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News Release Saturday, May 2, 2015 OTTAWA - Today, Democracy Watch released
its Report Card on the 2015 Democratic Good Government Election Platforms of
the six main Alberta political parties, the only election report card on
these issues (See the Report Card
set out below). Democracy Watch also called on Elections
Alberta to make issue a clear statement before election day informing voters
in Alberta that they have the right to vote �none of the above� by declining
their ballot under section 107.1 of the Election Act.
Elections Alberta has no information about this key right of voters on
its website – it is not even mentioned anywhere in the 131-page Building
Future Voters �education� booklet for Grade
12 teachers. In the Report Card, the Green Party
received the �best� grade of C, the Wildrose Party received a C-, the Liberals
and NDP a D, the Alberta Party an F, and the Progressive Conservatives made
so few promises to clean up politics in Alberta that they received an
Incomplete. Democracy Watch recommends that voters apply a �Dishonesty
Downgrade� of one full grade to the Report Card results given that usually
only half of all election promises are kept because of the lack of an honesty-in-politics
law which is needed to effectively penalize promise-breakers and
misleaders. "Overall, while the Greens, NDP and
Wildrose all made some key promises, all the Alberta parties have failed to
respond to high voter concern about democracy and trust issues with their
generally weak government accountability platforms -- but voters focused on
these issues should still come to the polls and at least exercise their legal
right to decline their
ballot and vote none of the above to show their concern," said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
and chairperson of its four nation-wide coalitions. "The party
leaders should not be surprised by the lack of overall support they will likely
receive from voters on election day. We can only hope that the parties
will actually address these concerns when the legislature opens again and
work together to make the many changes needed so that everyone in Alberta politics
will, finally after 110 years, be effectively required to act honestly,
ethically, openly, representatively and to prevent waste." "It is not surprising that the
Conservatives are doing so poorly because, like the federal Liberals did in
2006 federal election, they are pretending that everything is fine and failed
to include any meaningful democratic reform and government accountability
promises in their platform,� said
Conacher. �The Conservatives don�t seem to realize that democracy
and government accountability promises directly affect which party voters
vote for -- every party that has made strong promises to clean up politics
and government in the past 20 years across Canada has won more votes and
seats, and usually won the election." The Green Party had the best promises in
the areas of Open Government, and tied with the NDP and the Alberta Party for
best promises in the area of Honest, Ethical Government. The Green Party also tied with Wildrose
in the area of Representative, Citizen-Driven Government promises. Wildrose had the best promises in the
area of Efficient, Government. The Report Card grades the six main
parties' platform pledges based upon 16 sets of key changes in five areas
that Democracy Watch and its coalitions believe are the changes that will
most effectively require everyone in Alberta politics to act honestly,
ethically, openly, efficiently, representatively and, if they don't act in
these democratic ways, to be easily and thoroughly held accountable. In
total, the 16 sets of changes add up to 100 key changes needed to the Alberta
government's democracy, ethics and accountability system. The measures are a compilation of the
proposals of the four nation-wide coalitions Democracy Watch coordinates (Government Ethics Coalition,
Money in Politics
Coalition, Open
Government Coalition, and Corporate Responsibility
Coalition). A combined total of more than 140 citizen groups with a
total membership of more than 3 million Canadians belong to the coalitions,
groups that work on anti-poverty, bank accountability, community economic
development, consumer, corporate responsibility, environment, labour, social
justice, women and youth issues. Many national surveys over the past
several years have shown that a large majority of Canadians support the 100
democracy, ethics and government accountability reforms set out in the Report
Card, as do many commentators on democratic reform. The federal
government, and every province and territory and municipality across Canada,
all have a similar list of 100 loopholes and flaws in their government
systems (each with a slightly differect set of loopholes flaws, depending on
which have been closed or corrected in the past). The 16 sets of changes, divided into five
areas, all reflect the following five key elements for ensuring that large,
powerful government institutions act responsibly and follow rules: 1. strong
laws with no loopholes; 2. requirement to disclose details of operations and
violations; 3. fully independent, fully empowered watchdog agencies to enforce
laws; 4. penalties that are high enough to encourage compliance; and 5.
