Friday, November 4, 2005

OTTAWA - Today, Democracy Watch applauded the Conservative Party's 52-point ethics and accountability package which addresses almost all of the key gaps in the federal government's ethics, spending and transparency enforcement systems.  One key loophole in the package is the failure to pledge to pass an "honesty-in-politics" law, and as a result Canadians will not be able to hold Conservative leader Stephen Harper or the Conservative Party accountable if they are in power and fail to keep their pledges.

"The Conservatives have pledged a comprehensive, effective package of measures that will do much to clean up the federal government's ethics, spending and transparency enforcement systems," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch. "Unfortunately, the lack of an honesty in politics law means that Canadians will have no way to hold the Conservatives accountable if they break their pledges."

"To back up the Conservatives' pledges, Stephen Harper should commit in writing to resign and call an election if the Conservatives win power and fail to keep their promise to implement 52-point ethics and accountability package as the first thing they do," said Conacher.  "Canadians should not trust that Harper will keep his promises unless he commits in writing to resign, especially given that Harper has pledged in the past to eliminate the limit on spending by interest groups during elections, and opposed some of the same measures the Conservatives are proposing today."

The Conservatives' promised Federal Accountability Act would close all of the loopholes Democracy Watch and others have identified in the federal government's ethics, spending and transparency enforcement systems except the following key gaps:

• passage of an"honesty in politics" law with high fines for liars to end "bait-and-switch" election campaign promises and lying by everyone in the federal government (including requiring MPs who switch parties between elections to resign and run in a by-election);
• expansion of the powers of the Registrar of Lobbyists, Information Commissioner and Auditor General so that they can fine and publicly name violators of the codes, rules and laws they enforce (the Conservatives only pledge to give the Ethics Commissioner the power to levy fines);
• requirement that everyone in the government to submit the actual, detailed receipt (as opposed to vague payment receipt) for all expenses claimed to prevent unjustified expense claims;
• coverage by donation limits and disclosure requirements of "volunteer labour" donated to parties and candidates during election campaigns, to close this existing secret donations loophole (the Conservatives only propose to ban secret money and gift donations), and a requirement that all donations be disclosed before each election day;
• establishment of limits on spending by candidates in political party leadership campaigns, and requirement that lobbyists to disclose how much they spend on each lobbying campaign and past work with any Canadian or foreign government, political party, or candidate;
• creation of an independent ethics watchdog for the Senate, and of course making the Senate accountable to Canadians in all other ways;
• as proposed by the federal Department of Finance, placement of federal politicians, their staff, Cabinet appointees and any government employees with decision-making power on the anti-corruption watch list of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (Fintrac) so that their bank accounts can be tracked for suspicious transactions;
• enactment of the Lobbyists' Code, the MPs Code, and the Senate ethics code into law (the Conservatives pledge only to enact the Public Office Holders Code into law), and;
• passage of a "meaningful public consultation" law (as proposed by many participants in the Canadian Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation which took place October 27-30, 2005 in Ottawa) to ensure Canadians have a strong and direct say in policy-making, and to decrease the effect of the inside access and influence of lobbyists.