Refine by MP, party, committee, province, or result type.
Procedure and House Affairs committee Thank you. With regard to recommendation 4 by the Ethics Commissioner on restricting sponsored travel, the Ethics Commissioner, at the end of his section, says that this would still allow an MP to be sponsored to travel to speak at a conference. That's a huge loophole. All of th
February 15th, 2022Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Procedure and House Affairs committee Through you, Madam Chair, Democracy Watch's position is that we agree with Mr. Dion's six general recommendations and nine technical recommendations generally. However, with regard to the recommendations on gifts, he has proposed that each lobbyist be allowed to give a $30 gift
February 15th, 2022Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Procedure and House Affairs committee Because of the number of technical terms and also because I need to practice my French, I will answer in English. I hope that's okay with you. The definition of “private interests” is the huge loophole in subsections 3(2) and 3(3) of the code. Subsection 3(2) says that it's only
February 15th, 2022Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Procedure and House Affairs committee Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Democracy Watch and the Government Ethics Coalition, which it coordinates and which is made up of 30 citizen organizations from across Canada, welcomes the opportunity to present to the committee during this long-overdue review of the code, with
February 15th, 2022Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Information & Ethics committee That's where the investigation has to go.
August 10th, 2020Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Information & Ethics committee Thank you very much. You can see, of course, as I mentioned, much more detail in the backgrounder I've prepared and submitted to the committee and in the news release that summarizes the key changes to end this system that really is a scandal. I hope the committee will work tog
August 10th, 2020Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Information & Ethics committee No, I think it is relevant, but I prefer to wait until the investigation is over. The failure to recuse at the final cabinet meeting is not as serious a violation, if it is true that the public service actually recommended on its own that WE Charity be given the funding. However,
August 10th, 2020Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Information & Ethics committee Sure. First of all, it does have to be shown whether Minister Morneau knew, or thought for sure, that he had paid for all of the costs. So that investigation needs to be done. To prove breach of trust, four of the five elements are already proven; he's an official, and so is the
August 10th, 2020Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Information & Ethics committee Just briefly, on the Ethics Commissioner selection process, and the Commissioner of Lobbying as well, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the Trudeau cabinet was biased when it chose those two commissioners, but the bias is allowed under the Supreme Court of Canada ruling, unf
August 10th, 2020Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Information & Ethics committee It's entirely practical, but if they'd helped you in a significant way, they would not be allowed to lobby you. The other way to go is, if they had those ties and they were lobbying you, you would have to recuse yourself because of the favours they did before. That threshold is
August 10th, 2020Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Information & Ethics committee Again, Parliament has the right to ask for information from government and from private citizens. There's an old saying, “follow the money”. So there's a money trail in this situation and it has to be followed because it tells part of the tale. The whole communication record has
August 10th, 2020Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Information & Ethics committee Democracy Watch's final report card on the Conservatives, issued in 2014, rated them an F for their government accountability and democratization record, essentially failing to keep more than half of their promises made in 2006 in the Federal Accountability Act, and also taking s
August 10th, 2020Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Information & Ethics committee Well, no, first of all, because they've only apologized for not recusing themselves at the final cabinet meeting. Neither of them has apologized for having their staff involved right through the entire process, participating in it, and—once we see the full communication record—ma
August 10th, 2020Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Information & Ethics committee A lot of people misunderstand the act. They say, "Wait a second, they didn't do anything to help anybody." No, the act is there to prevent you from doing that. If you do something to help someone, then you're in breach of trust. If they gave you any favour or benefit in order for
August 10th, 2020Committee meeting
Duff Conacher
Information & Ethics committee The Access to Information Act enforcement has been strengthened by making the Information Commissioner able to order the release of documents, but the Liberals in 2015 did not promise any changes to strengthen ethics rules, lobbying rules or whistle-blower protection and have ign
August 10th, 2020Committee meeting
Duff Conacher