Thursday, April 5, 2007

OTTAWA - Today, Democracy Watch welcomed the recent resignation of federal Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro, whom Democracy Watch took to court in September 2005 because of his extremely weak enforcement attitude and record (the case has been on hold since April 2007 awaiting a hearing on a preliminary motion by the Ethics Commissioner -- September 29, 2005 news release about the court application).  Given that he resigned and given his very poor performance, Democracy Watch does not believe that the Ethics Commissioner deserved any severance payment, and called on the federal government to confirm that no payment has been made.

Democracy Watch also called on the federal Cabinet immediately to approve the “Conflict of Interest Act” sections of the so-called “Federal Accountability Act” (FAA) and to establish the promised Public Appointments Commission to ensure a merit-based search process for the new Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.  And, as soon as possible, the key ethics rules deleted by the FAA that require public officials to be honest and to avoid apparent conflicts of interest must also be added to the Act, and the corrupting provision that allows the Commissioner to give secret advice must be removed.

Democracy Watch is very concerned that Deputy Ethics Commissioner Robert Benson has been appointed Interim Commissioner.  Mr. Benson was Deputy Ethics Counsellor when the office of the former Ethics Counsellor was found to show clear evidence of incompetence and bias in its enforcement record by the Federal Court of Canada in the court’s July 2004 ruling on Democracy Watch’s case challenging the Ethics Counsellor’s structure, operations and rulings on four complaints filed by Democracy Watch.

“Canadians should not have had to endure the past 20 years of federal government corruption, waste and abuse of the public interest caused by lack of enforcement of ethics rules, and should not have to pay the costs of even one more day of sham ethics enforcement,” said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch.  “The Supreme Court of Canada stated in 1996 that strict enforcement of strong ethics rules is needed to have a democratic government, and the Federal Court echoed this conclusion in 2004.  Federal politicians must immediately choose a new Ethics Commissioner who clearly shares the courts’ attitude and has a record of strong enforcement of ethics or similar rules.” (To see a summary of the 1996 Supreme Court of Canada ruling, click here -- To see a summary of the 2004 Federal Court ruling, click here)

For twenty years there has been little or no enforcement of federal ethics rules.  From 1986 to 1994
the Prime Minister supposedly enforced the rules for himself, his own Cabinet and their staff.  From June 1994 to May 2004, lapdog Ethics Counsellor Howard Wilson let at least 18 Cabinet ministers off the hook even though they had clearly violated the ethics rules, and who knows how many other public office holders’ unethical activities were rubber-stamped as ethical by Wilson in secret. 

Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro had more independence from Cabinet than Wilson, but had the same extremely weak enforcement attitude, letting almost as many politicians and political staff off the hook from 2004 to 2007 as the former Ethics Counsellor did during his 10-year term (and who knows how many others were allowed to violate ethics rules in secret).

Among other examples, Ethics Commissioner Shapiro’s very poor performance record includes the following misguided, incompetent, unprofessional, and in some cases unethical, actions (To see a listing of key information about the Ethics Commissioner, click here):

