Voter Rights Campaign 2008

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Voter Rights Campaign - 2008

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

WEBSITE ARTICLE: Just like the Liberals did, federal Conservatives fail to penalize company that failed to deliver new military helicopters on time to the government (Canada.com and 11 other CanWest newspapers across Canada, December 29, 2008)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Prime Minister Harper's Senate and Supreme Court appointments are two of four appointment promises the Conservatives have broken, and add to their 27 other broken democratic reform promises (Canada.com and six other newspapers across Canada, and the subject of interviews with nine radio shows across Canada, December 23, 2008)
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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Prime Minister Stephen Harper breaks yet another democratic reform promise by appointing 18 Senators (Canoe.ca and 13 other media outlets across Canada, December 12, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Governor General made most neutral decision possible, and unless coalition is very solid will likely call an election if federal opposition parties vote against Conservatives budget, an election that will show whether voters are actually engaged in federal politics at a higher level than usual (VUE Weekly (Calgary), December 10, 2008)
WEBSITE VIDEO: Governor General makes most neutral call possible by proroguing Parliament, acting as a sort of referee in a championship game between weak Conservative team and weak Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition team (CTV's Newsnet, December 4, 2008)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal political parties should stop their bluffing, set aside their self-interests, and reach a democratic compromise on funding for the economy, and for themselves (Moncton Times and Transcript, National Post, December 2, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE and VIDEO: Federal opposition parties call Conservative government's weak-handed bluff on economic and public per-vote funding of political parties, but compromise likely because opposition parties also have weak hand (CTV.ca, November 29, 2008 -- click on link on page to see video of interview of Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher)
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: Online Internet voting is dangerous because system can be corrupted without any evidence of hacking (Calgary Herald, October 30, 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: Lack of required ID shuts out some northern voters (CBC.ca, October 9, 2008)
NEWS RELEASE: Ruling on Motion Means Court Challenge of Legality of Prime Minister's Federal Election Call Will Be Decided After the Election (October 3, 2008)
NEWS RELEASE: Democracy Watch Files Court Challenge of Prime Minister's Federal Election Call -- Violates Fixed Election Date Law and Charter Rights (October 1, 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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Election call by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper violates constitutional conventions and his own fixed-election date law (Canada.com and 10 other CanWest News Service newspapers, September 6, 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, 2006)
BOOK REVIEW: One-and-a-half cheers are all that minority government deserves -- other accountability measures are key to good government in Canada (Literary Review of Canada, September 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper uses lame excuse that "Parliament is not working" to try to justify calling an election before the new fixed federal election date of October 2009 (Canoe.ca and 4 other Sun Media outlets, August 15, 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)
OP-ED: New federal government inquiry system needed to ensure alleged wrongdoing is fairly investigated (Kitchener-Waterloo Record, July 28, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Canada Post, like many other corporations and government institutions, chooses insider as ombudsman which is as lapdog post with no powers to correct wrongdoing (Ottawa Citizen, July 23, 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: Provincial Ontario ombudsman on right track in proposing that ombudsman should be able to examine complaints about municipalities, hospitals and other government institutions, as in other provinces (Hamilton Spectator, June 19, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Trips by federal Conservative Cabinet ministers and their staff raise serious questions about whether taxpayers paid for political party expenses, and reveal loopholes in spending disclosure (Toronto Star, June 16, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Prime Minister should not have such a long time to call by-elections, as it gives his party an advantage, and leaves voters without a representative (Guelph Mercury, June 13, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: If Federal Conservatives appoint current Treasury Board Minister Vic Toews to Federal Court, it will be pure patronage and cronyism (Winnipeg Free Press, May 21, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives continue to break Accountability Act promises, exempt House of Commons, Senate and CSIS contracts from scrutiny of new Procurement Ombudsman (CTV.ca and 45 other media outlets (publishing Canadian Press wire article), May 19, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Low voter turnout in New Brunswick municipal elections expected because of lack of big issues and differences between main candidates, and lack of honesty in politics (Times & Transcript, May 14, 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)
RADIO INTERVIEW: Interview about Alberta's 2008 provincial election and lack of effective good government and government accountability system in Alberta (Aired on CJSW Radio (Calgary), March 10, 2008 -- NOTE: Link takes you to journalist Niall McKenna's website)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives continue patronage by appointing former Conservative candidate to CRTC, and continue to fail to establish promised independent appointments commission aimed at ending patronage (Halifax Chronicle Herald, February 21, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives delay appointment of Parliamentary Budget Officer for 15 months to avoid accountability for dishonest federal budget statements (Hill Times, February 18, 2008 - scroll down webpage link takes you to to see the article)
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: 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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