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Green Party receives D- best grade of bad overall grades in Report Card on Ontario Parties' Good Government Platforms -- Conservatives receive an E, NDP an F and Liberals an Incomplete Despite high voter concern about democracy and trust, all parties fail to promise many needed changes to have effective democracy, government ethics and accountability in Ontario Friday, September 30, 2011 OTTAWA - Today, 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. A
Dishonesty Downgrade of one full grade is also shown in
the Report Card results -- usually only half of all
promises are kept because of the lack of an honesty-in-politics
law which is needed to effectively penalize
promise-breakers and misleaders. "All the Ontario
parties have failed to respond to high voter concern
about democracy and trust issues, but voters focused
on these issues should still come to the polls and at
least exercise their legal right to decline
their ballot and vote none of the above to show
their concern," said Duff Conacher, Founding
Director of Democracy Watch and chairperson of its four
nation-wide coalitions.
"The party leaders should not be surprised by the lack
of support they will receive from voters on election
day. One can only hope that the parties will
actually address these concerns when the legislature
opens again so that everyone in Ontario politics will,
finally after 144 years, be effectively required to
act honestly, ethically, openly, representatively and
to prevent waste." The Report Card grades the four main parties' platform pledges based upon 16 sets of key changes in five areas that Democracy Watch and its coalitions believe are the changes that will most effectively require everyone in the federal government to act honestly, ethically, openly, efficiently, representatively and, if they don't act in these democratic ways, easily and thoroughly held accountable. In total, the 16 sets of changes add up to 100 key changes needed to the Ontario government's democracy, ethics and accountability system. The measures are a compilation of the proposals of the five nation-wide coalitions Democracy Watch coordinates (Government Ethics Coalition, Money in Politics Coalition, Open Government Coalition, Corporate Responsibility Coalition, Canadian Community Reinvestment Coalition). A combined total of more than 140 citizen groups with a total membership of more than 3 million Canadians belong to the coalitions, groups that work on anti-poverty, bank accountability, community economic development, consumer, corporate responsibility, environment, labour, social justice, women and youth issues. Many national surveys
over the past several years have shown that a large
majority of Canadians support the 100 democracy, ethics
and government accountability reforms set out in the
Report Card, as do many commentators on democratic
reform. The federal government, and every province
and territory and municipality across Canada, all have a
similar list of 100 loopholes and flaws in their
government systems (each with a slightly differect set
of loopholes flaws, depending on which have been closed
or corrected in the past). The 16 sets of changes, divided into five areas, all reflect the following five key elements for ensuring that large, powerful government institutions act responsibly and follow rules: 1. strong laws with no loopholes; 2. requirement to disclose details of operations and violations; 3. fully independent, fully empowered watchdog agencies to enforce laws; 4. penalties that are high enough to encourage compliance; and 5. empowerment of citizens to hold governments and watchdog agencies accountable. The parties were given a grade ranging from A (Platform makes clear promise to implement proposal) to I (Platform does not mention proposal), with grades B for a vague or partial promise to implement the proposal, C and D for clear to vague promises to explore the proposal, E for mentioning proposal and F for mentioning the theme of the proposal. Grades were averaged for each of the five sections, and the averages of section grades were used to calculate the overall grade for each party. "Given the lack of a provincial honesty-in-politics law, and the lack of a clear pledge by any of the parties to pass such a law, voters should be wary of trusting any political promises," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch. "However, if they want their concerns addressed, voters should always turn up and at least exercise their legal right to decline their ballot to send a message to the parties."The 2011 Report Card is an updated version of the Report Card issued by Democracy Watch during the 2007 Ontario election, and reflects changes that have occurred in Ontario laws since 2007. Democracy Watch graded the parties' election platforms
by reviewing the platforms. Statements by party
leaders or representatives were not taken into account
as they are not fully accessible to all voters, nor are
they binding in any way on the party (as admitted by
many party leaders) and as a result are even less
reliable than promises made in the parties' platforms. - 30 - FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Democracy Watch's Ontario
Election 2011 webpage |
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Election Platforms of the Ontario Political Parties (Set out below are quotations from the Ontario parties' platform documents upon which the Report Card grades were based for each of the 16 sub-categories graded in the five issue areas categories) GRADING SYSTEM Conservative Party of Canada platform
webpage |
OVERALL REPORT CARD GRADES
best to worst
| Party |
Grades |
Dishonesty Downgrade*
(one full grade) |
| Green Party |
D-
|
E- |
| Conservative Party |
E |
F |
| New Democrat Party |
F |
I |
| Liberal Party |
I |
inexcusable |
* Dishonesty Downgrade applied because past performance of all parties shows that they usually break half their promises, and the lack of an honesty-in-politics law means they can't be held accountable.