empowerment of citizens to hold governments and watchdog agencies
accountable. The parties were given a grade ranging from
A (Platform makes clear promise to implement proposal) to I (Platform does
not mention proposal), with grades B for a vague or partial promise to
implement the proposal, C and D for clear to vague promises to explore the
proposal, E for mentioning proposal and F for mentioning the theme of the
proposal. Grades were averaged for each of the five sections, and the
averages of section grades were used to calculate the overall grade for each
party. "Given the lack of a provincial honesty-in-politics
law, and the lack of a clear pledge by any of the parties to pass such a
law, voters should be wary of trusting any political promises," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy
Watch. "However, if they want their concerns addressed,
voters should always turn up and at least exercise their legal right to decline
their ballot to send a message to the parties." The 2015 Alberta Report Card is the
first that Democracy Watch has issued concerning an Alberta provincial
election. In the past 20 years, Democracy
Watch has issued report cards
for federal, Ontario, B.C. and Quebec elections. Democracy Watch graded the parties'
election platforms by reviewing the platforms. Statements by party
leaders or representatives were not taken into account as they are not fully accessible
to all voters, nor are they binding in any way on the party (as admitted by
many party leaders) and as a result are even less reliable than promises made
in the parties' platforms. - 30
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MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: |
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I. Honest, Ethical
Government Measures 1. Requiring honesty-in-politics - Pass a law that requires all Cabinet ministers,
MLAs, political staff, Cabinet appointees and government employees (including
at Crown corporations, agencies, boards, commissions, courts and tribunals)
nomination race and election candidates to tell the truth, with an easily
accessible complaint process to a fully independent watchdog agency that is
fully empowered to investigate and penalize anyone who lies. (Go to Honesty
in Politics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) - No promises in any of the parties�
platforms 2. Strengthening ethics standards for politicians,
political staff, Cabinet appointees and government employees, and ethics
enforcement - Close the loopholes
in the existing ethics rules (including closing the loophole that allows
Cabinet ministers, MLAs, their staff and Cabinet appointees to be involved in
decisions in which they have a financial interest, and including requiring
resignation and a by-election if an MLA switches parties between elections)
and apply them to all government institutions (including all Crown
corporations), and as proposed by the federal Department of Finance place
anyone with decision-making power on the anti-corruption watch list of the
Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (Fintrac) so
deposits to their bank accounts can be tracked, and; strengthen the
independence and effectiveness of all the politician and government employee
ethics watchdog positions by giving opposition party leaders a veto over
appointees, having the legislature (as opposed to Cabinet) approve their
annual budgets, prohibiting the watchdogs from giving secret advice,
requiring them to investigate and rule publicly on all complaints (including
anonymous complaints), fully empowering and requiring them to penalize
rule-breakers, changing all the codes they enforce into laws, and ensuring
that all their decisions can be reviewed by the courts. (Go to Government
Ethics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Alberta Party – �Prohibit cabinet
ministers from using their office for political gain.� Green Party – �Greens would create
the office of Integrity Commissioner for the provincial government. An
all-party committee would appoint a commissioner for one non-renewable term.� �Alberta Greens support amending the
Conflicts of Interest Act to prohibit cabinet ministers from making spending
promises during election campaigns, as was recently done in the 2014
Calgary-Elbow by-election.� NDP – �(2.3) We will strengthen the
Conflict of Interest Act to prevent MLAs from using their position to benefit
their own financial interests or that of political friends, and to strengthen
cooling-off periods for former political staff. We will also expand the
application of the Act to apply to all senior staff of all of our province�s
agencies, boards and commissions.� �(2.6) We will respect the independence of
all-party committees, and will work to respect and maintain the independence
and adequate funding of the Officers of the Legislature, such as the Auditor
General.� Wildrose Party – �Pass legislation banning MLAs
elected under one party from crossing to another without a byelection.� �Strengthen
the independent Offices of the Legislature such as the Auditor General,
