Democracy Watch called on federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson to recuse herself from making any further decisions concerning Finance Minister Bill Morneau (Toronto Centre, Ont.). They also called for an investigation by an independent person of Morneau’s failure to issue public statements (as required under subsection 25(1) of the Act) containing details about at least … Read more
Testifying before the House of Commons Access, Privacy and Ethics Committee, Democracy Watch and the Open Government Coalition it coordinates called on the MPs on the Committee to make many key changes to Bill C-58 to strengthen the federal Access to Information Act and open government system. “To be credible, the Liberals on the House … Read more
Democracy Watch responded to Finance Minister Bill Morneau‘s (Toronto Centre, Ont.) decision to sell his shares in Morneau Shepell, and is also exploring a court challenge of the Ethics Commissioner’s decision that Morneau did not need to set up a blind trust. “Loopholes in the federal ethics law allow Finance Minister Morneau to continue to make decisions … Read more
Based on the article published in the Globe and Mail, Democracy Watch has concluded that federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson made decisions that allowed Finance Minister Bill Morneau (Toronto Centre, Ont.) to violate the Conflict of Interest Actby not either setting up a blind trust or selling his shares in his family’s company … Read more
“The Trudeau Liberals’ proposed bill is a charade that doesn’t stop cash-for-access to Cabinet ministers, MPs or their staff or the unethical influence of big money in federal politics, and the only way to stop it is to lower the federal donation limit to $100 as in Quebec,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch and … Read more
Democracy Watch released the letter it sent to federal Commissioner of Lobbying Karen Shepherd calling on her to disclose key details of her enforcement record of the Lobbying Act and Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct since March 2014. “Lobbying Commissioner Shepherd, like all other officers of parliament and law enforcement agencies, has a duty to provide … Read more
Democracy Watch announced it is filing complaints with both federal Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson about the relationship and meetings between representatives of the Council of Canadian Innovators and Liberal Cabinet officials, and decisions Cabinet ministers may have made about those relationships and meetings. “Given that the former election campaign managers for … Read more
Democracy Watch announced its court cases challenging the Trudeau Cabinet’s reappointment of both federal Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson to their third six-month terms since their multi-year term in office expired in July 2016. “The federal lobbying and ethics laws clearly intend that the commissioners who enforce those laws be appointed for seven-year terms to … Read more
Democracy Watch has called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) to democratize and Canadianize the choice of the next Governor General. Like all the other Officers of Parliament, the Governor General must be independent of the Prime Minister because s/he makes many key decisions about the operations of Parliament and the government, and so … Read more
Democracy Watch called on federal political parties to work together during the Government of Canada’s 150th year to make all the changes needed to ensure Canada also becomes the world’s leading democracy. Many key changes are needed to ensure everyone in federal politics is effectively required to act honesty, ethically, openly, representatively and to prevent … Read more