• as mentioned above, hiring Deputy Ethics Counsellor Robert Benson to be his Deputy Ethics Commissioner along with many other former Ethics Counsellor staff;
• hiring David W. Scott and his law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP ("BLG") to conduct an investigation into Liberal Cabinet minister Judy Sgro even though Scott and BLG had extensive ties to the Liberal Party;
• while still investigating, giving Sgro a letter and changing its contents to clear her of the allegations, and then initially failing to admit that the letter had been changed;
• refusing in his report on Sgro to consider 10 of the 13 allegations made against her, and failing to specify all the rules that applied to the three allegations considered (To see news release about the Sgro investigation and ruling, and link to the ruling, click here);
• failing in his ruling to explain or apply ethics rules that clearly applied to Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal’s actions in which he required immigration applicants to post a bond with his office (To see news release about the Grewal investigation and ruling, and link to the ruling, click here);
• delaying or refusing to make public his rulings on the following actions: Lyle Vanclief and John Manley (former Cabinet ministers who both became lobbyists soon after leaving office), Jim Walsh (a Crown corporation board member who attended a Liberal Party event), Tim Murphy (involved in the Gurmant Grewal party-switching negotiations) and Prime Minister Paul Martin in relation to staff member’s Tim Murphy's actions (To see summary of situation, click here), staff member Ihor Wons’ involvement in the Sgro situation, and PMO staff member Scott Reid who kept allegations about Sgro secret;
• failing or refusing to properly maintain, review and update former Prime Minister Paul Martin's recusal requirement regime;
• failing to audit the disclosure statements of public office holders and members of the House of Commons, even though the statements are a key basis for determining whether they are in violation of ethics rules;
• failing to find two MP's guilty of violating ethics rules even though they failed or refused to submit their required financial disclosure document by the legal deadline;
• meeting behind closed doors with a committee of MPs to discuss enforcement of MPs’ ethics rules;
• failing or refusing to re-consider eight complaints filed by Democracy Watch with the former Ethics Counsellor, in defiance of a Federal Court of Canada order (To see a summary of the history of the eight complaints, click here);
• letting David Emerson off the hook for switching parties for a Cabinet post (To see the news release and complaint letter about David Emerson, click here -- To see the Ethics Commissioner's report on David Emerson, click here), and refusing to review a complaint against Belinda Stronach for similar actions, and refusing to review a complaint against Wajid Khan for party-switching (To see the complaint letter, click here -- To see the Ethics Commissioner's non-ruling on the Wajid Khan situation, click here), and;
• refusing to review complaints against Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other Cabinet ministers for breaking election promises concerning the so-called “Federal Accountability Act” (FAA -- To see the complaint, click here -- To see the Ethics Commissioner's ruling, click here), and taxing income trusts (To see the complaint, click here -- To see the Ethics Commissioner's ruling, click here).

1. Office of the federal Ethics Commissioner - http://www.parl.gc.ca/oec
Annual Report of the Ethics Commissioner on Activities in Relation to Public Office Holders for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2005 -
http://www.parl.gc.ca/oec/en/media/annual_reports/reports/AR_POH_EN_web.pdf

Annual Report of the Ethics Commissioner on Activities in Relation to Members of the House of Commons for the Fiscal Year ending March 31, 2005 - http://www.parl.gc.ca/oec/en/media/annual_reports/reports/AR_MP_EN_web.pdf

Annual Report on MPs Sponsored Travel for Fiscal Year ending March 31, 2005 -
http://www.parl.gc.ca/oec/en/media/annual_reports/reports/report_2004_en.pdf
 

2. Laws and Codes
Parliament of Canada Act - http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/3/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/government/C-4/C-4_4/C-4_cover-e.html

Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders (the Public Office Holders Code) -
http://www.parl.gc.ca/oec/en/public_office_holders/conflict_of_interest

Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons (the MPs Code) -  http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/standingorders/appa2-e.htm
 

3. Transcripts of Parliamentary Committee Hearings at which the Ethics Commissioner and/or his staff have testified (in chronological order):
Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on April 26, 2004 -  http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfocomDoc/37/3/haff/meetings/evidence/HAFFEV16-E.HTM

Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on October 14, 2004 -  http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfocomDoc/38/1/proc/meetings/evidence/PROCEV02-E.HTM

Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on December 8, 2004 -  http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfocomDoc/38/1/ethi/meetings/evidence/ETHIEV07-E.HTM

Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on February 10, 2005 -  http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfocomDoc/38/1/ethi/meetings/evidence/ETHIEV10-E.HTM

Subcommittee on the Disclosure Statement under the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on April 14, 2005 -  http://www.parl.gc.ca/committee/CommitteePublication.aspx?SourceId=112190

Subcommittee on the Disclosure Statement under the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on April 21, 2005 -   http://www.parl.gc.ca/committee/CommitteePublication.aspx?SourceId=111744

Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on May 10, 2005 -  http://www.parl.gc.ca/committee/CommitteePublication.aspx?SourceId=116790

Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on June 2, 2005 -  http://www.parl.gc.ca/committee/CommitteePublication.aspx?SourceId=119710

Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on June 9, 2005 -  http://www.parl.gc.ca/committee/CommitteePublication.aspx?SourceId=120510
 

4. Radio Interviews of the Ethics Commisioner
On September 11, 2004 on CBC Radio’s show “The House” - http://www.cbc.ca/thehouse/audio.html (To listen to the piece, click on the "September 11" link under the heading "2004" on the page the link takes you to -- the piece starts 27 minutes, 50 seconds into the show, and ends 35 minutes, 12 seconds into the show)

On May 3, 2005, the Ethics Commissioner was interviewed on CBC Radio’s “The Current” show -  http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2005/200505/20050503.html (Part 2 of the show)
 

5. Judy Sgro Situation
Ethics Commissioner's June 21, 2005 ruling on the Sgro situation: http://www.parl.gc.ca/sites/ethicscommission/en/media/inquiry_reports/reports/ReportS_EN3_web.pdf

Democracy Watch's news release about the ruling on the Sgro situation - Ethics Commissioner Ruling on Sgro Affair Biased, Flawed -- Avoids Many Key Issues (June 21, 2005)

Democracy Watch's news release about the Ethics Commissioner's investigation of the Sgro situation - Ethics Commissioner Process Biased, Flawed -- Impartial Inquiry Needed into Sgro Affair (May 10, 2005)
 

6. Gurmant Grewal Situation
Ethics Commissioner's June 22, 2005 ruling on the Grewal situation - http://www.parl.gc.ca/oec-bce/site/pages/ReportG_EN1_web.pdf

Democracy Watch's news release about the Grewal ruling -
Ethics Commissioner Again Ignores Rules in Grewal Ruling, Testifies at Illegal House Committee Hearing (June 23, 2005)
 

7. Democracy Watch's Past News Releases and Op-Eds about the Ethics Commissioner
Gaps in Ethics Enforcement Must Be Closed to Ensure Honest, Ethical Government (February 6, 2003)

Ethically Challenged Martin an Example of Systemic Problem with Parliamentarians (February 28, 2003)

Senators, MPs Trying to Protect Themselves from Ethics Accountability (April 17, 2003)

Fatal Flaws in Ethics Watchdogs Bill C-34 -- Watchdogs Lack Coherence, Independence, Transparency and Accountability  (May 20, 2003)

Public Will Be Banned From Complaining About Unethical Politicians, Or Challenging Ethics Rulings -- Fatal Flaws Undermine Bill C-34 (June 10, 2003)

Liberals Want New Ethics Watchdog To Be An Unaccountable Government Lapdog (June 11, 2003)

Democracy Watch Calls on Senate, and PM to Strengthen Bill C-4 and Other Measures to Ensure Effective Ethics/Spending Enforcement (February 17, 2004)

Democracy Watch Hails Passage of Bill C-4, Ethics Enforcement for Federal Politicians Closer Than Ever in Canadian History (March 31, 2004)

Federal Ethics Commissioner Continues Completely Ineffective Enforcement of Cabinet Ethics Rules (Hill Times, April 25, 2005)

Group Calls on Ethics Commissioner to Rule On Deal Making by Prime Minister, MPs and PMO Staffer (May 20, 2005)

Ethics Commissioner Must Rule on PMO Staffer, Fails To Fulfill Legal Duties By Refusing To Do So (June 7, 2005)

Group Files Court Challenge of Federal Ethics Commissioner, Registrar of Lobbyists (September 29, 2005) - Ethics Court Case 2005 Application (September 20, 2005)

Lobbying Laws Endanger the Public - Allow for Secret, Unethical Lobbying (Globe and Mail, October 12, 2005)

Dingwall and TPC Mess Could Have Been Avoided if Former Ethics Counsellor and Lobbyist Registrar Had Done Their Jobs Properly (October 17, 2005)

Federal Liberals' Lobbying Scandal is 11 Years Old (Hill Times, October 24, 2005)
 

8. Summary of Democracy Watch's Eight Outstanding Ethics Complaints