Ethics Commissioner, Chief Electoral Officer.� 3. Making the political donations and election
spending system democratic -
Prohibit secret, unlimited donations or gifts of money, property or services
by anyone for any reason to nomination, election and party leadership
candidates; limit donations to $200 annually from individuals, and bank donations
from corporations, unions and other organizations; also limit loans,
including from financial institutions, to parties and all types of candidates
to the same level as donations are limited; establish $1 per vote public
funding of political parties (50 cents per vote for parties that elect a
higher percentage of MLAs than the percentage of voter support they receive,
and; ensure riding associations receive a fair share of this per-vote funding
(so that party headquarters don't have undue control over riding
associations); require disclosure of all donations, gifts and loans of money,
property or services (including the identity of the donor's employer (as in
the U.S.) and major affiliations) quarterly and before any election day;
limit spending on campaigns for the leadership of political parties; limit
advertising spending by the government and opposition parties and third
parties in the six-month period leading up to an election, and limit
advertising spending by third parties during the election campaign period (as
spending by parties and candidates is limited); strengthen the independence
of the elections agency by requiring approval of the opposition parties to approve
the person appointed to head the agency (Go to the Money
in Politics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Alberta Party – �Prohibit public
spending announcements during an election, such as Education Minister Gordon
Dirks� announcement of new school portables for his constituency during the
2014 by-election.� �Toughen
Alberta�s campaign finance laws.� Green Party – �Greens would put
strict election-finance rules in place.� �The Green Party of Alberta supports the public funding of
political parties by means of an annual payment of $2 to each registered
party for each vote cast for that party in the most recent general election.� �The Green Party of Alberta would ban
contributions from corporations, unions, and any other organizations. Individual contributions would be
limited by a Green Party government to a maximum amount to be determined on
the basis of further research.� �A
Green Party government would make all charges, findings and penalties imposed
under the Election Act, as well as any subsequent, related legal proceedings
(for example, appeals) publicly available immediately on the web site of the
Chief Electoral Officer.� �The
Green Party of Alberta recommends adoption of the federal government�s
donation framework with a 75% credit available for donations up to and
including $400, 50% for the next $350, and 33.3% for the following $525 to a
total credit limit of $650 for donations up to and including $1275.� Liberal Party – �Make municipal
political contributions tax receiptable in the same manner as provincial and
federal political contributions.� NDP – �(2.1) We will ban both
corporate and union donations to political parties.� �(2.4) We will amend the Elections
Act to prohibit MLAs from using government resources during elections and we
will ensure the Chief Electoral officer can effectively investigate breaches
of the Act.� �(2.6) We will respect the independence of all-party committees,
and will work to respect and maintain the independence and adequate funding
of the Officers of the Legislature, such as the Auditor General.� Wildrose Party – �Get big money out of politics by
phasing out large corporate and union donations.� �Strengthen the independent
Offices of the Legislature such as the Auditor General, Ethics Commissioner,
Chief Electoral Officer.� 4. Closing down the revolving door - Prohibit lobbyists from working for government
departments or serving in senior positions for political parties or
candidates for public office (as in New Mexico and Maryland), and from having
business connections with anyone who does, and close the loopholes so that
the actual cooling-off period for former Cabinet ministers, ministerial staff
and senior public officials is five years (and three years for MLAs, their
staff, and government employees) during which they are prohibited from
becoming a lobbyist or working with people, corporations or organizations
with which they had direct dealings while in government. Make the ethics
watchdogs more independent and effective by giving opposition party leaders a
veto over their appointment, by having the legislature (as opposed to
Cabinet) approve their annual budget, by prohibiting the commissioners from
giving secret advice, by requiring the commissioners to investigate and rule
publicly on all complaints (including anonymous complaints), and by fully
empowering and requiring the commissioners to penalize rule-breakers, by
ensuring all decisions of the commissioners can be reviewed by the courts.
