Open Government Campaign

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Open Government Campaign

Advocating for stronger laws to require governments to act openly

List of Information/Links on this Page

Documents produced by the Open Government Campaign
Please donate and/or send letter using Action Alert
Please print and use Good Government sticker/door sign
Organizations, join the nation-wide Open Government Coalition by signing on to the 7 Recommendations to Strengthen Canada's Access to Government Information System
Open Government Canada (OGC) July 2001 position paper (OGC was a nation-wide network that advocated from spring 2000 until the end of 2003 for stronger access to government information laws)
Summary of the key OGC proposals: Disclosure Requirements and Information Commissioner Powers Must Increase to Make Access to Information Reform Effective (NOTE: Link takes you to a Democracy Watch news release from November 2004)
Canadian Government Access to Information Websites
Canadian Government Whistleblower Protection Laws and Enforcement Systems

Democracy Watch has released the following documents in its Open Government Campaign
(in reverse chronological order):

RADIO PHONE-IN SHOW: Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher on the loopholes and flaws in Canada's democracy (CBC Maritime Noon phone-in show (starts 20 min. into show), July 15, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: New Brunswick Conservatives promise dozens of democratic reforms, but details needed (New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, June 26, 2010)
NEWS RELEASE: CSIS Director's Disclosure of Foreign Influence Over Canadian Government Officials Yet Another Reason To Ban Secret, Unethical Donations and Lobbying Across Canada -- If politicians across Canada do not close loopholes and strengthen enforcement, corruption of governments will continue to be easy (June 23, 2010)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Auditor General should not have compromised -- is legally required to audit expenses of MPs (and Senators) (Hill Times, June 21, 2010)
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Federal Conservatives broke their 2006 election promises on open government, but opposition parties also to blame for ongoing government secrecy (Globe and Mail, June 19, 2010, Hill Times, June 28, 2010)
OP-ED: Oliphant Commission and recent scandals show clear need for another Federal Accountability Act (Rabble.ca, June 16, 2010, Hill Times, June 21, 2010, TheMarkNews.com, June 23, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Auditor General should not compromise -- is legally required to audit all public money spent by MPs/House and Senators/Senate (Toronto Star, June 16, 2010)
NEWS RELEASE: Justice Oliphant Recommends Closing Only 4 of More Than 20 Loopholes in Ethics Rules For Cabinet Ministers and Senior Government Officials, and Correcting 14 of More Than 20 Flaws in Ethics Enforcement System -- Commission ignores many loopholes that allow for secret donations and lobbying and unethical actions by others in federal politics (May 31, 2010) -- NOTE: Covered by 45 media outlets across Canada
WEBSITE ARTICLE: MPs' attendance records in Parliament kept secret, violating the public's right to know whether they are doing their job (Canoe.ca and 7 other SunMedia newspapers across Canada, May 24, 2010)
RADIO PHONE-IN SHOW: Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher on the loopholes and flaws in Canada's democracy (CBC Maritime Noon phone-in show (starts 15 min. into show), May 17, 2010)
OP-ED: Weak ethics rules and enforcement undermine everyone in Canadian politics (Hill Times, May 3, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Democracy Watch highlights loopholes in federal laws and enforcement that continue to allow for secret, unethical lobbying and advising by former politicians and government officials (Hill Times, April 26, 2010)
PODCAST INTERVIEW: Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher interviewed about Democracy Watch's history of success (This Magazine, April 26, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Democracy Watch points out loopholes in federal lobbying disclosure law revealed by Rahim Jaffer affair (CTV.ca and 10 other media outlets across Canada (all publishing Canadian Press wire article), April 23, 2010) -- To see related news release, click here
PODCAST INTERVIEW: Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher interviewed on flaws and loopholes in federal government's access-to-information system (Full Comment podcast, National Post, April 16, 2010)
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Federal Conservatives broke their 2006 election promises on open government, but opposition parties also to blame for ongoing government secrecy (Calgary Sun, Edmonton Sun and Vancouver Sun, April 15-17, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: New Brunswick coalition switches from opposing NB Power sale deal to pushing for democratic reforms (Fredericton Daily Gleaner, April 9, 2010)
