Democracy Watch and the National Government Ethics Coalition called on the federal Commissioner of Lobbyists Karen Shepherd to disclose the identities of the 32 lobbyists who have been found violating the Lobbying Act since 2004, but not prosecuted. The groups are also calling to find them guilty of violating the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct (which … Read more
In testimony before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, Democracy Watch and the national Government Ethics Coalition called on the committee to strongly recommend changing the federal Lobbying Act and enforcement system in 10 key ways to finally end secret, unethical lobbying of the federal government. The committee … Read more
The nation-wide Open Government Coalition, Government Ethics Coalition and Money in Politics Coalition, made up of more than 70 citizen groups in total with three million members (all coordinated by Democracy Watch), released an open letter calling on the federal government to expand its current very limited open government agenda to include dozens of measures … Read more
Democracy Watch issued a statement concerning the Commissioner of Lobbying Investigation Report. Democracy Watch said that ruling that lobbyists who do not register and disclose their activities are guilty of violating the lobbyists' code is not good enough. Democracy Watch believes they must also be prosecuted and found guilty of violating the Lobbying Act, and fined … Read more
On International Anti-Corruption Day, Democracy Watch called on all federal, provincial, territorial and municipal political parties and politicians to close key loopholes in laws, regulations and ethics codes across Canada that allow for corrupting secret donations to many political candidates, and secret lobbying of politicians, political staff, appointees and government officials, and to strengthen enforcement … Read more
Democracy Watch said that the Federal Conservatives have broken all of their international Open Government Partnership commitments by failing to consult with Canadians about their draft action plan before Brazil meeting during the week of November 27, 2011. With representatives of 49 countries including Canada headed to Brasilia, Brazil for the international Open Government Partnership … Read more
Democracy Watch released its analysis of Elections Canada’s enforcement of the Canada Elections Act since 2004, revealing that the main problem is no one can tell whether Elections Canada has been enforcing the law fairly and properly because it has failed to report details of how it has investigated and ruled on 2,284 complaints in … Read more
Democracy Watch suggests that the people planning to begin demonstrating on Bay Street in Toronto and in cities across Canada this weekend on bank and corporate responsibility issues should support the 15 key measures endorsed by the Canadian Community Reinvestment Coalition. Democracy Watch said that without specific proposals for change, the demonstrators will not be … Read more
Democracy Watch released the results of its analysis of Ontario political party donations in 2008-2009 as made public by Elections Ontario. The analysis, by Democracy Watch Coordinator Tyler Sommers, shows that on average during those two years, corporations donated about 50 percent of all money donated to the Ontario Liberals, and 43 percent to the … Read more
Democracy Watch said the per-vote annual funding for federal political parties is the most democratic part of the federal political finance system because the funding is handed out based on the actual support from voters each party receives in the election and that by cutting the per-vote funding, the Conservatives are making the most undemocratic … Read more
