No matter what issue or problem in Canada concerns you, making the Canadian federal government more accountable will help win the changes and solutions you are seeking, and also help stop the corruption that has infected the government for more than 140 years.

A total of 420 federal politicians, 2,000 political staff, 3,000 political appointees, and 350,000 government employees are not effectively required to act honestly, ethically, openly, representatively or to prevent waste.

Incredibly, the laws and enforcement of parking a car illegally are stronger than most government accountability laws and enforcement systems in Canada, and in some cases the penalties for parking illegally are higher than for government officials who act dishonestly, unethically, secretively, non-representatively or wastefully!

No federal political party has focused on cleaning up the federal government's accountability system in the past 140 years, despite the fact that the "Powers of the Parliament" section of the Constitution of Canada (section 91) states that Parliament's mandate is "to make laws for the peace, order and good government on Canada."

The Progressive Conservative party had majority power from 1984 to 1993, but put in place only two measures -- ethics rules full of loopholes for Cabinet ministers, their staff and senior government officials (and no enforcement system or penalties), and a lobbying disclosure system full of loopholes that allowed secret lobbying.

The federal Liberals had majority power from November 1993 to June 2004, then minority control after the June 2004 election.  The Liberals made many promises in 1993 to clean up the government accountability system but then broke those promises, until finally making some changes in 2003 with new political donations and financing rules, establishing a more independent ethics watchdog for Cabinet ministers, their staff and senior government officials, enacting ethics rules for MPs and senators.

However, the federal Liberals did not do nearly enough to ensure that federal politicians, political staff, political appointees and government employees are effectively required to act honestly, ethically, openly, representatively or to prevent waste -- mainly because they failed to close loopholes in rules, failed to make enforcement agencies fully-empowered and independent, and failed to enact penalties for rule violators.

During the 2006 election campaign, the Conservatives promised that if they won they would pass an "Accountability Act" containing 52 measures to clean up the federal government's accountability system, as well as implement 5 other democratic reforms.  When the Act was introduced, however, it only contained 30 measures and weakened key ethics rules (To see details about the 30 measures, click here, -- To see details about the Conservatives' broken promises, click here).

The Conservatives have so far implemented 29 of the 30 measures in Act, but 90 undemocratic and accountability loopholes and flaws continue to plague the federal government, and as a result no one in the government is effectively required to act honestly, ethically, openly, representatively, nor to prevent waste -- To see details about the loopholes and flaws, click here.

Provincial governments have similar loopholes in their good government laws, and to find the addresses of your provincial politicians to send a letter calling on them to close the loopholes, click here.

There are many key government accountability measures that will be reviewed by the Canadian federal government over the next two years.  No matter what issue or problem concerns you, strengthening the federal government's accountability will help you win the changes and solutions you are pushing for.

The federal Conservatives "Accountability Act" (Bill C-2) passed in December 2006, and it contains 30 government accountability measures -- To see details about the key measures in Bill C-2 (the so-called "Accountability Act"), click here.

Even if the federal Conservative Cabinet implements all 30 measures in the Accountability Act, there will still be 90 loopholes and flaws in the federal government's accountability system (in part because the Conservatives broke their 2006 election promise to include 52 measures in the Accountability Act -- To see details about the Conservatives' broken promises, click here -- To see details about the loopholes, click here).

Given that the Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, only have a minority of seats in Parliament, all of the federal political parties need to be pressured to strengthen and pass an "Accountability Act 2" to close the remaining 90 loopholes and flaws in the federal government's accountability system.

For all of these reasons, now is a key time to send a strong letter to the leaders of all the federal political parties that you are fed up with the dishonest, unethical, secretive, unrepresentative, and wasteful actions of federal politicians, government appointees, political staff, government employees and lobbyists and you want key changes to make everyone involved in the federal government act honestly, ethically, openly, representatively and to prevent waste.

On honesty, ethics, openness, representativeness and waste prevention reforms, the federal government has not heard from citizens or citizen groups enough to counter the resistance of politicians and public officials to make these systemic changes.  It is important that you let the government know that you want significant government accountability reforms.

