Tuesday, October 22, 2002

OTTAWA - Today, following the resignation of Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay from the federal Cabinet, Democracy Watch called on the Auditor General and the RCMP to launch investigations of the contracts and grants handed out by MacAulay's department, given that Ethics Counsellor Howard Wilson has no investigative powers in his position as advisor under the Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders (the Public Office Holders Code).

"No one should believe that the Ethics Counsellor has found out what really happened with the Solicitor General contracts and grants," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch, "because the Ethics Counsellor has no investigative powers and so can't search offices, examine bank accounts, or seize any evidence. The Ethics Counsellor is simply a frontman for the Prime Minister who usually gives his stamp of approval to the unethical behaviour of Liberal ministers, MPs and Senators."

If the situation involved a lobbyist, Howard Wilson would be investigating through the separate position he holds under the Lobbyists Registration Act as enforcer of the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct. Under the Act Wilson's position, also called Ethics Counsellor, has full investigative powers to subpoena witnesses and compel evidence, and rulings are required to be reported publicly in Parliament.

In contrast, the Ethics Counsellor position under the Public Office Holders Code has no investigative powers, and reports in private to the Prime Minister who can overrule the opinion of the Ethics Counsellor.

"The federal government will never govern with integrity until the holes in the current system are filled," said Conacher. "We need a strong ethics law for all MPs and Senators, need to change the ministers and lobbyists and public servants codes into laws, and need a new, fully independent, fully empowered Ethics Commission to investigate and publicly rule on alleged violations of all ethics rules."

The federal government is the only government in North America that uses ethics codes, instead of ethics laws, and that does not have an independent and fully empowered ethics enforcement system. Even the new government in Nunavut has an ethics law and an independent Integrity Commissioner to enforce the law.