Open Government Campaign 2008

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Open Government Campaign 2008

Democracy Watch released the following documents in 2008 in its Open Government Campaign
(in reverse chronological order):

REPORT CARD: Federal Conservatives' So-Called "Federal Accountability Act" and Related Decisions Earn a "D" Grade For Only Partially Increasing Government Democracy and Accountability (December 12, 2008) -- To see Canadian Press wire article about the Report Card published by 23 media outlets across Canada, click here)
OP-ED: Federal Conservatives broke 2006 election promise to establish independent Parliamentary Budget Officer -- actual Accountability Act needed to close accountability loopholes, strengthen independence and powers of all enforcement agencies (Hill Times, November 17, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Costs and details about renovations of Prime Minister's residence kept secret (or not?) for supposed "national security" reasons (Edmonton Journal (and 3 other CanWest News Service newspapers), October 31, 2008)
NEWS RELEASE: Illegal Federal Election Shows Clear Need For Changes to Increase Turnout, and Ensure Honesty, Fairness, Ethics and Representation (October 15, 2008)
REPORT CARD: NDP Receives Best Grade in Report Card on Parties' Good Government Platforms, Greens Close Behind, Conservatives and Liberals Receive Worst Grades (October 10, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives broke half of their 2006 election promises, especially in area of increasing government openness and accountability (CTV.ca and other media outlets across Canada (publishing Canadian Press wire article), September 28, 2008)
NEWS RELEASE: Democracy Watch Marks First International Day of Democracy -- Calls on Political Parties Across Canada to Make Democratizing Changes (September 15, 2008)
NEWS RELEASE: Canada Holds 40th Undemocratic Federal Election -- Canadians Will Elect Yet Another Undemocratic, Unaccountable Federal Government (September 12, 2008)
NEWS RELEASE: Conservatives’ False Claims About Fixed-Election-Date Law Bite Back -- Federal Election Should Not Be Held Until House of Commons Votes Against Significant Government Measure, and Until Other Key Issues are Resolved (September 5, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Registrar of Lobbyists increases size of secret lobbying loophole in federal lobbying law that Democracy Watch revealed eight years ago -- MPs falsely claim they did not know about loophole (Canoe.ca and 21 other media outlets (publishing Canadian Press wire article), August 18, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives practise politics as usual by releasing negative reports late on Fridays, continuing their pattern of breaking their promise to end politics as usual (CTV.ca and 23 other media outlets (all publishing Canadian Press wire article), August 6, 2008)
NEWS RELEASE: If Conservatives Had Kept Their Accountability Act Promises, Parliament Would Be Working Better, and Scandals Like the Couillard Affair Would Be Prevented -- Will All Parties Finally Work Together Now to Close Accountability Loopholes? (July 31, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: In contrast to U.S. federal government and more than 30 states, Canadian governments do not require disclosure of amount spent on lobbying, violating the public's right to know how much corporations and lobby groups spend trying to influence government decisions (VUE Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta), July 31, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Like governments across Canada, New Brunswick provincial government claims privacy law means public has no right to know details about their public servant employees, such as salaries and wrongdoing (Times & Transcript, July 30, 2008)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal Conservatives broke almost half of their government accountability and democratic reform promises -- will any federal political party take the lead on these key issues? (Globe and Mail, July 22, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives break election promise to require Cabinet ministers, their staff and senior government officials to disclose their contacts with lobbyists, leave open loopholes that allow for secret lobbying (Canoe.ca (and 15 other media outlets across Canada) all publishing Canadian Press wire article, June 30, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal and Manitoba governments gag government contractors, prohibited from talking publicly about contracts (Canoe.ca and 28 other media outlets (publishing Canadian Press wire article) and piece about article was also on at least 50 radio stations across Canada, May 9, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives' Department of National Defence extends its already excessive secrecy to companies bidding on contracts (Ottawa Citizen and Calgary Herald, May 7, 2008)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Parliamentary Budget Officer lacks much-needed independence in latest of federal Conservatives' 30 broken government accountability promises (Hill Times, April 7, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives' broken promises, especially in area of government accountability, are ever-increasing (Toronto Star, February 5, 2008)
NEWS RELEASE: Global Integrity Report Ranks Canada 8th Out Of 55 Countries in World’s Most Comprehensive Assessment of Government Accountability and Integrity -- Gifts and Donations Loopholes, Secrecy, Lack of Merit-Based Appointments Process Main Weaknesses in Canada (January 30, 2008)
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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives break their election promise to end secret, unethical lobbying of the federal government, and are dishonest about their actions (Canoe.ca website and 12 other media outlets (publishing Canadian Press (CP) wire article), January 4, 2008) -- To see CanWest News Service article on this same subject, click here -- To see Globe and Mail article on this same subject, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: More than one year after Federal Accountability Act became law, federal Conservatives fail to implement appointments and lobbying law accountability changes, and are dishonest about their failures (Toronto Star, January 1, 2008)

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