NEW RELEASE: Democracy Watch Applauds Opposition Parties Actions on Disclosure of Afghan Detainee Documents, Prorogation and MP Mailings, But More Effective Measures Needed (March 22, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: At protest of thousands against NB Power deal on Saturday, Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher calls the deal a violation of key democratic government principles (Saint John Telegraph Journal, March 22, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher urges New Brunswickers to go from protesting proposed sale of NB Power on to pushing for democratic reforms to prevent future similar bad government decisions (Fredericton Daily Gleaner, May 20, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Supreme Court of Canada, not one former Supreme justice, should rule on disclosure of documents about Afghan detainees (CBC.ca (Inside Politics blog), March 5, 2010) -- To see related National Post blog posting, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Supreme Court of Canada, not former justice, should rule on disclosure of documents about Afghan detainees (CanadianPress.com wire article also published by 23 other media outlets across Canada, March 5, 2010)
NEWS RELEASE: Canadian Federal Government Far From Owning the Podium on Democracy and Government Accountability -- Drops to 11th in Global Integrity's New Annual Report -- Another Accountability Act Needed (March 1, 2010)
YouTUBE VIDEO: Duff Conacher on how to resolve the dispute over the disclosure of all documents about Afghan detainees (StraightGoods.ca, March 1, 2010) -- To see related website article, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservative Minister of Democratic Reform refuses to make his briefing book public (Winnipeg Free Press, Canada.com and 11 CanWest News Service newspapers across Canada, February 13, 2010)
NEWS RELEASE: Democracy Watch Calls on Federal Conservatives and Opposition MPs to Refer Afghan Detainee Document and Committee Testimony Disclosure Issues to Supreme Court of Canada for Ruling (February 10, 2010) -- To see related article in Le Devoir (in French), click here
RADIO PIECE: Examination of the federal Conservatives' democratic reform and accountability record featuring Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher (CBC Radio's The Current Part 3, February 4, 2010 or click here) -- To see Democracy Watch's Report Card on the Conservatives' record, click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Ontario judges hold unjustifiably secret training session on trial management issues (Toronto Star, February 4, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: As Democracy Watch has detailed in many reports over the past 16 years, no ruling party, nor Parliament overall, has done enough to reduce the federal government's democratic deficit (Lawrence Martin's column, Globe and Mail, January 28, 2010) -- To see some of Democracy Watch's recent reports, click here
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Conservatives' Accountability and Democratic Reform Record Earns Only an "E" Grade For Breaking Many Promises and Practising Politics As Usual -- Three Years After Federal Accountability Act Became Law, Dishonesty, Conflicts of Interest, Excessive Secrecy, Unlimited Donations and Patronage All Still Legal -- Another, Stronger Accountability Act Needed (December 16, 2009)
NEWS RELEASE: Ontario Liberals Reject Good Government Amendments to Their "Bad Government Act" -- Dishonesty, Secret Unlimited Donations, Secret Lobbying, Excessive Secrecy and Conflicts of Interest Still Allowed, and Independence of Public Inquiries Undermined (December 3, 2009) -- To hear related interview on CIUT Toronto's "Take Five" morning show, click here (NOTE: The interview starts starts at the 3:30 min. mark of the show, and ends at the 15:30 min. mark of the show)

Canadian Government Access to Information Websites

Federal Access to Information Commissioner (oversees the federal government's access-to-information system)
Federal Government Policies for Access to Information
Key Federal and Provincial Government Access-to-Information websites
Site for searching requests made under federal Canadian Access to Information Act
Global Integrity (non-governmental organization that, through an international research effort involving local organizations, individuals and journalists, rates countries good governance and anti-corruption systems and democratic processes)

Canadian Government Whistleblower Protection Laws and Enforcement Systems

Public Sector Integrity Commissioner oversees whistleblower complaints about wrongdoing by federal government employees (known as public servants), under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act including violations of laws, regulations, codes, policies, guidelines and the following ethics rules for public servants (Disclosure of wrongdoing database):

Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service (apply to employees of the federal government) -- For more details, see also the federal Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat's Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer and their Values and Ethics webpage

Province of Ontario's Integrity Commissioner -- government whistleblower protection webpage
Province of Manitoba information page -- government whistleblower protection information

Page last updated July 15, 2010

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