and other key government ethics changes across Canada at Democracy Watch’s Government Ethics Campaign