(Go to Government
Ethics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) NDP – �(2.3) We will strengthen the
Conflict of Interest Act to prevent MLAs from using their position to benefit
their own financial interests or that of political friends, and to strengthen
cooling-off periods for former political staff. We will also expand the
application of the Act to apply to all senior staff of all of our province�s
agencies, boards and commissions.� �(2.6) We will respect the independence of all-party
committees, and will work to respect and maintain the independence and
adequate funding of the Officers of the Legislature, such as the Auditor
General.� Wildrose Party - �Strengthen
the independent Offices of the Legislature such as the Auditor General,
Ethics Commissioner, Chief Electoral Officer.�
5. Strengthening access-to-information system - Strengthen the access-to-information law and
government information management system by applying the law to all
government/publicly funded institutions, requiring all institutions and
officials to create records of all decisions and actions and disclose them
proactively and regularly, creating a public interest override of all access
exemptions, giving opposition party leaders a veto over the appointment of
the information commissioner, having the legislature (as opposed to Cabinet)
approve the information commissioner's annual budgets, and giving the information
commissioner the power and mandate to order changes to government
institutions' information systems, and to penalize violators of access laws,
regulations, policies and rules. (Go to Open
Government Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Alberta Party – �Conduct government
business in the legislature - not behind closed doors.� Green Party – �Greens would end the
secrecy and negligence that breeds a culture of entitlement in the provincial
government. There would be a radical overhaul of rules around transparency
and accountability. The current piecemeal reforms (such as those recently
introduced around international travel) are not sufficient.� �A Green Party government would
review and amend the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to
maximize the availability of government-held information to Albertans and
remove all unjustifiable exemptions.�
�With the objective of enhancing the free flow of information to the
public about what government is doing A Green government would disband the
Public Affairs Bureau.� Liberal Party – �End political
interference in Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP)
requests by establishing an open, independent process.� NDP – �(2.2) We will make
infrastructure decisions and priorities transparent with a public
�infrastructure sunshine list,� so that funding goes to build the most
important projects rather than to promote the political fortunes of the PCs.� �(2.5) We will extend the sunshine
list to include our province�s agencies, boards and commissions.� �(2.6) We
will respect the independence of all-party committees, and will work to
respect and maintain the independence and adequate funding of the Officers of
the Legislature, such as the Auditor General.� Wildrose
Party – �Provide easier, fairer, and more affordable public
access to Freedom of Information requests by reducing the grounds on which
the government can withhold information and ensuring the Information and
Privacy Commissioner has the tools she needs.�
�Mandate
that all travel expenses of elected officials and senior staff be fully and
publicly disclosed in a detailed online report.� �Pass
legislation to limit severance packages for all political staff and senior
government and agency officials and make all severance agreements transparent.�
�Strengthen the independent
Offices of the Legislature such as the Auditor General, Ethics Commissioner,
Chief Electoral Officer.� 6. Exposing behind-closed-door communications - Require in a new law that Ministers and public officials
and MLAs and their staff disclose their contacts with all lobbyists, whether
paid or volunteer lobbyists. (Go to Government
Ethics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Green Party – �A Green Party
government would also amend the Conflicts of Interest Act so that the
responsibility for reporting meetings between government officials and others
would fall on the shoulders of those government officials. (With this change
made there would be no need for a Registrar of Lobbyists.) Government
officials would be required to display all such meetings in their daily
agendas which would be posted in real time on their web sites. Monthly
summaries of these meetings with participants and topics discussed included
would also be posted.� 7. Strengthening lobbying disclosure and ethics,
and the enforcement system -
Strengthen the lobbying disclosure law and also enact a lobbying code of
