Voter Rights Campaign

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Voter Rights Campaign

Advocating for representative, democratically elected, waste-preventing government

List of Materials / Links on this Page

Documents produced by the Voter Rights Campaign
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Fixed Election Date court case

JOIN Facebook Group To Protest Another Snap Federal Election

Links on Initiative, Referendum Direct Democracy Issues
Links on Electoral Reform, Proportional Representation Issues
Disclosure of key government spending information:

Links Page to Databases of Contracts Given by All Federal Government Departments from October 2004 on (Please note, the database only contains information about contracts worth more than $10,000)
Database of Contracts Awarded Between 2002-2004 by Federal Public Works and Government Services (PWGSC) Department
Links Page to Databases of Travel and Hospitality Expense for Federal Cabinet Ministers, Their Staff, and Senior Government Employees

Democracy Watch has produced the following documents in its Voter Rights Campaign:
(in reverse chronological order)

WEBSITE ARTICLE: New Brunswick coalition releases second democracy report card on provincial parties' election platforms (Daily Gleaner and Times and Transcript (New Brunswick), July 17, 2010) -- To see Telegraph Journal article on the same subject, click here
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)
OP-ED: Parliament has problems, but not the problems many commentators claim it has (Hill Times, July 5, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Conservatives continue patronage and crony appointments, and to break promise to establish Public Appointments Commission (Hill Times, July 5, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: New Brunswick Conservatives promise more collaborative government if elected in September provincial election (New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, July 1, 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: Federal Court of Appeal Ruling Means Harper Conservatives Broke Their 2006 Election Promise to Fix Election Dates -- Democracy Watch Will Apply For Leave to Appeal to Supreme Court of Canada (May 26, 2010) JOIN Facebook Group To Protest Another Snap Federal Election
NEWS RELEASE: Democracy Watch in Court Today -- Appealing Federal Court Ruling That Legalized Conservative Prime Minister Harper's September 2008 Snap Federal Election Call Despite Fixed-Election-Date Law (May 25, 2010) NOTE: Covered by 40 media outlets across Canada
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Auditor General has not only the power, but actually a legal duty, to audit MPs and Parliament (Hill Times, May 24, 2010)
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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Auditor General not only has clear power to audit MPs and Parliament, she is legally required to do the audit every few years (Globe and Mail, May 19, 2010)
MEDIA ALERT: May 25th Hearing of Appeal of Federal Court Ruling That Legalized Conservative Prime Minister Harper's September 2008 Snap Federal Election Call Despite Fixed-Election-Date Law (May 19, 2010) -- To see related Canoe.ca article (published by 5 SunMedia newspapers across Canada), click here
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Auditor General has clear power and legally required mandate to audit MPs (Halifax Chronicle Herald, May 18, 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)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal political parties refuse to allow Auditor General to audit spending by MPs, raising questions of what they are hiding (Toronto Star, May 14, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Fixed election dates with election spending regulations for long time period before voting day are more fair for everyone (New Brunswick Times and Transcript, May 10, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams seeks third term in 2011 fixed-date provincial election, but loopholes allow him to escape accountability (CTV.ca and 26 other media outlets across Canada (including the Globe and Mail, Winnipeg Free Press, Metro newspapers and many radio station websites, May 10, 2010)
OP-ED: Weak ethics rules and enforcement undermine everyone in Canadian politics (Hill Times, May 3, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal government's waste prevention rules and watchdog agencies too weak to prevent waste (Toronto Sun and 6 other Sunmedia newspapers across Canada, April 20, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: New Brunswick coalition switches from opposing NB Power sale deal to pushing for democratic reforms (Fredericton Daily Gleaner, April 9, 2010)
TV PANEL: Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher on TV show panel on Senate reform (TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin, March 23, 2010) -- Click on Senate Reform link on the page
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: At protest of New Brunswickers against proposed sale of NB Power company, Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher as keynote speaker urges them 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: Democracy Watch Appeals Federal Court Ruling That Legalized Conservative Prime Minister Harper's September 2008 Snap Federal Election Call Despite Fixed-Election-Date Law -- Case Will Be Heard By Federal Court of Appeal on May 25, 2010 -- Group Calls on PM Harper To Promise Not To Call Another Snap Election (March 10, 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)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Federal Conservatives broke their promise to make nomination races democratic, but opposition parties and MPs also to blame for control by party leaders of MPs (Hill Times, February 22, 2010 and National Post, February 17, 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: 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
YouTUBE VIDEO: Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher's speech at the anti-prorogation of Parliament rally in Toronto (January 23, 2010 -- NOTE: the speech starts at the 2:45 minute mark of the video, and ends at the 6 minute mark of the video)
OP-ED: Prorogation of Parliament and snap elections avoid government accountability in many unreported ways and must be prohibited unless specific conditions are met -- other changes needed to ensure ongoing accountability (Waterloo Region Record, Guelph Mercury and Sudbury Star, January 13, 2010, Toronto Star and Hill Times, January 18, 2010)
RADIO INTERVIEW: Democracy Watch Coordinator Duff Conacher on Prime Minister Harper's unjustifiable prorogation of Parliament and other abuses of power (January 12, 2010, Redeye Radio on rabble.ca)
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Conservative Prime Minister Harper's arbitrary and undemocratic shutting down of Parliament offers him the opportunity to build a consensus on Senate reforms, instead of pushing his very questionable reforms (Toronto Star, January 8, 2010; Vancouver Sun, January 9, 2010; Hill Times, January 11, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) will use his clear power to release reports while Parliament is shut down -- As Democracy Watch first pointed out, PBO would lose that power if made into an Officer of Parliament unless changes are made (Globe and Mail, January 6, 2009)
REPORT CARD: 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)

Proposal for Initiative, Referendum Direct Democracy in Canada

Summary of Research Paper on Initiative, Referendum and Recall Process for Canada (by Duff Conacher (Democracy Watch's Coordinator), published in the University of Toronto Law Review, 1991)

Canadian Governments' Election System Reviews

DISCUSSION PAPER: The Right to Have Your Vote Count: Background Paper on Reform of Canada's Voting System (Democracy Watch (Released November 27, 2001))
Ontario Government's Citizen Assembly on Electoral Reform
Québec Government's "Secretariat on Democratic Institutions" (Québec Government's website is in French only)
New Brunswick Government's Commission on Legislative Democracy
B.C. Government's Citizen Assembly on Electoral Reform
PEI Government's Electoral Reform Commission

Page last updated July 20, 2010

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