Honesty in Politics Campaign 2011

Honesty in Politics Campaign 2011

Democracy Watch released the following documents in 2011 in its Honesty in Politics Campaign
(newest to oldest)

LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal Conservative Party response to Carson charges deeply hypocritical, federal ethics rules must be applied equally to all (Huffington Post, July 30, 2012)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: MP Paul Calandra's fundraising events violate Prime Minister Harper's own rules, and raise serious questions about violations of federal ethics and lobbying laws (The Hill Times, July 30, 2012)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: The Hill Times’ Terrific 25 Staffers Survey should include the ‘most ethical’ too -- and huge loopholes in federal ethics rules must be closed, and enforcement strengthened (The Hill Times, July 23, 2012)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal Access to Information Act Review by Commissioner is Great News (National Post, July 9, 2012)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Access to Information Act turns 30 amid calls for reform (CBC News Canada, July 7, 2012)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Former chief-of-staff exposes hole in five-year lobbying ban, experts say (The Lobby Monitor, July 6, 2012)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Lobbying spending disclosure not necessarily better transparency, commissioner's office says (The Lobby Monitor, July 5, 2012)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Canada needs more honest, ethical, open government (Hill Times and the Toronto Star, June 16, 2012)
NEWS RELEASE: Albertans should not be surprised at low voter turnout in provincial election: Voting system, failure of Elections Alberta to inform voters of right to decline their ballot likely reasons for turnout (April 25, 2012)
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Conservatives' Open Government Action Plan fails to fulfill Open Government Partnership (OGP) membership requirements -- fails to commit to strengthening access-to-information, ethics, lobbying, political finance, financial administration, public consultation and whistleblower protection laws and enforcement (April 17, 2012) -- To see related Canadian Press wire article, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives' Open Government Partnership Action Plan is only an open data plan, not a plan for open, ethical government (GlobalNews.ca and 18 other media outlets (all publishing Canadian Press wire article), April 12, 2012) -- To see related news release, click here
OP-ED: Democracy Watch, and others, tried to get Elections Canada to fully investigate and properly rule on 2008 election robocall fraud (Ottawa Citizen, March 5, 2012)
TV PIECE re: Elections Canada must disclose details about its rulings on all past complaints, and current robocall complaints (Global News National, March 2, 2012)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Elections Canada must disclose details of how it has ruled on 2,284 complaints it has received since 2004 (Maclean's magazine, March 2, 2012)
EDITORIAL: Elections Canada must come clean on its past record of investigating and ruling on more than 2,280 complaints (Toronto Star, March 1-2, 2012) -- To see related Toronto Star article, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Elections Canada has more than 2,280 other past investigations to answer questions above, not just current robocall fraud investigation (CBC.ca, March 1, 2012) -- To see related Yahoo.com article, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Robcall election fraud tactic was tried first in 2008 federal election in B.C. riding, and Elections Canada should re-open investigation (Georgia Straight, March 1, 2012)
RADIO INTERVIEW: Democracy Watch board member Duff Conacher on federal election robocall fraud situation, and ongoing problems with Elections Canada and other good government watchdog agencies (CBC Radio's The Current show, March 1, 2012)
RADIO INTERVIEW: Democracy Watch Coordinator Tyler Sommers on federal election robocall fraud situation and ongoing problems with Elections Canada (CBC Radio's As it Happens show, February 29, 2012)
TV INTERVIEW: Democracy Watch Coordinator Tyler Sommers on federal election robocall fraud situation and ongoing problems with Elections Canada (Sun News Network, February 29, 2012)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Elections Canada has more than 2,280 other past investigations to answer questions about, not just current robocall fraud investigation (Canada.com, GlobalNews.ca and 7 Postmedia News newspapers across Canada, February 28, 2012) -- To see related Global News video and article, click here -- To see related news release, click here
OP-ED: Spending scandal, and many other recent scandals, show clear need for Real Federal Accountability Act to clean up Canadian government (Hill Times, February 20, 2012)
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Conservatives must commit to strengthening access-to-information, ethics, lobbying, political finance, financial administration, public consultation and whistleblower protection laws and enforcement to fulfill their international Open Government Partnership (OGP) membership requirements (January 17, 2012)