| I. Honest, Ethical Government
Measures
SECTION I OVERALL GRADES 1. Requiring honesty-in-politics - Pass a law that requires all Cabinet ministers, MPPs, political staff, Cabinet appointees and government employees (including at Crown corporations, agencies, boards, commissions, courts and tribunals) nomination race and election candidates to tell the truth, with an easily accessible complaint process to a fully independent watchdog agency that is fully empowered to investigate and penalize anyone who lies. (Go to Voter Rights Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - B- Green Party - I Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I 2. Strengthening ethics standards for politicians, political staff, Cabinet appointees and government employees, and ethics enforcement - Close the loopholes in the existing ethics rules (including closing the loophole that allows Cabinet ministers, MPPs, their staff and Cabinet appointees to be involved in decisions in which they have a financial interest, and including requiring resignation and a by-election if an MPP switches parties between elections) and apply them to all government institutions (including all Crown corporations), and as proposed by the federal Department of Finance place anyone with decision-making power on the anti-corruption watch list of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (Fintrac) so deposits to their bank accounts can be tracked, and; strengthen the independence and effectiveness of all the newly created politician and government employee ethics watchdog positions (the Integrity Commissioner for Cabinet and MPPs and lobbyists, the Conflict of Interest Commissioner for government employees) by giving opposition party leaders a veto over appointees, having the legislature (as opposed to Cabinet) approve their annual budgets, prohibiting the watchdogs from giving secret advice, requiring them to investigate and rule publicly on all complaints (including anonymous complaints), fully empowering and requiring them to penalize rule-breakers, changing all the codes they enforce into laws, and ensuring that all their decisions can be reviewed by the courts. (Go to Government Ethics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party - B- Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I 3. Making the political donations system democratic - Prohibit secret, unlimited donations of money, property or services by anyone for any reason to nomination and party leadership candidates (only such donations are now only prohibited if given to election candidates); limit loans, including from financial institutions, to parties and all types of candidates to the same level as donations are limited; require disclosure of all donations (including the identity of the donor's employer (as in the U.S.) and/or major affiliations) and loans quarterly and before any election day; limit spending on campaigns for the leadership of political parties; maintain limits on third-party (non-political party) advertising during elections; lower the public funding of political parties from $2 per vote received to $1 per vote received for parties that elect more MPPs than they deserve based on the percentage of voter support they receive (to ensure that in order to prosper these parties need to have active, ongoing support of a broad base of individuals) and; ensure riding associations receive a fair share of this per-vote funding (so that party headquarters don't have undue control over riding associations). (Go to Money in Politics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party -
B- Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I 4. Closing down the revolving door - Prohibit lobbyists from working for government departments or serving in senior positions for political parties or candidates for public office (as in New Mexico and Maryland), and from having business connections with anyone who does, and close the loopholes so that the actual cooling-off period for former Cabinet ministers, ministerial staff and senior public officials is five years (and three years for MPPs, senators, their staff, and government employees) during which they are prohibited from becoming a lobbyist or working with people, corporations or organizations with which they had direct dealings while in government. Make the Integrity Commissioner and Conflict of Interest Commissioner more independent and effective by by giving opposition party leaders a veto over their appointment, by having the legislature (as opposed to Cabinet) approve their annual budget, by prohibiting the Commissioners from giving secret advice, by requiring the Commissioners to investigate and rule publicly on all complaints (including anonymous complaints), and by fully empowering and requiring the Commissioners to penalize rule-breakers, by ensuring all decisions of the Commissioners can be reviewed by the courts. (Go to Government Ethics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party - I Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I II. Open Government Measures SECTION II OVERALL GRADES 5. Strengthening access-to-information system - Strengthen the federal access-to-information law and government information management system by applying the law to all government/publicly