Money In Politics Campaign 2011

Money in Politics Campaign 2011
Democracy Watch has produced the following documents in 2011 in its Money in Politics Campaign
(newest to oldest)

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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Prime Minister's Office ignores own rules in defending Conservative MP Paul Calandara in fundraising controversy (The Globe and Mail, July 26, 2012)
NEWS RELEASE: House Committee recommends some key changes to strengthen federal Lobbying Act and enforcement system, but fails to address huge loopholes that allow secret, unethical lobbying of the federal government (May 17, 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: Alberta's Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties bought off by large corporate donations (Open File Calgary, April 13, 2012)
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
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Too high limits and other loopholes allow wealthy interests to buy influence over Alberta politicians (Calgary Herald and 2 other Postmedia News newspapers, April 4, 2012)
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: House Committee must recommend that federal Lobbying Act and enforcement system be changed in 10 key ways to finally end secret, unethical lobbying of the federal government (February 9, 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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Alberta Premier refuses to disclose details of Conservative Party payments to her -- loopholes in laws that allow for secrecy must be closed (Calgary Herald and 2 other PostMedia newspapers, December 22, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Parliament watchdogs (except Ethics Commissioner) echo Democracy Watch's call for more accountability for the watchdogs (Ottawa Citizen, December 20-21, 2011) -- To see related 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
OP-ED: If GRIC's proposals are implemented, secret lobbying will still be legal, and even more unethical lobbying will be legal (Hill Times, November 7, 2011)
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
NEWS RELEASE: Elections Canada's rulings secret on 2,284 complaints since 2004 -- Federal politicians continue to fail to ensure key good government watchdogs are doing their jobs properly (November 8, 2011) -- To see related Winnipeg Free Press article, click here
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal Conservatives' bill closes one loophole in political finance system, but fails to close other huge loopholes (Globe and Mail, November 4, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives' bill will leave open loopholes that allow for unlimited loans, and secret unlimited donations to nomination and party leadership race candidates (Canada.com and Edmonton Journal, October 31, 2011)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Huge loopholes in federal lobbying law must be closed to end secret, unethical lobbying (Hill Times, October 17, 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: Corporations provide about 50% of donated money to Ontario Liberal Party, and 43% to Conservative Party, and unions about 28% to NDP -- 99% of Green Party donors are individuals (October 5, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives make undemocratic move of cutting per-vote annual funding for federal political parties (Globe and Mail, October 4, 2011) -- To see related Maclean's magazine blog posting, click here
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: Because Ontario Liberals broke their 2003 election promise, Ontario election and government up for sale to wealthy interests -- Federal government, other provinces, and the territories, have similar undemocratic flaws in their laws that must be corrected (September 29, 2011)
OP-ED: Wide open system for unethical activities by former Canadian Cabinet ministers (Rabble.ca, June 30, 2011) -- To see related CBC.ca article, click here
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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Alberta provincial riding associations must be required by law to disclose details of their spending (Edmonton Journal, June 17, 2011)
TV INTERVIEW: Federal Conservatives' past broken promises mean many government ethics and accountability changes still needed (BNN's SqueezePlay, June 13, 2011)
OP-ED: Per-vote subsidy should be made more democratic, not cut -- Other democratizing changes also needed to political finance system (TroyMedia.com, Rabble.ca, June 7, 2011, TheTyee.ca and Guelph Mercury and Waterloo Region Record, June 9, 2011)
TV INTERVIEW: Federal Conservatives cutting most democratic public subsidy of political parties, but not touching many other undemocratic subsidies (CTV News Channel's Power Play show, June 3, 2011 (See interview by clicking link in box on right-hand of page))
OP-ED: Per-vote subsidy should be made more democratic, not cut -- Other democratizing changes also needed to political finance system (Hill Times, May 30, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Alberta Conservative Party leadership candidate Ted Morton's democratic reform proposals are too little to make provincial government democratic and accountable (Canada.com, Calgary Herald, Ottawa Citizen, May 26-27, 2011)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Canada only 14th out of 34 countries in OECD Governance rankings (TheTyee.ca, May 24, 2011, Toronto Star, May 26, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Conservatives likely to make undemocratic move of cutting per-vote annual federal party funding (Hill Times, May 23, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Prime Minister Harper's Conservatives plan another very undemocratic move by cutting the per-vote annual funding for federal political parties (Canada.com, GlobalNews.ca, National Post and 17 Postmedia News TV stations and newspapers across Canada, May 20-21, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Elections Canada should have long ago charged and found guilty Liberals who failed to pay loans from 2006 party leadership race (Hill Times, May 16, 2011)
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: Loopholes in federal political finance rules mean that candidates and parties don't have to disclose who bankrolled them until after the election (National Post, March 25, 2011)
TV PIECE: Former PMO adviser Bruce Carson involved in dealings with federal government for First Nations water contracts (APTN, March 18, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: As Democracy Watch predicted in April 2008, federal Conservatives crossed the line in ad spending during 2006 election (CBC.ca and many other media outlets, March 1, 2011)
TV PIECE: Elections Canada charges two Conservative senators, and one party official, with campaign finance violations (Global TV National News, February 25, 2011)
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Commissioner of Lobbying Karen Shepherd likely sitting on at least 100 cases -- and has only ruled publicly on two cases in past three year -- Auditor General must audit -- Commissioner has worse disclosure record than disgraced former Integrity Commissioner, and equally bad enforcement record (February 23, 2011)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Strong open government laws can help stop corruption, even if some secrecy will always remain (Montreal Gazette, February 5, 2011)
NEWS RELEASE: Tens of thousands of hits on CoffeeParty.ca movement site in first week (February 4, 2011)
OP-ED: Changes needed to make public funding of politics more democratic (TheMarkNews.com, Hill Times, January 31, 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)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal per-vote funding for political parties should not be eliminated, but changes should be made to make political financing more democratic (Canada.com, National Post, Vancouver Sun and New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, January 19, 2011)

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

Democracy Watch homepage