Money in Politics Campaign 2011
Democracy Watch has produced
the following documents in 2011 in its Money in Politics
Campaign
(newest to oldest)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: MP Paul Calandra's fundraising events violate Prime Minister Harper's own rules, and raise serious questions about violations of federal ethics and lobbying laws (The Hill Times, July 30, 2012)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Prime Minister's Office ignores own rules in defending Conservative MP Paul Calandara in fundraising controversy (The Globe and Mail, July 26, 2012)
- NEWS RELEASE: House Committee recommends some key changes to strengthen federal Lobbying Act and enforcement system, but fails to address huge loopholes that allow secret, unethical lobbying of the federal government (May 17, 2012)
- NEWS RELEASE: Albertans should not be surprised at low voter turnout in provincial election: Voting system, failure of Elections Alberta to inform voters of right to decline their ballot likely reasons for turnout (April 25, 2012)
- NEWS RELEASE: Federal
Conservatives' Open Government Action Plan fails to
fulfill Open Government Partnership (OGP) membership
requirements -- fails to commit to strengthening
access-to-information, ethics, lobbying, political
finance, financial administration, public consultation
and whistleblower protection laws and enforcement
(April 17, 2012) -- To
see related Canadian Press wire article, click
here
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Alberta's
Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties bought
off by large corporate donations (Open File
Calgary, April 13, 2012)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal
Conservatives' Open Government Partnership Action Plan
is only an open data plan, not a plan for open,
ethical government (GlobalNews.ca and 18 other
media outlets (all publishing Canadian Press wire
article), April 12, 2012) -- To see related news
release, click
here
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Too
high limits and other loopholes allow wealthy
interests to buy influence over Alberta politicians
(Calgary Herald
and 2 other Postmedia News newspapers, April 4, 2012)
- OP-ED: Spending
scandal, and many other recent scandals, show clear
need for Real
Federal Accountability Act to clean up
Canadian government (Hill Times, February 20, 2012)
- NEWS RELEASE: House
Committee must recommend that federal Lobbying Act and
enforcement system be changed in 10 key ways to
finally end secret, unethical lobbying of the federal
government (February 9, 2012)
- NEWS RELEASE: Federal
Conservatives must commit to strengthening
access-to-information, ethics, lobbying, political
finance, financial administration, public consultation
and whistleblower protection laws and enforcement to
fulfill their international Open Government
Partnership (OGP) membership requirements (January
17, 2012)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Alberta
Premier
refuses to disclose details of Conservative Party
payments to her -- loopholes in laws that allow for
secrecy must be closed (Calgary Herald and 2 other PostMedia
newspapers, December 22, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal
Parliament
watchdogs (except Ethics Commissioner) echo Democracy
Watch's call for more accountability for the watchdogs
(Ottawa Citizen,
December 20-21, 2011) -- To see related article, click
here
- NEWS RELEASE: Federal
Conservatives' Accountability and Democratic Reform
Record Gets An "F" For Breaking Many Promises and
Practising Politics As Usual (December 12, 2011)
- NEWS RELEASE: As
International Anti-Corruption Day again passes by,
Canadian governments continue to fail to fulfill UN Convention Against
Corruption requirements and other
international good government standards
(December 9, 2011)
- NEWS RELEASE: Federal
Conservatives break all of their international Open
Government Partnership commitments by failing to
consult with Canadians about their draft action plan
before meeting in Brazil this week (December 5,
2011) -- To see related CBC.ca article, click
here
- OP-ED: If
GRIC's proposals are implemented, secret lobbying will
still be legal, and even more unethical lobbying will
be legal (Hill
Times, November 7, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Changing
voting
system, requiring honesty in politics and
accountability are best ways to increase voter
turnout, not electronic voting (CBC.ca and three
other media outlets (all publishing Canadian Press wire
article), November 9, 2011) -- To see related news
release, click
here
- NEWS RELEASE: Elections
Canada's rulings secret on 2,284 complaints since 2004
-- Federal politicians continue to fail to
ensure key good government watchdogs are doing their
jobs properly (November 8, 2011) -- To
see related Winnipeg
Free Press article, click
here
- LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal
Conservatives' bill closes one loophole in political
finance system, but fails to close other huge
loopholes (Globe
and Mail, November 4, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal
Conservatives'
bill will leave open loopholes that allow for
unlimited loans, and secret unlimited donations to
nomination and party leadership race candidates
(Canada.com and Edmonton
Journal, October 31, 2011)
- LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Huge
loopholes in federal lobbying law must be closed to
end secret, unethical lobbying (Hill Times, October
17, 2011)
- NEWS RELEASE: Ontarians
should not be surprised at record low voter turnout in
provincial election (October 7, 2011) -- To see
related CBC.ca article, click
here
- RADIO INTERVIEW: Founding
Director
Duff Conacher on why no one should be surprised that
voter turnout was lower in the Ontario provincial
election (CBC Radio Toronto's Here and Now show,
October 7, 2011)
- NEWS RELEASE: Corporations
provide
about 50% of donated money to Ontario Liberal Party,
