Money In Politics Campaign

Français

Money in Politics Campaign

Advocating for stronger and more democratic political donation and spending laws

Money to the Ref??

We don't allow it in sports - but in politics it's legal!
Please help now to get big money out of Canadian politics.
ALERT - it is still legal to make secret donations of unlimited amounts of money, products and services to all types of provincial and territorial political candidates, and to federal nomination race and party leadership candidates!!

List of Information/Links on this Page

Documents produced by the Money in Politics Campaign
Please donate and/or send letter using Action Alert
Please print and use Good Government sticker/door sign
Organizations: Join the nation-wide Money in Politics Coalition by signing on to the 10 Recommendations to Clean Up Canada's Political Finance System
Summary of Third Party Advertising Spending Limits Court Case
ORDER FORM: For the Best Government Money Can't Buy: How to Make Canada's Political Finance System Democratic (June 1999)
Links to Databases of Donations to Canadian Political Parties & Politicians

Democracy Watch has produced the following documents in its Money in Politics 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)
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
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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: New Brunswick coalition switches from opposing NB Power sale deal to pushing for democratic reforms (Fredericton Daily Gleaner, April 9, 2010)
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Commissioner of Lobbying Fails in Past Year to Rule on Five Longstanding Ethics Complaints - Along with Federal Ethics Commissioner Also Taking Too Long to Rule on Complaints About Fundraising Events Held by Federal Conservatives Rick Dykstra and Lisa Raitt Last Fall (April 8, 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: 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: At protest of New Brunswickers against proposed sale of NB Power company, Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher as keynote speaker raises questions about ethics of deal, and urges voters to push for key democratic reforms to stop similar future bad government decisions (CBC.ca, March 20, 2010)
NEWS RELEASE: Democracy Watch Calls on All Federal Parties to Reach Agreement on Eliminating "10-Percenter" Mailings to Save More Than $10 Million -- Board of Internal Economy (BOIE) Must Have Consensus To Change Rules, And Should Hold Public Meetings To Discuss "10-Percenter" and All Issues (March 15, 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: Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher on the ethics of lobbying federal Canadian politicians and Part 2 of the Interview (Duff Conacher speaks at the 4:35 minute mark of Part 2) and Part 3 of the Interview (Duff Conacher speaks from the 2:35 minute mark to the 5:35 minute mark of Part 3) (StraightGoods.ca, February 24, 2010)
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: 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
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal Court judge dodges issue of legality of federal Conservatives' 2006 election ad spending scheme -- Elections Canada must appeal or prosecute to get ruling that clarifies the issue (Macleans.ca, January 20, 2010, Winnipeg Free Press, January 23, 2010, and Hill Times, January 25, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Once again, federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson protects Cabinet ministers with flawed ethics ruling, this time approving of them handing out government cheques labelled with Conservative Party logo (Canada.com and 5 CanWest News Service newspapers across Canada, January 14, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Democracy Watch's successful court challenge leads to stronger restrictions on federal lobbyists giving gifts and doing favours for politicians, parties and government officials (Maclean's magazine, December 23, 2009)
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: As International Anti-Corruption Day Passes By, Canadian Governments Continue to Fail to Fulfill UN Convention Against Corruption Requirements and Other International Standards (December 9, 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)

Donations to Canadian and U.S. Political Parties, Candidates (Both Nomination Race and Election Candidates), Riding Associations and Party Leadership Candidates

Elections Canada (agency that oversees federal Canadian political donations)

Donors to Federal Political Parties, Nomination Race and Election Candidates, Riding Associations, and Party Leadership Candidates (1997 on (but only 2005 on for party leadership candidates) on Elections Canada website)
Enforcement of the federal Canada Elections Act
How to complain about a violation of the federal Canada Elections Act
Elections Canada research documents

Elections Canada's Summary of Canadian Federal, Provincial and Territorial Election Laws (as of May 1, 2008 -- Please note that laws in some jurisdictions may have changed since May 2008)

Donors to Canadian Province of Ontario's Political Parties, Candidates and Leadership Candidates (lists from1995 on at the Elections Ontario website)
Province of Saskatchewan's Political Finance Rules (Elections Saskatchewan website (can also be searched for lists of donors))

Office of the Federal Canadian Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner (agency that oversees and enforces federal Canadian MPs' ethics rules and registeries of gifts to MPs -- See below for details)
Canadian federal Lobbyists' Code of Conduct (see especially November 2009 Guideline on Rule 8 in the Code)
Donations to U.S. Political Parties and Candidates (link is to OpenSecrets.org website)
Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (U.S. organization that tracks developments in government ethics, money in politics and lobbying laws across North America)
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)

Page last updated July 15, 2010

Please donate online now of democratic reform, government accountability
and corporate responsibility in Canada

Democracy Watch homepage

Photo by Sonia Murphy