OP-ED: Honesty in politics is the best policy, and so it should be required by law (iPolitics.ca, December 22, 2011)
TV INTERVIEW: New Public Sector Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion lies about past statements about ethics applying for job, and tries to excuse his very questionable record (CBC's Power and Politics show, December 21, 2011) -- To see related CBC.ca article, click here
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Conservatives' Accountability and Democratic Reform Record Gets An "F" For Breaking Many Promises and Practising Politics As Usual (December 12, 2011)
NEWS RELEASE: As International Anti-Corruption Day again passes by, Canadian governments continue to fail to fulfill UN Convention Against Corruption requirements and other international good government standards (December 9, 2011)
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Conservatives break all of their international Open Government Partnership commitments by failing to consult with Canadians about their draft action plan before meeting in Brazil this week (December 5, 2011) -- To see related CBC.ca article, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Changing voting system, requiring honesty in politics and accountability are best ways to increase voter turnout, not electronic voting (CBC.ca and three other media outlets (all publishing Canadian Press wire article), November 9, 2011) -- To see related news release, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Saskatchewan, like every jurisdiction in Canada, needs an honesty-in-politics law (Planet S magazine, October 20, 2011)
NEWS RELEASE: Ontarians should not be surprised at record low voter turnout in provincial election (October 7, 2011) -- To see related CBC.ca article, click here
RADIO INTERVIEW: Founding Director Duff Conacher on why no one should be surprised that voter turnout was lower in the Ontario provincial election (CBC Radio Toronto's Here and Now show, October 7, 2011)
NEWS RELEASE: 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 (September 30, 2011)
NEWS RELEASE: Group hopes media will ask party leaders in election campaigns "If you break promises, will you resign?" and "Will you support passage of honesty-in-politics law?" (September 27, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Election system reform, and honesty-in-politics law, would help increase voter turnout (Canada.com, GlobalNews.ca and 17 PostMedia News newspapers across Canada, July 5-6, 2011)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Inquiries laws must be changed to ensure all questionable government actions are investigated fully, fairly and impartially (Ottawa Citizen and Canada.com, June 27, 2011)
TV INTERVIEW: Federal Conservatives' past broken promises mean many government ethics and accountability changes still needed (BNN's SqueezePlay, June 13, 2011)
TV INTERVIEW: Federal Conservatives misled Parliament and public on G8/G20 spending in Minister Tony Clement's riding, now misleading again (CTV News Channel, June 9, 2011 (See interview by clicking link in box on right-hand of page))
NEWS RELEASE: Global Integrity Report lowers Canadian federal government's score from 80 to 75 -- Weak enforcement of Accountability Act's loophole-filled rules the main reason for drop in democracy rating (May 4, 2011)
NEWS RELEASE: Green Party receives B- best grade of bad overall grades in Report Card on Federal Parties' Good Government Platforms, Bloc second with C-, Conservatives, Liberals and NDP all receive F (April 28, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: As Democracy Watch has proposed for years, an honesty-in-politics law is needed to end misleading (Macleans.ca (Andrew Coyne's column), April 7, 2011)
OP-ED: Honesty in politics is the best policy, and so it should be required by law (TheMarkNews.com, Guelph Mercury and the Kitchener Waterloo Record, February 24, 2011)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Honesty in politics is the best policy, and so it should be required by law (Ottawa Citizen, and the Charlottetown Guardian, February 19, 2011)
TV INTERVIEW: Dishonesty and ethics scandals of Conservative Cabinet ministers Bev Oda and Lisa Raitt raise questions whether Prime Minister Harper will enforce his own integrity standards (CBC's Power and Politics with Evan Solomon, February 17, 2011 -- the interview starts at 1 hour, 48 minute point of show, and ends at 1 hour, 54 minute mark)
NEWS RELEASE: Tens of thousands of hits on CoffeeParty.ca movement site in first week (February 4, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Democracy Watch's CoffeeParty.ca movement points out flaws in Canada's democracy, and need for changes (Lawrence Martin's column, Globe and Mail, February 1, 2011)
NEWS RELEASE: Thousands visit CoffeeParty.ca in first day of movement (January 28, 2011)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Prime Minister Harper misleads Canadians again -- Conservatives broke most of their democratic reform and government accountability promises (Ottawa Citizen, January 25, 2011)

Please donate online now to democratic reform, government accountability
and corporate responsibility in Canada

Democracy Watch homepage