conduct, and by closing the loophole that currently allows corporations to hide
the number of people involved in lobbying activities, and by requiring
lobbyists to disclose their past work with any Canadian or foreign
government, political party or candidate, to disclose all their government
relations activities (whether paid or volunteer) involving gathering inside
information or trying to influence policy-makers (as in the U.S.) and to
disclose the amount they spend on lobbying campaigns (as in 33 U.S. states),
and; strengthen the ethics and enforcement system by extending the limitation
period for prosecutions of violations of the law to 10 years, and; by giving
opposition party leaders a veto over the appointment of the commissioner for
lobbyists, by having the legislature (as opposed to Cabinet) approve the commissioner's
annual budget, by prohibiting the commissioner from giving secret advice, by
requiring the commissioner to investigate and rule publicly on all complaints
(including anonymous complaints), by fully empowering and requiring the commissioner
to penalize rule-breakers, by ensuring all commissioner decisions can be
reviewed by the courts. (Go to Government
Ethics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Green Party – �A Green Party
government would also amend the Conflicts of Interest Act so that the
responsibility for reporting meetings between government officials and others
would fall on the shoulders of those government officials. (With this change
made there would be no need for a Registrar of Lobbyists.) Government
officials would be required to display all such meetings in their daily
agendas which would be posted in real time on their web sites. Monthly
summaries of these meetings with participants and topics discussed included
would also be posted.� NDP – �(2.6) We will respect the
independence of all-party committees, and will work to respect and maintain
the independence and adequate funding of the Officers of the Legislature,
such as the Auditor General.� Wildrose Party - �Strengthen
the independent Offices of the Legislature such as the Auditor General,
Ethics Commissioner, Chief Electoral Officer.�
8. Increasing powers of Auditor General - Increase the independence of the Auditor General
by requiring approval of appointment from opposition party leaders; increase
auditing resources of the Auditor General by having the legislature (as
opposed to Cabinet) approve the Auditor General's annual budget, and; empower
the Auditor General to audit all government institutions and also audit
projected spending (like the federal Parliamentary Budget Officer does, or
create a PBO-like position to do this)), and also empower the Auditor
General/PBO to make orders for changes to government institutions' spending
systems, and to penalize violators of spending rules or Auditor General/PBO
orders or requests for information. (Go to the Stop Fraud
Politician Spending Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's
proposals) Green Party – �A Green Party
government would establish an independent, non-ad hoc process for setting MLA
and Cabinet Ministers salaries, benefits, and compensable expenses. Before
making a choice of process, it would review how these issues are handled by
other Canadian jurisdictions which use such processes, such as Manitoba,
Ontario and PEI.� Liberal Party - �Co-locate Alberta Trade
Offices in Canadian embassies and consulates.� �Require open competition for senior government
representatives or trade envoys.�
�Disband the Public Affairs Bureau.� NDP – �(2.2) We will make
infrastructure decisions and priorities transparent with a public
�infrastructure sunshine list,� so that funding goes to build the most
important projects rather than to promote the political fortunes of the PCs.� �(2.5) We will extend the sunshine
list to include our province�s agencies, boards and commissions.� �(2.6) We
will respect the independence of all-party committees, and will work to
respect and maintain the independence and adequate funding of the Officers of
the Legislature, such as the Auditor General.� Progressive Conservative Party – �Report on
Alberta�s finances on a fully consolidated basis in a format supported by the
Auditor General of Alberta, starting in 2015/16.� �Issue a report card on Alberta�s savings every six
months.� �Provide public
reporting in advance of any international travel for government staff.� Wildrose Party – �End sole-sourced contracting and
improve conflict of interest legislation to ensure contracts are awarde appropriately.�
�Mandate
that all travel expenses of elected officials and senior staff be fully and
publicly disclosed in a detailed online report.� �Pass
legislation to limit severance packages for all political staff and senior
government and agency officials and make all severance agreements transparent.�
�Use