Democracy Watch coordinates the Government Ethics Coalition, made up of 31 groups from across Canada representing over 3.5 million Canadians, which pushes the federal government to strengthen lobbying and ethics rules and enforcement as part of Democracy Watch's Government Ethics Campaign.

Democracy Watch also coordinates the Money in Politics Coalition, made up of 50 groups from across Canada representing over 3.5 million Canadians, which pushes the federal government to democratize the political donations rules and enforcement as part of Democracy Watch's Money in Politics Campaign.

Democracy Watch also has an Honesty in Politics Campaign, which pushes the federal government and provincial governments to pass an honesty-in-politics law (including measures to restrict party-switching by MPs), an Open Government Campaign, which pushes the federal government and provincial governments to strengthen the access-to-information rules and enforcement system, and a Voter Rights Campaign, which pushes the federal government and provincial governments to strengthen and democratize the voting, appointments, public consultation and waste prevention rules and enforcement systems.

Provincial governments have similar loopholes in their good government laws, and to find the addresses of your provincial politicians to send a letter calling on them to close the loopholes, click here.

PLEASE SEND A LETTER to all the federal political party leaders right now calling for key government accountability changes (See Addresses set out below).

The following SAMPLE LETTER provides a brief summary of the 90 loopholes that will continue to exist even if all 30 of the measures in the so-called "Accoutnability Act" are implemented.

To be most effective, please use the SAMPLE LETTER only as a model for writing your own letter, and please note that sending a letter by mail or fax is much more effective than sending an email.

Provincial governments have similar loopholes in their good government laws, and to find the addresses of your provincial politicians to send a letter calling on them to close the loopholes, click here.

SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Prime Minister / Opposition Party Leader / Your MP:

Please pass a federal Good Government Act that makes many key democratic reform, good government and government accountability changes.

The federal government's accountability system is the real scandal because for more than 140 years it has allowed politicians, government appointees, political staff, government employees and lobbyists to act dishonestly, unethically, secretively, non-representatively and wastefully.

Either laws and rules don't exist or are full of loopholes, or enforcement and penalties are too weak to prevent wrongdoing and penalize wrongdoers effectively.  In total, there are 90 gaping loopholes in the federal government's accountability system.

Incredibly, the laws against illegal parking in Canada are enforced more strongly and effectively than key government accountability laws and rules, and in some cases the penalties for parking illegally are higher than for wrongdoing in the federal government!

The problem is undeniable, as dozens of scandals have occurred and, in the recent years, Canada's federal government has dropped from 5th to 14th in the Global Corruption Rankings of governments, and left Canada in 10th position as a "moderate level" country among more than 90 countries whose federal government has been graded on key democratic and good government factors.

If the democratic and good government, and government accountability systems are not strengthened in many key ways, corruption will continue to infect the federal government, and the government will continue to fail to solve Canada's problems and continue to fail to address Canadians' concerns in many areas.

I will not vote for you or any of your party's representatives if you do not promise in writing to resign if you and your party does not do everything it can to close the 90 loopholes in the federal government's accountability system within one year after the upcoming federal election by passing strong, loophole-free rules, establishing fully-empowered, independent watchdog agencies, and ensuring violators face high penalties.

In summary, the federal government's overall accountability system must be strengthened to add a new honesty-in-politics law, and the existing lobbying regulation, money in politics regulation and open government regulation systems (including the whistleblower protection system) must be strengthened in many key ways. 

To ensure wrongdoing is cleaned up and wrongdoers identified and penalized, the powers of key government accountability enforcement agencies must also be strengthened.  In addition, the Prime Minister's powers to appoint people to law enforcement agencies and call snap elections and sut down Parliament must be restricted, and everyone in government must be required to consult with Canadians' in meaningful ways before they make decisions or policy changes. 

Last but certainly not least, the government must help citizens band together to counter the power of corporate lobby groups by facilitating the creation of citizen watchdog groups using a method that has worked very well in the U.S.

There is no need to wait for the Oliphant Commission's May 2010 report to make key changes to the federal government's democratic reform, good government and government accountability systems.

