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Group Calls on Federal Minister Peter Van Loan To Apologize for Lying About Democracy Watch’s Position on Conservatives’ Election Spending Scheme -- Files Complaint Calling on Prime Minister Harper To Penalize Van Loan’s Blatant Dishonesty Friday, April 25, 2008 OTTAWA - Today, Democracy Watch sent a letter to federal Conservative House Leader and Minister for Democratic Reform Peter Van Loan demanding that he apologize for lying last Wednesday, April 16th in the House of Commons about Democracy Watch’s position concerning the Conservatives’ TV advertising spending scheme during the 2006 federal election. (To see the text of Democracy Watch's letter to Minister Van Loan, click here) In response to a question in the House of Commons on April 16th, Mr. Van Loan stated: “In terms of our spending practices, I would like to quote Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch, who was on CTV today. He said, “The Conservatives did something in the last election that all parties have done for years. That's legal, and parties can donate as much as they want to a local candidate and often do to candidates that don't have a lot of local support and can't raise money on their own. And then what happens is those candidates use some of that money to buy materials for national headquarters, like pamphlets, signs, platforms to hand out to people. That's all--”And later the same day, also in response to a question, Mr. Van Loan stated: “Mr. Speaker, let us remember that this was a dispute initiated in the courts by the Conservative Party of Canada because of the unequal treatment of the Conservative Party compared with other parties, including the NDP, which engages in the transfer of funds between riding associations from its central party to assist in local targeted ridings. It has been going on for years. Duff Conacher said that on television. He said it is legal.”In fact, this is half of what Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch, said on CTV’s Canada AM show on April 16th. He went on to say very clearly that he believes the Conservatives' scheme violated the Canada Elections Act because the TV ads only contained a small-print message at the end mentioning the local Conservative candidate. Duff Conacher also stated during the same Canada AM interview that he believes the court will rule that the Conservatives’ local candidates can only claim 10-20 percent of the TV ad cost as local campaign spending, and that therefore the Conservative Party will be found to have spent about $900,000 more on its national campaign than the legal election spending limit allowed under the Act. (To listen to what Duff Conacher actually said, click here) “Peter Van Loan lied when he claimed that I said the Conservatives’ TV ad spending scheme during the last election was legal -- in fact I said very clearly that I believe the scheme was illegal,” said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch. “Mr. Van Loan owes me and Democracy Watch an apology for so blatantly abusing our good name in trying to excuse the Conservatives’ dangerously undemocratic activities.” Democracy Watch also also sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling on him to find Mr. Van Loan guilty of violating the “Ethical Guidelines for Public Office Holders” that require ministers to be honest and are contained in Annex G of "Accountable Government: A Guide for Ministers and Secretaries of State-2007". Democracy Watch called on Prime Minister Harper to penalize Mr. Van Loan’s blatant dishonesty by removing him from either the position of Government House Leader or Minister of Democratic Reform. (To see the text of Democracy Watch's letter to Prime Minister Harper, click here) Section V.1. “Ministerial Conduct” of the Guide states: “Ministers and Secretaries of State must act with honesty and must uphold the highest ethical standards so that public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of government are maintained and enhanced. As public office holders, Ministers and Secretaries of State are subject to the Ethical Guidelines for Public Office Holders and Guidelines for the Political Activities of Public Office Holders, set out in Annexes G and H. Moreover, they have an obligation to perform their official duties and arrange their private affairs in a manner that will bear the closest public scrutiny. This obligation is not fully discharged merely by acting within the law.”The first guideline in the Annex G Ethical Guidelines is as follows: “Ethical Standards: Public office holders shall act with honesty and uphold the highest ethical standards so that public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of the government are conserved and enhanced.”Prime Minister Harper writes in his “Message to Ministers and Secretaries of State” at the beginning of the Guide: “I cannot stress enough that implementation of the Federal Accountability Act and associated Action Plan is not simply a matter of compliance. At least as important is our commitment to a culture of accountability in everything we do - that is, to uphold the highest standards of probity and ethical conduct in recognition of the fact that it is a privilege and a trust to participate in the process through which Canadians govern themselves.” andAs well, under section V "Standards of Conduct" of the Guide, is the following statement: “Full accountability to Canadians is a central objective of the government. The Prime Minister holds Ministers and Secretaries of State to the highest standards of conduct for all their actions, including those that are not directly related to their official functions.”Democracy Watch would have filed its complaint with the federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, but the Conservatives removed the rule requiring Ministers and other public office holders to be honest when they changed their ethics code last July into the new Conflict of Interest Act, and as a result complaints about such blatant dishonesty can no longer be filed with the Commissioner. (NOTE: Even though the past ethics code contained the "honesty rule" former federal Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro refused to enforce it -- To see details about Shapiro's reign of error, click here ) “If Prime Minister Harper does nothing to penalize Minister Van Loan for being dishonest, it will be yet another example showing clearly that he believes lying toadvance the Conservative Party’s interests is fine with him, and that Cabinet ministers still can’t be held accountable for wrongdoing,” said Conacher. - 30 - FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
To see Prime Minister Harper's lies about the federal Conservatives'
Democracy Watch's Honesty in Politics Campaign Democracy Watch's Government Ethics Campaign Democracy Watch homepage Text of letter to Minister Peter Van Loan demanding an apology for his false statements concerning Democracy Watch The Honourable Peter Van Loan
April 25, 2008 RE: Demand for apology for false statements in House of Commons on Wednesday, April 16th concerning Democracy Watch’s position on the legality of the Conservative Party of Canada’s 2006 TV ad election spending scheme Dear Mr. Van Loan: In response to a question in the House of Commons on April 16, 2008 with regard to the ongoing court case and investigation of the Conservative Party of Canada’s election spending scheme for TV advertising, you stated: “In terms of our spending practices, I would like to quote Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch, who was on CTV today. He said, “The Conservatives did something in the last election that all parties have done for years. That's legal, and parties can donate as much as they want to a local candidate and often do to candidates that don't have a lot of local support and can't raise money on their own. And then what happens is those candidates use some of that money to buy materials for national headquarters, like pamphlets, signs, platforms to hand out to people. That's all--”And later the same day, also in response to a question, you stated: “Mr. Speaker, let us remember that this was a dispute initiated in the courts by the Conservative Party of Canada because of the unequal treatment of the Conservative Party compared with other parties, including the NDP, which engages in the transfer of funds between riding associations from its central party to assist in local targeted ridings. It has been going on for years. Duff Conacher said that on television. He said it is legal.”In fact, this is half of what I said on CTV’s Canada AM show on April 16th. I went on to say very clearly that I believe the Conservatives’ scheme violated the Canada Elections Act because the TV ads only contained a small-print message at the end mentioning the local Conservative candidate. I also stated during the same Canada AM interview that I belief the court will rule that the Conservatives’ local candidates can only claim 10-20 percent of the TV ad cost as local campaign spending, and that therefore the Conservative Party will be found to have spent about $900,000 more on its national campaign than the legal election spending limit allowed under the Act. Either you knew the other half of what I said on Canada AM, and deliberately made a false statement, or you did not know the other half of what I said, in which case you are negligent for not checking whether I had said anything else about the situation. In either case, you made completely false public statements about Democracy Watch’s position on the situation. As I am sure you are aware, the “Ethical Guidelines for Public Office Holders” contained in Annex G of “Accountable Government: A Guide for Ministers and Secretaries of State-2007” require ministers to be honest. As well, section V.1. “Ministerial Conduct” of the Guide states: “Ministers and Secretaries of State must act with honesty and must uphold the highest ethical standards so that public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of government are maintained and enhanced. As public office holders, Ministers and Secretaries of State are subject to the Ethical Guidelines for Public Office Holders and Guidelines for the Political Activities of Public Office Holders, set out in Annexes G and H. Moreover, they have an obligation to perform their official duties and arrange their private affairs in a manner that will bear the closest public scrutiny. This obligation is not fully discharged merely by acting within the law.”The first guideline in the Annex G Ethical Guidelines is as follows: “Ethical Standards: Public office holders shall act with honesty and uphold the highest ethical standards so that public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of the government are conserved and enhanced.”Therefore, I demand an apology from you for violating this guideline by falsifying Democracy Watch’s position on the Conservative Party’s TV ad election spending scheme so blatantly. Given that you made your false statements publicly in the House of Commons, the appropriate place to make your apology to myself and Democracy Watch is also publicly in the House of Commons. I look forward to hearing from you very soon to confirm the date on which you will be making your apology. As well, I am filing a request with Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he penalize you for violating these key good government guidelines by removing you either from your position as Leader of the Government in the House of Commons or your position as Minister for Democratic Reform. A leader does not mislead, and a minister for democratic reform must know, and demonstrate that he or she knows, that dishonesty in politics makes democratic government impossible. Sincerely,