more teleconferencing to reduce executive travel by 50%.� �Implement full disclosure of all
financial expenditures of public funds by all ministries and arms-length
boards and agencies.� �Guarantee an open tendering and
bidding process on all major government sanctioned and approved procurement
and contracts to eliminate sole-source contract cronyism.� �Strengthen the independent
Offices of the Legislature such as the Auditor General, Ethics Commissioner,
Chief Electoral Officer.� 9. Restricting government and campaign
advertising – Empower a
government watchdog agency to preview and prohibit government advertising
contracting out if there is no reason to have the advertising developed by a
contractor, and to reject any government advertising that is essentially a
partisan ad for the ruling party, and strictly limit all advertising spending
by the government in the six-month period leading up to an election. (Go to the Stop Fraud
Politician Spending Campaign for details about Democracy Watch�s
proposals) - No promises in any of the parties�
platforms
10. Increasing meaningful public consultation - Pass a law requiring all government departments and
institutions to use consultation processes that provide meaningful
opportunities for citizen participation, especially concerning decisions that
affect the lives of all Ontarians. (Go to the Democratic
Voting Systems Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Green Party – �The Green Party of
Alberta would strike a Citizens� Assembly to advise and consult on how all
dimensions of provincial government operations can be made more genuinely
participatory and transparent to Albertans.� Progressive Conservative Party – �Focus on
regional decision-making in health care. Establish 8-10 operational districts.
Each district will be aligned with a local advisory council to give the community
a say on how their health care is delivered.� 11. Restricting power of Cabinet to make
appointments - Require approval by
opposition party leaders for all judicial, agency, board, commission and
tribunal appointments currently made by the Premier, especially for
appointees to senior and law enforcement positions, after a merit-based
nomination and screening process. (Go to the Democratic
Voting Systems Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) - No promises in any of the parties�
platforms 12. Making the legislature more democratic - Change the law to restrict the Premier's power to
shut down (prorogue) the legislature to only for a very short time, and only for an election (dissolution) or
if the national situation has changed significantly or if the Premier can
show that the government has completed all their pledged actions from the
last Speech from the Throne (or attempted to do so, as the opposition parties
may stop or delay completion of some actions). Give all party caucuses the power to choose which MLAs
in their party sits on legislature committees, and allow any MLA to introduce
a private member bill at any time, and define what a "vote of
confidence" is in the law in a restrictive way so most votes in the
legislature are free votes. (Go to the Democratic
Voting Systems Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Alberta Party – �Strengthen our
democracy by redefining the role of MLAs to better serve constituents and
reforming how the Legislature operates.� Liberal Party – �Allow MLAs to have
free votes in the Legislature on all non-budgetary or platform issues.� Wildrose Party – �Restore representative democracy
by mandating all final votes in the Legislature be free and reported to the
public.� �Improve
democracy in the Legislature by implementing reforms to the legislative process
like opposition days and having all-party committees review and amend Legislation.�
�Legislate
true fixed dates for provincial elections, the opening of legislative sessions,
and the presentation of the budget and quarterly updates.� 13. Ensuring free, fair and representative elections
- Change the current voting law and
system (the Election Act) to
specifically restrict the Premier's power to call an unfair snap election, so
that election dates are fixed as much as possible under the parliamentary
system. Change the Act also
so that nomination and party leadership races are regulated by Elections Alberta
(including limiting spending on campaigns for party leadership), so that
Elections Alberta determines which parties can participate in election
debates based upon merit criteria, so that party leaders cannot appoint
candidates except when a riding does not have a riding association, so that
voters can give a reason if they decline their ballot (ie. vote for
"none of the above") and so Elections Alberta is required to
educate voters about their legal right to decline their ballot, and to
provide a more equal number of voters in every riding, and a more accurate
representation in the legislature of the actual voter support for each