The 90 loopholes make legal the following 20 dishonest, unethical, secretive, unrepresentative and wasteful actions by people involved in the federal government, even after the passage of the so-called "Accountability Act" in December 2006:

Representative decision-making loopholes

• governments are still not required to consult with the public in a meaningful way even when making important, society-changing decisions;
• there are still no effective checks on the power of Cabinet ministers to appoint party supporters to law enforcement positions such as judges and the heads of watchdog agencies, boards, commissions and tribunals (such as requiring a majority of federal political party leaders to approve every appointment);
• there are no restrictions on when the Prime Minister can shut down Parliament;
  
• the federal Senate is still unaccountable in every way;

• politicians, their staff, and government employees are still allowed to lie to the public, including switching parties between elections only to advance their career;

• keeping information secret that the public has a clear right to know is still legal because loopholes in disclosure rules and lack of enforcement powers for watchdog agencies;
• secret lobbying is still legal, especially by corporate lobbyists;
• when Parliament is shut down, many good government watchdog agencies are not allowed to release reports;
  

• Cabinet ministers, their staff, and senior government employees are still allowed to be involved in policy-making processes that affect their own personal financial interests;
• there are still no effective penalties for politicians, political staff and government employees who violate key ethics rules;
• many politicians, their staff, and senior government employees are still allowed to become lobbyists too soon after they leave their government positions;
• many people who blow-the-whistle on government wrongdoing are still not effectively protected from retaliation;

• while a court case is ongoing, there is currently no clear restriction that fixes election dates in Canada and prohibits the Prime Minister from calling snap elections;
• riding nomination races and political party leadership races are still controlled by the parties and, as a result, are often undemocratic and unfair with no clear right to appeal abuses and violations of rules;
• party leaders can still arbitrarily reject or remove a riding association's candidate without the riding association's consent;
• voters still do not have a clear, well-promoted right to vote for "none of the above" if there is no candidate in their riding that they support;
• the voting system does not ensure that each candidate has the overall support of a majority of voters in their riding to be elected (and therefore allows parties to win a majority of seats with the support of a minority of voters);

• secret, unlimited donations are still legal to candidates in riding nomination races and political party leadership races;
• secret donations to parties, riding associations, politicians and government officials (and former politicians and officials) are still effectively legal because watchdogs lack key powers and enforcement measures;
• loopholes in donation limits and disclosure requirements allow large organizations to give employees paid leave to work for political parties;

• contracts can still be handed out without a bidding competition in some cases;
• politicians and their staff continue to be able to hide the details of their expense accounts, and are able to wine and dine party supporters and lobbyists with the public picking up the bill, and;
• the pay and perks for politicians are still too high above the salary of average Canadians.

You can see a list of the 90 loopholes at:  http://www.dwatch.ca/camp/SummaryOfLoopholes.html

I'm counting on you to prove you are a political leader by doing all you can to ensure that the changes set out above are made within the next two years, to finally put an end to dishonest, unethical, secretive, non-representative and wasteful "politics as usual" in the federal government.

I look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,
Your name and address

SEND YOUR LETTER BY MAIL calling for passage of a federal "honesty in politics" law to:
Prime Minister and Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper, Liberal Party Leader Michael Ignatieff, NDP Leader Jack Layton, Bloc Québecois Leader Gilles Duceppe and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May
and to your own MP
all at the following address (NO POSTAGE NEEDED):

House of Commons
Ottawa, Canada
K1A 0A6

OR send your letter by email to all the federal party leaders at:
pm@pm.gc.ca, harper.s@parl.gc.ca, Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca, jack@fed.ndp.ca, ducepg@parl.gc.ca, leader@greenparty.ca

OR send your letter by fax or email individually to:
Prime Minister and Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper
Fax: 613-941-6900
Email: <pm@pm.gc.ca>
Email: <harper.s@parl.gc.ca>

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff
Fax: 613-947-0310
Email: <Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca>

NDP Leader Jack Layton
Fax: 613-230-9950
Email: <jack@fed.ndp.ca>

Bloc Québecois Leader Gilles Duceppe
Fax: 613-954-2121 or 514-522-9899
Email: <ducepg@parl.gc.ca>

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May
Email: <leader@greenparty.ca>

Provincial governments have similar loopholes in their good government laws, and to find the addresses of your provincial politicians to send a letter calling on them to close the loopholes, click here.

AND, finally, please send a copy of your letter by email to Democracy Watch at: <dwatch@web.net>