Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Ethics Commissioner ignores evidence in Clement situation

As has happened almost every time she has issued a ruling, federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson has again ignored evidence and rules in her ruling that cabinet minister Tony Clement did nothing wrong when he endorsed a company in his riding in a promotional video and in two letters.

The Ethics Commissioner ruled in March that cabinet minister Christian Paradis was guilty of giving "preferential treatment" in violation of section 7 of the Conflict of Interest Act, setting the standard that it is illegal for ministers "to use their positions as ministers to provide greater assistance to their constituents than to other Canadians in relation to their own department or larger portfolio."

In clear contrast, the Ethics Commissioner only warns Minister Clement not to do this again, instead of finding him guilty.

And in making that ruling about Minister Clement's appearance in the video, the Ethics Commissioner ignored the letter that Clement also wrote that "encouraged an individual in Dubai to explore working with" the same company. The Ethics Commissioner also failed to disclose the text of that letter, and another promotional letter, that Clement wrote for the company.

In contrast, the Ethics Commissioner found former Minister of State Helena Guergis guilty of violating federal ethics rules for writing a very similar letter.

Given that giving such "preferential treatment" is a violation of the Act, it is by definition "improper" which means that the Ethics Commissioner should have also found Minister Clement of violating section 9 of the Act which prohibits acting in ways that "improperly further another person's private interests."

This ruling provides even more evidence that federal government ethics rules will not be properly and effectively enforced as long as Mary Dawson is the Ethics Commissioner.

Original Article
Source: rabble.ca
Author: Democracy Watch 

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