political party (with a safeguard to ensure that a party with low-level,
narrow-base support does not have a disproportionately high level of power in
the legislature). (Go to the Democratic
Voting Systems Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Green Party – �Greens would hold a
referendum on whether to adopt proportional representation (PR) and would
create a Citizens� Assembly to advise on adoption of PR; the experience in BC
with its citizens� assembly would be studied and improved upon.� �A Green
Party government would make all charges, findings and penalties imposed under
the Election Act, as well as any subsequent, related legal proceedings (for
example, appeals) publicly available immediately on the web site of the Chief
Electoral Officer.� Liberal Party – �Establish a single
fixed election date.� �Change
Alberta�s electoral system to instant-runoff (preferential) voting.� NDP - �(2.4) We will amend the Elections
Act to prohibit MLAs from using government resources during elections and we
will ensure the Chief Electoral officer can effectively investigate breaches
of the Act.� �(2.6) We will respect the independence of all-party committees,
and will work to respect and maintain the independence and adequate funding
of the Officers of the Legislature, such as the Auditor General.� Wildrose Party – �Legislate
true fixed dates for provincial elections, the opening of legislative sessions,
and the presentation of the budget and quarterly updates.� �Implement
MLA recall legislation.�
�Strengthen
the independent Offices of the Legislature such as the Auditor General,
Ethics Commissioner, Chief Electoral Officer.�
14. Facilitating citizen watchdog groups over
government - Require provincial
government institutions to enclose one-page pamphlets periodically in their
mailings to citizens inviting citizens to join citizen-funded and directed
groups to represent citizen interests in policy-making and enforcement
processes of key government departments (for example, on ethics, spending,
and health care) as has been proposed in the U.S. and recommended for
Canadian banks and other financial institutions in 1998 by a federal task
force, a legislature of Commons Committee, and a Senate Committee. (Go
to the Citizen
Association Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) - No promises in any of the parties�
platforms 15. Ensuring effective whistleblower protection - Require everyone to report any violation of any
law, regulation, policy, code, guideline or rule, and require all watchdog
agencies over government to investigate and rule publicly on allegations of
violations, to penalize violators, to protect anyone (not just employees) who
reports a violation (so-called "whistleblowers") from retaliation,
to reward whistleblowers whose allegations are proven to be true, and to
ensure a right to appeal to the courts. (Go to the Open
Government Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Wildrose Party - �Strengthen whistleblower legislation to protect all direct
and indirect government employees or contractors who report unethical,
wasteful, or other wrongful behavior.�
�Strengthen
the independent Offices of the Legislature such as the Auditor General,
Ethics Commissioner, Chief Electoral Officer.� 16. Ensuring loophole free laws and strong penalties
for wrongdoers - Close any
technical and other loopholes that have been identified in laws, regulations,
policies, codes, guidelines and rules (especially those regulating government
institutions and large corporations) to help ensure strong enforcement, and
increase financial penalties for violations to a level that significantly
effects the annual revenues/budget of the institution or corporation. (Go to
the Campaigns page for
details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Liberal Party – �Designate all
surface and groundwater as a public good, to be managed in the public interest,
and regulated accordingly.� �Enhance
independent monitoring measures and impose tougher penalties for polluters.� �Establish the Office of the
Environmental Commissioner as an independent officer of the Legislative
Assembly of Alberta.� �Amend the
Alberta Human Rights Act to include gender identity and gender expression as
prohibited grounds of discrimination.�
�Amend the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) to allow
monetary penalties for companies that lose customers� personal information.� �Streamline death review process for
children who die in government care.� NDP – �(5.12) We will strengthen
environmental standards, inspection, monitoring and enforcement to protect
Alberta�s water, land and air. We will build standards based on independent
science and international best practices, designed transparently in careful
consultation with Albertans.� |
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