Monday, June 26, 2006

OTTAWA - Today, Democracy Watch criticized the federal Conservative government for failing to include 21 promised measures in the “Federal Accountability Act” (FAA - Bill C-2), which was passed on Wednesday by the House of Commons, and for refusing to consider or rejecting some opposition party amendments that would have forced the Conservatives to keep their election promises.

At the same time, while the opposition parties won a couple of important amendments to the FAA, Democracy Watch is holding its applause because opposition parties didn’t attempt or support closing many huge loopholes (including many loopholes left or created by the Conservatives broken promises) they could have closed given that opposition parties hold a majority of seats on committees and in the House of Commons.  The Liberals especially proposed as many amendments to weaken the FAA as they proposed changes to strengthen the FAA.  (Please see further below for a summary of significant amendments made to Bill C-2, and for a summary of all key amendments proposed during the Committee review see Democracy Watch’s June 13, 2006 news release)

Democracy Watch called on the Senate to conclude quickly the review of the FAA it began last Thursday (which continues tomorrow) and amend the FAA only by adding the 21 measures the Conservatives promised to include in the bill (Please see further below for a summary of the 21 measures, and for details about the broken promises see Democracy Watch’s May 25, 2006 news release).  The Senate has the power to make other changes to the FAA, but as an unelected body it should not use this power to weaken Bill C-2 or make other significant changes to the bill.

“Bill C-2 (the Federal Accountability Act) is much weaker and loophole-filled than it should be mainly because the Conservatives failed to include 21 promised measures in the bill, but also because the opposition parties played many games instead of cooperating to strengthen the bill in key ways,” said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch and Chairperson of the Government Ethics Coalition and the Money in Politics Coalition. “Ironic as it may be, the unelected Senate should uphold voter rights by amending the bill to include the Conservatives’ 21 promised measures, and send it back to the House of Commons to force all Conservative MPs to choose between keeping their election promises and breaking them.”

Democracy Watch believes the circumstances justify the Senate adding the 21 measures to Bill C-2.  Polls show that voters elected the Conservatives mainly based on their government accountability promises which included ending secrecy in government, ending secret lobbying, closing all loopholes in ethics rules, restricting the Prime Minister’s power to make patronage appointments, and ensuring truth in government budgetting.  However, Bill C-2 does none of these things.

Polls also show that keeping promises is the top government accountability issue for Canadian voters, and federal ethics rules require that all federal politicians act with honesty (which, of course, includes being honest in making and keeping election promises).

In addition, all politicians are in a conflict of interest when reviewing proposals that will increase their own acccountability, so while it is disappointing, it is not surprising that the opposition parties approved a bill that contains fewer accountability measures than the Conservatives promised.  It also, of course, helps opposition parties prospects in the next federal election if they have clear evidence of Conservative promise-breaking.  As for the Conservatives, no roll-call votes were held in the House of Commons on Bill C-2, so voters don’t even know the position of individual Conservative MPs on their Cabinet failing to include 21 promised measures in Bill C-2.

Given the above, while the House of Commons approval of a loophole-filled FAA may be an expression of the will of the House of Commons, it should not be seen as an expression of the will of Canadian voters.  For all the reasons set out above, the Senate should uphold voters’ right to have election promises kept, and send Bill C-2 back to the House with the 21 promised Conservative measures included, thereby forcing all Conservative MPs to choose between keeping their promises or voting against them.

In terms of amendments made to Bill C-2 by the Committee reviewing the bill, and by the House of Commons, the following changes are significant improvements to the FAA:

• the NDP proposed and won a change that ensures many government institutions (including Crown corporations and their subsidiaries) will be covered by the federal Access to Information Act;
• the Conservatives proposed and won a change to have a new Prime Minister’s “transition team” members covered by the five-year ban on becoming a lobbyist after they finish their job (although they can apply for an exemption from the ban);
• the Liberals and NDP proposed and won changes that set out rules for the appointment of commissioners to, and the operation of, the proposed Public Appointments Commission (PAC - however, very unfortunately, the changes do not require Cabinet to create the PAC);
• the Liberals proposed and won a change to make the current policy a legal requirement to disclose basic information for goverment contracts worth more than $10,000, and;
• all the opposition parties combined to propose and win requirements for new watchdog Officers of Parliament to file reports in Parliament, including special reports on investigations or other matters.

