Democracy Watch released its Report Card on the Federal Parties’ 2019 Democratic Reform Platforms. The Green Party received the best grade (B-) as it promised 25 key, systemic democratic reforms. The NDP received the next best grade (D+) as it had only a dozen vague promises in its platform. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives received a … Read more
Democracy Watch released the letter it sent to Commissioner of Canada Elections Yves Côté calling for an investigation into possible disclosure and election collusion violations by the Manning Centre for Building Democracy and five “Proud” groups it has funded to do election advertising this election. “Given the rules in the federal election law, and the Supreme Court’s ruling … Read more
Democracy Watch calls on federal political party leaders to learn the lesson of the post-Sept. 2018 provincial election chaos in New Brunswick and agree this week on eight public, written rules for a minority government, as more than 80 per cent of Canadians want. Even if Canada does not have a minority government after next week’s election, agreeing on … Read more
Democracy Watch released the letter it sent to Commissioner of Canada Elections Yves Côté calling for an investigation into possible illegal election collusion between the Conservative Party and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. In the letter is evidence that raises the question of whether the Conservatives and CAPP have violated the new rule in … Read more
Democracy Watch applauded the part of the Ethics Commissioner’s ruling that found Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) violated section 9 the Conflict of Interest Act by improperly trying to influence the Attorney General to drop the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. “The Ethics Commissioner made the right ruling by finding Prime Minister Trudeau guilty of violating the ethics law … Read more
Democracy Watch sent a letter to federal Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger calling on her to ensure an independent ruling, before Parliament is shut down for the fall election, on the complaint letter it filed in late April 2018 about unregistered lobbying and doing favours for Cabinet and federal politicians by Facebook employees, and employees of its subsidiary Instagram. “Voters have … Read more
Democracy Watch sent a letter with federal Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger calling on her to ensure an independent ruling, before Parliament is shut down for the fall election, on the complaint letter it filed in July 2017 about the relationship and meetings between representatives of the Council of Canadian Innovators and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland (University-Rosedale, Ont.). “Voters have a … Read more
Democracy Watch sent a letter federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion calling on him to ensure an independent investigation and ruling on recent Trudeau Cabinet appointments of judges who have connections to Minister of Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs and Internal Trade Dominic LeBlanc (Beauséjour, N.B.). “LeBlanc should be investigated to determine if he violated the federal ethics law by participating … Read more
After a new report from the Bloc Quebecois revealed that the Trudeau Liberals have received almost $1.5 million in donations from staff, executives and lobbyists at more than 110 companies, law and accounting firms and interest groups since 2015, Democracy Watch and the Money in Politics Coalition, joined by almost 90,000 voters, called on federal parties to pass a … Read more
Democracy Watch highlighted key problems with the changes made by Bill C-76 (which became law in December), and the federal government’s initiatives announced in January and earlier this week, that together don’t do enough to stop fake online election ads or false claims about candidates, or to protect voters’ privacy. “If the Trudeau Liberals actually want to ensure that the fall … Read more