funded institutions, requiring all institutions and officials to create records of all decisions and actions and disclose them proactively and regularly, creating a public interest override of all access exemptions, giving opposition party leaders a veto over the appointment of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, having the legislature (as opposed to Cabinet) approve the Information and Privacy Commissioner's annual budgets, and giving the Information and Privacy Commissioner the power and mandate to order changes to government institutions' information systems, and to penalize violators of access laws, regulations, policies and rules. (Go to Open Government Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - B- Green Party - B- Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I 6. Exposing behind-closed-door communications - Require in a new law that Ministers and public officials and MPPs and their staff disclose their contacts with all lobbyists, whether paid or volunteer lobbyists. (Go to Government Ethics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party - I Liberal Party - I - Nothing related to proposal in platform 7. Strengthening lobbying disclosure and ethics, and the enforcement system - Strengthen the Lobbying Registration Act by including in it a Lobbyists' Code of Conduct, by closing the loophole that currently allows corporations to hide the number of people involved in lobbying activities, and by requiring lobbyists to disclose their past work with any Canadian or foreign government, political party or candidate, to disclose all their government relations activities (whether paid or volunteer) involving gathering inside information or trying to influence policy-makers (as in the U.S.) and to disclose the amount they spend on lobbying campaigns (as in 33 U.S. states), and; strengthen the ethics and enforcement system by extending the limitation period for prosecutions of violations of the Act to 10 years, and; by giving opposition party leaders a veto over the appointment of the Integrity Commissioner for lobbyists, by having the legislature (as opposed to Cabinet) approve the Commissioner's annual budget, by prohibiting the Commissioner from giving secret advice, by requiring the Commissioner to investigate and rule publicly on all complaints (including anonymous complaints), by fully empowering and requiring the Commissioner to penalize rule-breakers, by ensuring all Commissioner decisions can be reviewed by the courts. (Go to Government Ethics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party - I Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I III. Efficient Government Measures SECTION III OVERALL GRADES 8. Increasing powers of Auditor General - Increase the independence of the Auditor General by requiring approval of appointment from opposition party leaders; increase auditing resources of the Auditor General by having the legislature (as opposed to Cabinet) approve the Auditor General's annual budget, and; empower the Auditor General to audit all government institutions and also audit projected spending (like the federal Parliamentary Budget Officer does), to make orders for changes to government institutions' spending systems, and empower the Auditor General to penalize violators of Treasury Board spending rules or Auditor General orders or requests for information. (Go to Voter Rights Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party - I Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - C- 9. Restricting government and campaign advertising - Empower a government watchdog agency to preview and prohibit government advertising contracting out if there is no reason to have the advertising developed by a contractor, and to restrict all advertising by the government and opposition parties and third parties in the six-month period leading up to an election. (Go to Government Ethics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party - I Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I Top of Report Card Background Details Democracy Watch homepage IV. Representative, Citizen-Driven Government Measures SECTION IV OVERALL GRADES 10. Increasing meaningful public consultation - Pass a law requiring all government departments and institutions to use consultation processes that provide meaningful opportunities for citizen participation, especially concerning decisions that affect the lives of all Ontarians. (Go to Voter Rights Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - C Our local governments have had their decision-making power chipped away in recent years. This is unfair, undemocratic, and does nothing to increase the value of services provided at the community level. We will enable more local and decentralized decision-making, and give municipalities more tools to provide better value for local families. Local councils have been robbed of a say over what happens in their communities. This has allowed industrial wind farms to be placed in communities without any consultation with local councils or residents. We will restore the local decision making powers that were taken away by the Dalton McGuinty Liberals." . . . “We will give Northerners a stronger voice at Queen’s Park and more control in their local communities. The North