Government accountability
Federal Accountability Act
Bill C-2, First Reading – April 11, 2006
Reforming the financing of political parties
Complete ban on contributions by corporations, unions and organizations.
Lower the limit on contributions from individuals to political parties from $5,000 to $1,000.
Lower the limit on contributions from individuals to local entities of political parties from $5,000 to $1,000.
Lower to $1,000 the contribution that a candidate, nomination contestant or party leadership candidate can make to their own campaign.
Make it an offense to give or willfully receive a cash donation of more than $20.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Limits what companies/associations can donate to political parties/candidates even further (already very limited).
Banning secret donations to political parties
Prohibit candidates from accepting gifts that might reasonably be seen to risk influencing them in the performance of their elected duties.
Require candidates to report any gifts they receive worth more than $500.
Prohibit Members of Parliament from using trust funds for political purposes.
Empower the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner to order MPs to wind up trust funds or handle them in any other manner that the Commissioner considers acceptable.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Members will need to be careful when giving honorariums/gifts to MPs that they deal with and consider the optics of particular gifts.
Strengthening the role of the Ethics Commissioner
Combine the functions of the Ethics Commissioner and the Senate Ethics Officer and create a new position, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.
Enshrine the provisions of the current Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders into a new Conflict of Interest Act.
Give the new Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, an individual who must have a judicial or quasi-judicial background, the power to administer the proposed Conflict of Interest Act, initiate formal investigations, and levy monetary penalties for administrative breaches under this Act.
Prohibit the use of blind management agreements (“Venetian blind trusts”), meaning that public-office holders will either have to sell assets in an arm’s-length transaction or place them in a fully blind trust
What this means to Chamber members:
· May make the rules more transparent for those that deal with the investments of public office holders.
Toughening the Lobbyists Registration Act
Establish a new Commissioner of Lobbying as an independent Agent of Parliament.
Provide the Commissioner with enhanced investigative powers and mandate to enforce compliance with the proposed Lobbying Act.
Prohibit ministers, ministerial staffers, and senior public servants from registering and lobbying the Government of Canada for five years after leaving office.
Ban any payment or benefit contingent on the outcome of a consultant lobbyist’s activity, and require all government contracts and agreements to state that contingency fees will not be paid.
Require lobbyists to report their lobbying activities involving certain public office holders more frequently and permit the Commissioner to request those office holders to confirm or correct the information reported by lobbyists.
Double the criminal monetary penalties for lobbyists who fail to comply with the requirements of the Lobbying Act.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Potential impact on private sector individuals accepting certain public office positions given post-employment restrictions.
· Significant new requirements for tracking and reporting contacts with government.
Establishing a Parliamentary Budget Authority
Expand the mandate and resources of the non-partisan Library of Parliament by establishing within it the position of Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Give this officer the mandate to:
Provide objective analysis to the Senate and House of Commons concerning the state of the nation’s finances and trends in the national economy.
Undertake economic and fiscal research for the Standing Committee on Finance, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, or the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance, on the request of those committees.
Estimate the cost of proposals currently or prospectively under consideration in either House when asked to do so by a Member, a committee of the Senate or the House of Commons, or a committee of both Houses.
Require departments and agencies to provide the Officer with any existing data necessary to fulfill his or her mandate.
The government will provide quarterly updates to government fiscal forecasts, and will continue to provide monthly financial statements in the Fiscal Monitor.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Parliamentarians may have better fiscal information to determine the costs/benefits of proposed legislation.
Making qualified government appointments
Institute a uniform approach to appointing Officers and Agents of Parliament, and ensure a meaningful role for Parliament in the process.
Create a Public Appointments Commission in the Prime Minister’s portfolio to oversee, monitor and report on the selection process for appointments to government boards, commissions, agencies and Crown corporations.
Allow the Chief Electoral Officer to appoint returning officers, with provisions that ensure the merit principle is applied.
Remove the entitlements of all ministers’ staff to priority appointments and instead allow them to apply for internal competitions for public-service positions for up to one year.
What this means to Chamber members:
N/A
Cleaning up the procurement of government contracts
Include an overarching statement of principles on procurement that commits the government to promoting fairness, openness and transparency in the bidding process.
Require that contracts include integrity provisions.
Create the position of a Procurement Auditor to:
Review procurement practices across government.
Handle complaints from potential suppliers.
Review complaints regarding contract administration.
Manage an alternative dispute resolution process for contracts.
Submit an annual report to be tabled in Parliament.
Engage an independent procurement expert to review the draft policy on managing procurement to ensure that its requirements reinforce a fair, open and transparent procurement process.
Introduce a Code of Conduct for Procurement to consolidate the existing suite of conflict-of-interest and anti-corruption policies, which would apply to both suppliers and public service employees.
Provide more resources and greater regional presence to the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises within Public Works and Government Services Canada, to help businesses maintain access to government opportunities and ensure that they are treated fairly.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Possible easier access to procurement contracts, especially for small businesses.
· May make applying for procurement contracts more complicated.
· Possible higher compliance burden.
Cleaning up government polling and advertising
For public opinion research and advertising:
Prohibit verbal-only reports
Require departments and agencies to send a final written report on research findings obtained under contract to Library and Archives Canada within six months of completing data collection.
Will amend communications policy and related procedures by June 2006 to reflect the new statutory requirement for written reports, to include a requirement that contracting be open, fair and transparent, and to add a new definition of advertising to distinguish it from collateral services such as public relations or events management.
