Voter Rights Campaign 2007

Français

Voter Rights Campaign - 2007

Democracy Watch released the following documents in 2007 in its Voter Rights 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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Privacy International's report ranks Canada in top 3 countries in personal privacy protection, but also points out key gaps and disturbing events (CTV Newsnet and CTV National News, December 30, 2007) -- To see interview with Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher, click on video link on CTV.ca website page links takes you to
WEBSITE ARTICLE: 72 National Defence Department contracts worth $1 billion are exceeding contract price (Canada.com and CanWest Newservice newspapers across Canada, December 16, 2007)
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: Group Calls for Rulings from Ethics Commissioner on Actions by Prime Minister and Other Cabinet Ministers Concerning Mulroney-Schreiber Situation -- All MPs on Ethics Committee Should Agree on Questions (November 26, 2007) -- (To see the Canadian Press wire article published on 12 media websites, and to see a video of part of Democracy Watch's news conference, click here (and then click on VIDEO link on CTV.ca page link takes you to))
OP-ED: Fully impartial inquiries into Mulroney-Schreiber situation, and many other questionable situations, needed to clean up the federal government (November 18, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Conservatives in Conflict of Interest, Cannot Select Investigator, Inquiry Commissioner, Nor Prosecutor to Review Mulroney-Schreiber Situation (November 13, 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: Hamilton city appointments process too secret to ensure merit-based appointments to city committees (Hamilton Spectator, November 7, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Prime Minister Harper’s Conservatives Make It Clear They Will Break Promises to Democratize Election Candidate Nomination Races (November 6, 2007) -- To see related Novemner 8, 2007 Halifax Chronicle Herald article, click here
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: 720 Promises By the Four Main Ontario Parties But No Guarantee Offered By Any Party Leader and No Pledges to Pass “Honesty-in-Politics" Law -- Elections Ontario Fails to Inform Voters of Right to Vote for “None of the Above” (October 9, 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: Federal Conservatives' flawed public consultation on democratic reforms should be audited, valid and meaningful consultation needed (Canadaeast.com and 9 other media outlets (publishing Canadian Press wire article), September 12, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives continue to break promise to establish Public Appointments Commission to ensure merit-based appointments, continue patronage with appointment of former PEI Conservative Premier Pat Binns as Ambassador to Ireland (CBC.ca website and 9 other media outlet websites (publishing Canadian Press (CP) wire article), August 30, 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: More federal government politicians and officials have cars and drivers than found in big business sectors, costing Canadians millions of dollars (Toronto Star, July 30, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives continue patronage appointments and cronyism, fail to establish promised independent Public Appointments Commission seven months after Accountability Act passed (Toronto Star, July 27, 2007)
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: Who Will Guard the Guard? Fully Independent and Empowered Inquiry Needed Into Many RCMP Actions -- Public Appointments Commission and Other Changes Needed Before Appointment of Commissioner or Any Other Government Accountability Watchdogs (June 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 Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Jim Prentice handpicks new land claims negotiators, as Conservatives continue to fail to establish promised Public Appointments Commission (Canada.com website and 10 other media websites (publishing Canadian Press (CP) article), May 24, 2007)
NEWS RELEASE: Recent Secrey 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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives continue patronage and cronyism while delaying establishment of promised Public Appointments Commission (Canada.com website, May 23, 2007 -- To see related article, click here)
OP-ED: Recent Scandals Show How Much Open Government Measures Are Needed (Kitchener Waterloo Record, Hill Times, May 21, 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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Public should not be paying for Prime Minister's image stylist, Conservative Party should be paying (Halifax Chronicle-Herald, April 20, 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)
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Conservatives Should Stop Consultation on Democratic Reforms -- It Is As Much of a Sham As Liberals' Consultation in 2005 -- Audit, Valid Consultation and New Law Needed (March 29, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives holding a sham public consultation on the state of democracy in Canada (Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator, Winnipeg Free Press, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, and CJAD Talk Radio Montreal website (publishing Canadian Press (CP) wire article), March 23, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives continue to fail to establish independent Public Appointments Commission to ensure merit-based Cabinet appointments (Toronto Sun, Ottawa Sun, Edmonton Sun, Winnipeg Sun and Canoe.ca website, March 1, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Alberta's new Premier Ed Stelmach requires ineffective partial disclosure of minister office's expenses, raising questions about how effective other planned accountability reforms will be (Edmonton Journal, March 1, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Election ad disclosure rules, and Election Canada's investigative powers, for online media need to be strengthened to prevent false article-ads (Macleans.ca, February 13, 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
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Problems with electronic voting outweigh benefits (Halifax Daily News, January 15, 2007)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives delay establishing Accountability Act's Public Appointments Commission, and make 118 Cabinet appointments (CBC.ca website, January 12, 2007)
OP-ED: Honesty-in-politics law needed to discourage and penalize political misleaders (January 12, 2007)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Political party-switchers and misleaders must face high penalties to stop abuse of voters' rights (January 5, 2007)

Please become a Supporter of democratic reform, government accountability
and corporate responsibility in Canada

Democracy Watch homepage