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Money in Politics Campaign
Advocating for stronger and more democratic
political
donation and spending laws
![[Goalie giving money to referee]](referee.jpg) 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
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List of
Information/Links on this Page
Democracy Watch has produced the
following documents in its Money in Politics Campaign:
(newest to oldest)
- 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)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Three
federal
government
ethics
watchdogs
acting
like
lapdogs (Globe
and Mail, December 28, 2010)
- NEWS RELEASE: Federal
Conservatives'
Accountability
and
Democratic
Reform
Record
Gets
An
"F"
For
Breaking
Many
Promises
and Practising Politics As Usual -- Another,
Stronger
Accountability
Act
Needed
To
Close
100
Remaining
Loopholes
and
Flaws
(December 17, 2010)
- 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 -- Federal
Conservatives
Have
Still
Not
Responded
to
May
2010
Oliphant
Commission
Report
Recommendations
(December 9, 2010)
- TESTIMONY: Democracy
Watch
Coordinator
Duff
Conacher
on
loopholes
in
federal
good
government
laws
highlighted
by
West
Block
contracting scandal (November 16,
2010 - NOTE: testimony starts at point 0955 of transcript and continues
through questions)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Federal
good
government
watchdog
commissioners
lack
key
powers,
but
also
failing
to
do
their
jobs
properly
in
many
cases (Maclean's
magazine online, November
15, 2010)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Lobbyists
use
science
of
influence
to
get
their
way
with
federal
MPs
and
senators
(Canada.com and 20 other Global TV and PostMedia outlets across Canada,
November 8, 2010)
- WEBSITE ARTICLE and TV PIECE: Loopholes
in
ethics
rules,
and
weak
enforcement
by
federal
Ethics
Commissioner,
allow
MPs
to
accept
large
gifts
(especially
trips
abroad)
from
lobbyists
and
foreign
governments (CBC.ca and CBC TV's The
National, September 8, 2010) -- To see
details, click here and click here
- WEBSITE ARTICLE: Once
again,
federal
Ethics
Commissioner
Mary
Dawson
lets
a
Conservative
off-the-hook
for
questionable
activities
--
Commissioner
believes highly questionable claim that Rogers Centre rented
Owner's Box at market rate for MP's fundraising event
(CTV.ca and 25 other media outlets (all publishing CanadianPress.com
wire article), September 7, 2010) -- To
see details, click here
- LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Many changes needed to clean up Quebec
politics (Montreal Gazette,
National Post
and Canada.com, August 27, 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 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
|
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