• lying to the public will still be legal, and as a result (of course) not penalized (because the Conservatives broke their election promise to include all ethics rules for Cabinet ministers, their staff and senior public servants in the FAA by deleting the only rule that requires these key policymakers to “act with honesty”);
• Cabinet ministers such as Health Minister Tony Clement, Heritage Minister Bev Oda, and Trade Minister David Emerson will continue to be allowed to be involved in policy-making processes that help their own financial interests (because the Conservatives broke their election promise to "Close the loopholes that allow ministers to vote on matters connected with their business interests" -- NOTE: the FAA includes a definition of “private interest” that allows ministers to be involved in policy-making processes even though they have financial interests in the policy area);
• many ministerial staff and advisers will not be covered by many ethics rules (because the Conservatives broke their election promise to "Make part-time or non-remunerated ministerial advisers subject to the Ethics Code");
• the public will not be allowed to file complaints with the proposed new Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner (because the Conservatives broke their election promise to "Allow members of the public - not just politicians - to make complaints to the Ethics Commissioner" -- NOTE: the FAA requires members of the public to have an MP or senator file a complaint on their behalf);
• Cabinet ministers, their staff and senior public servants will face no penalty for violations of many ethics rules (because the Conservatives broke their promise to “Give the Ethics Commissioner the power to fine violators” -- NOTE: the FAA only contains a maximum $500 penalty for violating only some ethics rules);
• secret, unethical lobbying will still be legal (because the Conservatives broke their election promise to "Require ministers and senior government officials to record their contacts with lobbyists" -- NOTE: the FAA only requires some lobbyists to record some of their contacts with ministers and senior officials, and many corporate lobbyists are still not required to register as a lobbyist and follow the rules in the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct);
• many ministerial staff will be allowed to become lobbyists too soon after they leave their position (because the Conservatives broke their election promise to "Extend to five years the period during which former ministers, ministerial staffers, and senior public servants cannot lobby government" -- NOTE: the FAA does not cover all staff and senior officials);
• the Prime Minister and Cabinet will still be able to appoint party loyalists and cronies to more than 3,500 key government and law enforcement positions without any effective review or parliamentary approval process (because the Conservatives have, so far, broken their election promise to establish a Public Appointments Commission (PAC) to ensure fair appointments -- NOTE: the FAA does not require Cabinet to create the PAC);
• government institutions will be allowed to keep secret information the public has a clear right to know (because the Conservatives have, so far, broken eight (8) election promises to strengthen the Access to Information Act in more than 40 key ways);
• whistleblowers who are not public servants will not be effectively protected from retaliation (because the Conservatives broke their election promise to "Ensure that all Canadians who report government wrongdoing are protected, not just public servants" -- in fact, the FAA does not even protect all public servant whistleblowers);
• the identities of politicians and government officials who are guilty of wrongdoing will often be kept secret (because the Conservatives broke their election promise to "Require the prompt public disclosure of information revealed by whistleblowers . . .");
• no whistleblowers will receive compensation adequate to seek another job even if the whistleblowing process leaves them completely alienated from all their co-workers (because the Conservatives broke their election promise to “Establish monetary rewards for whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing or save taxpayers dollars” -- NOTE: the Conservatives included a maximum $2,000 reward in the first version of the FAA, but then they proposed an amendment (which passed) to remove the reward);
• there will be no guarantee of truth-in-government-budgetting (because the Conservatives broke their election promise promise to "Create an independent Parliamentary Budget Office" -- NOTE: the FAA allows Cabinet to dismiss the Officer at any time);
• there will also be no guarantee of a Procurement Auditor (because the FAA only allows, but does not require, Cabinet to appoint the promised Auditor)