Information & Ethics
Mr. Duff Conacher
Mr. Duff Conacher at the Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee
On August 10th, 2020. See this statement in context.
August 10th, 2020 / 2:55 p.m.
Co-Founder, Democracy Watch
Duff Conacher
Well, very unfortunately, it's not getting better. As I mentioned, I've been before this committee 15 times, and other committees, as well, on related issues, such as whistle-blower protection. The Harper Conservatives made some changes, but specifically, the Conflict of Interest Act eliminated the rule that required honesty and continued to allow this sham of so-called "blind trust", which is not blind at all, because a person knows what they put in the trust, chooses the trustee and can even give instructions. Disclosure hasn't really increased that much, so in every way dishonest, unethical, secretive, unrepresented and wasteful decisions and actions are still legal, and therefore encouraged, especially because of the weak penalties. To put it another way, everything Karlheinz Schreiber did in relation to Brian Mulroney is still legal at the federal level in Canada. That's how bad it is.
I'm hoping for change soon. That's why I'm encouraging the committee to realize that the system is the scandal and to draft a bill and to introduce it in the House. Private members' bills have a much better chance of passing in a minority government.
Recruit your colleagues. Even if the party leaders resist and try to maintain this currently undemocratic, unethical and corrupt system, hopefully a critical mass of MPs will say, "No, we're going to finally clean things up, in part so we're not found guilty by association with the people who are there serving their own interests and the interests of those who have done favours for them, as opposed to being there to serve the public interest."