Democracy Watch will call on the House of Commons Ethics Committee reviewing the federal Access to Information Act to recommend 18 key changes to make the Act an actual open government law, and to make enforcement more independent, fully resourced, timely and effective, including by penalizing violations with high fines. “Citizen groups and experts have loudly and … Read more
Democracy Watch released the letter it has sent calling on the Ottawa police to investigate the allegation that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.), former Finance Minister Bill Morneau, members of their staff, and former Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick obstructed justice by pressuring then-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to stop the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, and … Read more
Democracy Watch and 13 other citizen organizations called in a joint public letter on federal Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger to stop trying to gut the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct by changing key rules in ways that will allow corrupt favour-trading in federal politics that has been illegal since 1997.“The Lobbying Commissioner is contradicting herself by proposing new rules to ban lobbyists from … Read more
Democracy Watch called on federal Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Bélanger to stop trying to gut the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct by changing key rules in ways that will allow corrupt favour-trading in federal politics. “The federal Lobbying Commissioner is proposing to gut key lobbying ethics rules in ways that will allow for corrupt favour-trading in federal politics that … Read more
Democracy Watch released the second letter it has sent calling on the RCMP and Crown prosecutors to issue a full, public explanation of the state of the investigation into the allegation that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.), former Finance minister Bill Morneau, some members of their staff, and former lerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick obstructed justice … Read more
Democracy Watch pointed to Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre’s (Carleton, Ont.) investments in cryptocurrency mutual funds while he advocates for crypto in his Conservative Party leadership campaign to highlight a loophole in the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons. “It’s clearly unethical for MPs, or party leadership candidates, to advocate for changes that will … Read more
Democracy Watch called on MPs on the House Procedure and House Affairs Committee to come their meeting publicyly as it continues discussing changes to the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons (“MP Code”), and to invite further experts and hold more open meetings before making changes to the Code. “The MP’s ethics code is so … Read more
Democracy Watch released its submission to the House Procedure and House Affairs Committee calling for changes to close huge loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons that allow MPs to take part in most decisions even when they have a financial conflict of interest, and allow MPs and their … Read more
During his appearance before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs today, Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher will call for key changes to close loopholes in the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons. The loopholes allow MPs to take part in most decisions even when they have a conflict of interest, and allow them to … Read more
Democracy Watch announced that the Trudeau government has filed a motion asking the Federal Court to throw out Democracy Watch’s and Integrity B.C. founder Wayne Crookes case challenging Prime Minister Trudeau’s request last August that the Governor General call a snap election. “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s (Papineau, Que.) snap election call was illegal because Canada’s election law … Read more
