Democracy Watch released its report card on the 2011 good government election platforms of the five main Ontario political parties, the only election report card on these issues. The Green Party received the best overall grade (still bad) of D-, with the Conservatives second with E, the NDP with F and the Liberals with Incomplete. … Read more
Democracy Watch said no matter which party wins the Ontario election, wealthy interests will have been able to use too large donations of up to $31,000 to buy influence with the provincial government and during the provincial election. Democracy Watch criticized the Ontario Liberals for breaking their 2003 election promise to democratize Ontario’s political finance … Read more
Democracy Watch announced that it is exploring a court challenge of Elections Ontario's continuing negligence in failing to correct its provincial election website, advertising and voter information cards to let Ontario voters know they have the legal right to decline their ballot. Democracy Watch also called on Elections Ontario to produce new advertising with key … Read more
Democracy Watch called on the federal New Democratic Party to live up to its name, and the Liberals to live up to their rhetoric about equal opportunity for all Canadians, by holding the first-ever party leadership races of any federal party that uphold democratic principles. Founding director of Democracy Watch Duff Conacher said the federal … Read more
Democracy Watch called on the Ontario, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island governments to open the legislature for one day to pass a bill that would push the fixed-date election day back to the last Monday in October (or early November, as in Saskatchewan which is also having an election this fall). These … Read more
Democracy Watch called on Elections Ontario to correct its website because, as it has since 1990, it continues to fail to inform Ontario voters of their full voting rights. On the main pages of its "We Make Voting Easy" website, Elections Ontario does not mention that Ontario voters have the right to decline their ballot … Read more
Democracy Watch said Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson has, for only the second time since she became commissioner in July 2007, issued a ruling that actually upholds federal ethics rules and sets a strong conflict of interest standard. Democracy Watch approved of Dawson's ruling on a letter former MP Helena Guergis sent … Read more
Democracy Watch said that even though senators sometimes correct bills passed by the House of Commons, this is not a strong enough reason to have a Senate. The organization also said the Senate's ethics rules are so loophole-filled and weakly enforced that senators are allowed to be embedded by lobbyists for interest groups. Democracy Watch … Read more
Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher said the $2 per-vote annual subsidy for parties is the most democratic part of the federal political finance system, because it is based on the fundamental democratic principle of one-person, one-vote. Conacher said it will be very undemocratic to cut it to zero as the Conservative government proposes. Call 613-241-5179.
Democracy Watch coordinator Duff Conacher released an open letter questioning whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper's (Calgary Southwest, AB) quick re-appointment to the Senate of two senators who resigned from the Senate to run for the Conservatives means the senators were guaranteed in advance that they would be re-appointed if they lost the election. Conacher said Section 119 of the … Read more