has vast potential, but decisions made at Queen’s Park are often out of touch with the reality in Northern communities. Families in Northern Ontario deserve a strong voice in government. They also deserve the right to be heard and to plan their own future.” Green Party - B Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - C- 11. Restricting power of Cabinet to make appointments - Require approval by opposition party leaders for the approximately 2,000 judicial, agency, board, commission and tribunal appointments currently made by the Premier, especially for appointees to senior and law enforcement positions, after a merit-based nomination and screening process. (Go to Voter Rights Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party - I Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I 12. Making the legislature more democratic - Change the law to restrict the Premier's power to shut down (prorogue) the legislature to only for a very short time, and only for an election (dissolution) or if the national situation has changed significantly or if the Premier can show that the government has completed all their pledged actions from the last Speech from the Throne (or attempted to do so, as the opposition parties may stop or delay completion of some actions). Give all party caucuses the power to choose which MPPs and senators in their party sits on legislature committees, and allow any MPP to introduce a private member bill at any time, and define what a "vote of confidence" is in the law in a restrictive way so most votes in the legislature are free votes. (Go to Voter Rights Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party - I Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I 13. Ensuring free, fair and representative elections - Change the current voting law and system (the Elections Act) to specifically restrict the Premier's power to call an unfair snap election, so that election dates are fixed as much as possible under the parliamentary system. Change the Act also so that nomination and party leadership races are regulated by Elections Ontario (including limiting spending on campaigns for party leadership), so that Elections Ontario determines which parties can participate in election debates based upon merit criteria, so that party leaders cannot appoint candidates except when a riding does not have a riding association, so that voters can give a reason if they decline their ballot (ie. vote for "none of the above") and so Elections Ontario is required to educate voters about their legal right to decline their ballot, and to provide a more equal number of voters in every riding, and a more accurate representation in the legislature of the actual voter support for each political party (with a safeguard to ensure that a party with low-level, narrow-base support does not have a disproportionately high level of power in the legislature). (Go to Voter Rights Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party - C- Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I V. General Government Accountability Measures SECTION V OVERALL GRADES 14. Facilitating citizen watchdog groups over government - Require provincial government institutions to enclose one-page pamphlets periodically in their mailings to citizens inviting citizens to join citizen-funded and directed groups to represent citizen interests in policy-making and enforcement processes of key government departments (for example, on ethics, spending, and health care) as has been proposed in the U.S. and recommended for Canadian banks and other financial institutions in 1998 by a federal task force, a legislature of Commons Committee, and a Senate Committee. (Go to Citizen Association Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party - I Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I 15. Ensuring effective whistleblower protection - Require everyone to report any violation of any law, regulation, policy, code, guideline or rule, and require all watchdog agencies over government (for example: Auditor General, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Integrity Commissioner, and Conflict of Interest Commissioner) to investigate and rule publicly on allegations of violations, to penalize violators, to protect anyone (not just employees) who reports a violation (so-called "whistleblowers") from retaliation, to reward whistleblowers whose allegations are proven to be true, and to ensure a right to appeal to the courts. (Go to Government Ethics Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - I Green Party - I Liberal Party - I New Democrat Party - I 16. Ensuring loophole free laws and strong penalties for wrongdoers - Close any technical and other loopholes that have been identified in laws, regulations, policies, codes, guidelines and rules (especially those regulating government institutions and large corporations) to help ensure strong enforcement, and increase financial penalties for violations to a level that significantly effects the annual revenues/budget of the institution or corporation. (Go to Voter Rights Campaign for details about Democracy Watch's proposals) Conservative Party - B- Green Party - I Liberal Party - D+ New Democrat Party - D+ |
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