Text of letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper demanding that he penalize Minister Peter Van Loan for his false statements concerning Democracy Watch The Rt. Honourable Prime Minister Stephen Harper
April 25, 2008 RE: Complaint and demand for penalty for Minister Peter Van Loan for false statements in House of Commons on Wednesday, April 16th concerning Democracy Watch’s position on the legality of the Conservative Party of Canada’s 2006 TV ad election spending scheme Dear Mr. Harper: In response to a question in the House of Commons on April 16, 2008 with regard to the ongoing court case and investigation of the Conservative Party of Canada’s election spending scheme for TV advertising, your Minister Peter Van Loan stated: “In terms of our spending practices, I would like to quote Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch, who was on CTV today. He said, “The Conservatives did something in the last election that all parties have done for years. That's legal, and parties can donate as much as they want to a local candidate and often do to candidates that don't have a lot of local support and can't raise money on their own. And then what happens is those candidates use some of that money to buy materials for national headquarters, like pamphlets, signs, platforms to hand out to people. That's all--”And later the same day, also in response to a question, you stated: “Mr. Speaker, let us remember that this was a dispute initiated in the courts by the Conservative Party of Canada because of the unequal treatment of the Conservative Party compared with other parties, including the NDP, which engages in the transfer of funds between riding associations from its central party to assist in local targeted ridings. It has been going on for years. Duff Conacher said that on television. He said it is legal.”In fact, this is half of what I said on CTV’s Canada AM show on April 16th. I went on to say very clearly that I believe the Conservatives’ scheme violated the Canada Elections Act because the TV ads only contained a small-print message at the end mentioning the local Conservative candidate. I also stated during the same Canada AM interview that I belief the court will rule that the Conservatives’ local candidates can only claim 10-20 percent of the TV ad cost as local campaign spending, and that therefore the Conservative Party will be found to have spent about $900,000 more on its national campaign than the legal election spending limit allowed under the Act. Either Mr. Van Loan knew the other half of what I said on Canada AM,
and deliberately made a false statement, or Mr. Van Loan did not know the
other half of what I said, in which case he
As you know, the “Ethical Guidelines for Public Office Holders” contained in Annex G of “Accountable Government: A Guide for Ministers and Secretaries of State-2007” require ministers to be honest. As well, section V.1. “Ministerial Conduct” of the Guide states: “Ministers and Secretaries of State must act with honesty and must uphold the highest ethical standards so that public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of government are maintained and enhanced. As public office holders, Ministers and Secretaries of State are subject to the Ethical Guidelines for Public Office Holders and Guidelines for the Political Activities of Public Office Holders, set out in Annexes G and H. Moreover, they have an obligation to perform their official duties and arrange their private affairs in a manner that will bear the closest public scrutiny. This obligation is not fully discharged merely by acting within the law.”The first guideline in the Annex G Ethical Guidelines is as follows: “Ethical Standards: Public office holders shall act with honesty and uphold the highest ethical standards so that public confidence and trust in the integrity, objectivity and impartiality of the government are conserved and enhanced.”In your “Message to Ministers and Secretaries of State” that begins the Guide you write: “I cannot stress enough that implementation of the Federal Accountability Act and associated Action Plan is not simply a matter of compliance. At least as important is our commitment to a culture of accountability in everything we do - that is, to uphold the highest standards of probity and ethical conduct in recognition of the fact that it is a privilege and a trust to participate in the process through which Canadians govern themselves.”As well, under section V "Standards of Conduct" of the Guide, is the following statement: “Full accountability to Canadians is a central objective of the government. The Prime Minister holds Ministers and Secretaries of State to the highest standards of conduct for all their actions, including those that are not directly related to their official functions.”Therefore, I demand that you penalize Mr. Van Loan for violating these key good government guideline by removing him either from his position as Leader of the Government in the House of Commons or your position as Minister for Democratic Reform. A leader does not mislead, and a Prime Minister, and a minister for democratic reform must know, and demonstrate that he or she knows, that dishonesty in politics makes democratic government impossible. As this case is very clear, I expect to hear from you very soon about how you will be penalizing Mr. Van Loan for his blatant dishonesty. Sincerely,
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