and 43% to Conservative Party, and unions about 28% to
NDP -- 99% of Green Party donors are individuals
(October 5, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal
Conservatives
make
undemocratic
move
of cutting per-vote annual funding for federal
political parties (Globe and Mail, October 4, 2011) -- To
see related Maclean's
magazine blog posting, click
here
- NEWS RELEASE: Green
Party receives D- best grade of bad overall grades in
Report Card on Ontario Parties' Good Government
Platforms -- Conservatives receive an E, NDP an F and
Liberals an Incomplete (September 30, 2011)
- NEWS RELEASE: Because
Ontario Liberals broke their 2003 election promise,
Ontario election and government up for sale to wealthy
interests -- Federal government, other
provinces, and the territories, have similar
undemocratic flaws in their laws that must be
corrected (September 29, 2011)
- OP-ED: Wide
open system for unethical activities by former
Canadian Cabinet ministers (Rabble.ca, June 30,
2011) -- To see
related CBC.ca article, click
here
- LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Inquiries laws must be
changed to ensure all questionable government actions
are investigated fully, fairly and impartially (Ottawa Citizen and
Canada.com, June 27, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Alberta
provincial
riding
associations
must
be
required
by
law to disclose details of their spending (Edmonton Journal,
June 17, 2011)
- TV INTERVIEW: Federal
Conservatives'
past broken promises mean many government ethics and
accountability changes still needed (BNN's
SqueezePlay, June 13, 2011)
- OP-ED: Per-vote
subsidy
should be made more democratic, not cut -- Other
democratizing
changes also needed to political finance system
(TroyMedia.com, Rabble.ca, June 7, 2011, TheTyee.ca and
Guelph Mercury
and Waterloo Region
Record, June 9, 2011)
- TV INTERVIEW: Federal
Conservatives
cutting
most
democratic
public
subsidy
of
political
parties,
but
not
touching
many
other undemocratic subsidies (CTV News Channel's
Power Play show, June 3, 2011 (See interview by clicking
link in box on right-hand of page))
- OP-ED: Per-vote
subsidy
should be made more democratic, not cut -- Other
democratizing
changes also needed to political finance system
(Hill Times,
May 30, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Alberta
Conservative
Party
leadership
candidate
Ted
Morton's
democratic
reform
proposals
are
too
little
to
make
provincial
government democratic and accountable (Canada.com,
Calgary Herald,
Ottawa Citizen,
May 26-27, 2011)
- LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Canada only 14th out
of 34 countries in OECD Governance rankings
(TheTyee.ca, May 24, 2011, Toronto Star, May 26, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Conservatives
likely
to make undemocratic move of cutting per-vote annual
federal party funding (Hill Times, May 23, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Prime
Minister
Harper's Conservatives plan another very undemocratic
move by cutting the per-vote annual funding for
federal political parties (Canada.com,
GlobalNews.ca, National
Post and 17 Postmedia News TV stations and
newspapers across Canada, May 20-21, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Elections
Canada
should have long ago charged and found guilty Liberals
who failed to pay loans from 2006 party leadership
race (Hill Times,
May 16, 2011)
- NEWS RELEASE: Global Integrity Report
lowers Canadian federal government's score from
80 to 75 -- Weak enforcement of Accountability Act's
loophole-filled rules the main reason for drop in
democracy rating (May 4, 2011)
- NEWS RELEASE: Green
Party
receives B- best grade of bad overall grades in Report
Card on Federal Parties' Good Government Platforms,
Bloc second with C-, Conservatives, Liberals and NDP
all receive F (April 28, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Loopholes
in
federal political finance rules mean that candidates
and parties don't have to disclose who bankrolled them
until after the election (National Post, March 25, 2011)
- TV PIECE:
Former
PMO
adviser
Bruce
Carson
involved
in
dealings with federal government for First Nations
water contracts (APTN, March 18, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: As
Democracy
Watch
predicted
in
April
2008,
federal Conservatives crossed the line in ad spending
during 2006 election (CBC.ca and many other media
outlets, March 1, 2011)
- TV PIECE: Elections
Canada
charges
two
Conservative
senators,
and
one party official, with campaign finance violations
(Global TV National News, February 25, 2011)
- NEWS RELEASE: Federal
Commissioner
of
Lobbying
Karen
Shepherd
likely
sitting
on
at
least
100
cases
--
and
has
only
ruled
publicly
on
two
cases
in
past
three
year
--
Auditor General must audit -- Commissioner has
worse disclosure record than disgraced former
Integrity Commissioner, and equally bad enforcement
record (February 23, 2011)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Strong
open
government
laws
can
help
stop
corruption, even if some secrecy will always remain
(Montreal Gazette,
February 5, 2011)
- NEWS RELEASE: Tens
of
thousands of hits on CoffeeParty.ca movement site in
first week (February 4, 2011)
- OP-ED: Changes
needed to make public funding of politics more
democratic (TheMarkNews.com, Hill Times, January
31, 2011)
- NEWS RELEASE: Thousands
visit
CoffeeParty.ca
in
first
day
of
movement (January 28, 2011)
- LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Prime Minister Harper
misleads Canadians again -- Conservatives broke most
of their democratic reform and government
accountability promises (Ottawa Citizen, January 25, 2011)
- LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal per-vote
funding for political parties should not be
eliminated, but changes should be made to make
political financing more democratic (Canada.com, National Post, Vancouver Sun and New Brunswick Telegraph
Journal, January 19, 2011)
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