Open Government Campaign 2007

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Open Government Campaign 2007

Democracy Watch released the following documents in 2007 in its Open Government Campaign
(in reverse chronological order):

OP-EDs: Despite Federal Accountability Act, many of the alleged questionable actions in the Mulroney-Schreiber affair are still legal, and Preston Manning's proposals for cleaning things up have been tried and would weaken political ethics enforcement (Kitchener-Waterloo Record, CanadaEast.com website, Hill Times, Calgary Herald, December 20, 2007 to January 18, 2008)
REPORT CARD: Federal Conservatives' So-Called "Federal Accountability Act" and Related Decisions Earn a "D" Grade For Only Partially Increasing Accountability (December 12, 2007)
OP-ED: Elite Ottawa insiders make misleading claims that the Federal Accountability Act is too strong, when in fact it is much too weak (December 4, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Conservatives and Liberals Both Hypocrites on Calling Inquiries -- But All Parties Have Ignored Some of 15 Questionable Situations in Past 15 Years (November 7, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives hide key information about delays and overspending on 12 Defence Department projects worth more than $7 billion (Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette, October 30, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Hypocrite Harper Continues to Mislead on Federal Conservatives’ Promise-Breaking on Accountability and Democratic Reforms (October 17, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Will Throne Speech Mention 24 Promised Democratic Reform Measures Federal Conservatives Left Out of So-Called “Federal Accountability Act”? (October 16, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Report Card Reveals No Matter Which Party Wins, Ontario Government and Large Corporations Will Remain Largely Unaccountable for Dishonest, Unethical, Secretive, Unrepresentative and Wasteful Activities Because of Key Gaps in Provincial Parties' "Good Government" Platforms (October 5, 2007) -- To see the CTV.ca article about the Report Card, and to watch a video of the news conference, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Alberta's oil royalties scandal could have come to light sooner if province had whistleblower protection law (Edmonton Sun website, October 3, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Accountability Act measure now in force bringing 50 government institutions under Access to Information Act, but federal Conservatives broke election promise to strengthen Act in more than 40 other ways (Canoe.ca and 2 other media outlets (publishing Sunmedia wire article), September 4, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Cheap and portable video and audio recorders make many citizens into journalists and evidence-gatherers at Montbello SPP protests and other events, increase accountability of police (Canoe.ca and 12 other media outlet websites publishing Canadian Press (CP) wire article, August 24, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Following Democracy Watch's lead, Justice John Gomery calls on the federal Conservatives to implement the parts of the Accountability Act that still need Cabinet approval, and to make further changes strengthening government accountability (CFRA.com website, and Globe and Mail, August 10, 2007) -- To see details about Accountability Act changes not yet in force, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: As Democracy Watch has revealed, the federal Conservatives' so-called "Accountability Act" is half as effective as the Conservatives claim, is not fully in force, and fails to close more than 70 loopholes (London Free Press and 4 other Sunmedia newspapers, July 19, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Six Months After Parliament Passed It, Half of So-called "Federal Accountability Act" (FAA) Still Not In Force, And Conservatives Continue to Break Promises to Close Many Accountability Loopholes (June 13, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservative government regularly violating access to information law according to Information Commissioner (Canada.com website, National Post, and 3 CanWest News Service newspapers, May 30, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Recent Secrecy Scandals Caused in Part by Federal Conservatives' Broken Election Promises -- Group Calls on Federal Parties to Introduce and Pass Open Government Bill (May 23, 2007)
OP-ED: Recent Scandals Show How Much Open Government Measures Are Needed (Kitchener Waterloo Record, Hill Times, May 21, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives broke open government promises -- now claim excessive secrecy and arrest of Environment Canada employee who leaked draft document are justified (Canada.com website, May 10, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Environment Canada employee arrested during investigation into leak of federal Conservative's draft plan on climate change issue (Canoe.ca website (publishing Canadian Press (CP) article), May 9, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Conservatives Propose Some Political Loan Restrictions, But Where Are Their Promised Measures on Nomination and Leadership Races, Open Government, Merit-Based Appointments, Honesty, Ethics and Secret Lobbying? (May 8, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Democracy Watch Proud To Have Played Small Part in Charter of Rights History -- Canada Also Needs A Charter of Government and Corporate Accountability and Democracy (April 16, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Alberta's Conservative government proposes very flawed lobbying disclosure law -- will allow secret lobbying and unethical relationships between lobbyists and politicians, other government officials (Edmonton Journal, March 8, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives have broken their election promise to end secret lobbying of Cabinet ministers and top government officials (Globe and Mail, March 5, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Half of Federal Accountability Act Not In Force, Despite Conservatives' False Claims -- Will All Parties Work Together to Correct the Government's 85 Remaining Undemocratic Flaws? (February 5, 2007) -- To see the February 6, 2007 Sun Media article about this news release, click here

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