Appoint an independent advisor for a period of six months to conduct a full review of public opinion research practices discussed in Chapter 5 of the Auditor General’s November 2003 report and determine whether further action, such as a judicial inquiry, is required.
Require departments and agencies to post contract information on public opinion research and executive summaries of completed projects on the Internet for ease of public access.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Need to consider if this affects operations of projects operated jointly between the government and the private sector.
Providing protection for whistleblowers
Make the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner an Agent of Parliament with an expanded mandate.
Give public-sector employees direct access to the Commissioner to report wrongdoing in the workplace.
Give the Commissioner the authority to deal with complaints, conduct investigations, and attempt to conciliate a settlement between parties.
Create an independent Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal, with the power to decide whether reprisal occurred and to order action to remedy the situation and ensure that those who took reprisal are disciplined.
Introduce specific penalties for offenses under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, including tougher penalties for those who willfully impede investigations of wrongdoing.
Give the Commissioner the power to authorize free access to legal advice for both public-sector and non-public-sector employees.
Remove the ability of the Government to exclude Crown Corporations from coverage under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act.
Provide more open access to information about disclosures of wrongdoing.
Recognize and reward public-sector employees who expose wrongdoing by instituting a special recognition award of up to $1,000.
What this means to Chamber members:
N/A
Strengthening access to information legislation
Expand the coverage of the Access to Information Act to the following Agents of Parliament, Crown Corporations, and foundations created under federal statute:
Office of the Information Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Auditor General, Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
Canada Post, Via Rail, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Atomic Energy of Canada, Export Development Canada, National Arts Centre, Public Service Pension Investment Board
Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canada Foundation for Sustainable Development Technology, Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Provide a duty for institutions to assist requesters without regard for their identity, and clarify the time limit for making a complaint under the ATIA.
Separate draft bill that reflects the Information Commissioner’s recommendations, along with a discussion paper to highlight a variety of issues and options for discussion
What this means to Chamber members:
· As ATIA is applied to Commissioner of Lobbying, then more information about member lobbying efforts could be available.
Strengthening the power of the Auditor General
Give the AG the authority to “follow the money” by inquiring into the use of funds that individuals, institutions and companies receive under a funding agreement with any federal department, agency or Crown corporation.
Require the Government to include the provisions in all funding agreements that recipients keep records and cooperate with the AG on request.
Require every department to review, at least once every five years, the relevance and effectiveness of its grants and contributions programs.
Ensure that the Office of the Auditor General has adequate resources to fulfill its mandate
Government will establish an independent blue-ribbon panel to review the draft policy on transfer payments, identify barriers to accessing grants and contributions programs and consider eliminating legislative barriers and report to the President of the Treasury Board by December 2006.
What this means to Chamber members:
· The AG may investigate the use of funds that members receive from the federal government.
Strengthening auditing and accountability within departments
Designate ministers and deputy heads as accounting officers who are accountable before the appropriate committee of Parliament to answer questions related to their responsibilities
Require that a clear process be followed in the event that a minister and deputy minister are unable to agree on the interpretation or application of a Treasury Board policy, directive or standard.
Require that deputy heads ensure an appropriate internal audit capacity and establish departmental audit committees.
Ensure that audit committees in Crown corporations are independent of corporation management.
Make fraud involving public funds committed by officials an offence, carrying a maximum term of five years in prison for fraud of $5,000 or less, a maximum term of 14 years in prison for fraud over $5,000 and automatic dismissal for any official convicted of this offense.
The Government will implement the new Treasury Board Internal Audit Policy and develop a compliance framework that includes training and tools for employees, disciplinary codes to provide clarity on misconduct and related consequences, and consistent application of disciplinary measures.
What this means to Chamber members:
· N/A
Creating a Director of Public Prosecutions
· Create the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to reside outside the Department of Justice (the Director will be selected in a manner similar to that used to make the most recent appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada).
· Give the Director of Public Prosecutions jurisdiction to conduct prosecutions for offences under federal jurisdiction, including new fraud provisions proposed under amendments to the Financial Administration Act.
· Give the Director the power to make binding and final decisions on whether to prosecute, unless the Attorney General instructs the Director to do otherwise by means of public written notice
· Require that the Director submit an annual report to the Attorney General for tabling in Parliament
Summary provided by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Bill C-2, First Reading – April 11, 2006
Reforming the financing of political parties
Complete ban on contributions by corporations, unions and organizations.
Lower the limit on contributions from individuals to political parties from $5,000 to $1,000.
Lower the limit on contributions from individuals to local entities of political parties from $5,000 to $1,000.
Lower to $1,000 the contribution that a candidate, nomination contestant or party leadership candidate can make to their own campaign.
Make it an offense to give or willfully receive a cash donation of more than $20.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Limits what companies/associations can donate to political parties/candidates even further (already very limited).
Banning secret donations to political parties
Prohibit candidates from accepting gifts that might reasonably be seen to risk influencing them in the performance of their elected duties.
Require candidates to report any gifts they receive worth more than $500.
Prohibit Members of Parliament from using trust funds for political purposes.
Empower the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner to order MPs to wind up trust funds or handle them in any other manner that the Commissioner considers acceptable.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Members will need to be careful when giving honorariums/gifts to MPs that they deal with and consider the optics of particular gifts.
Strengthening the role of the Ethics Commissioner
Combine the functions of the Ethics Commissioner and the Senate Ethics Officer and create a new position, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.
Enshrine the provisions of the current Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders into a new Conflict of Interest Act.
Give the new Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, an individual who must have a judicial or quasi-judicial background, the power to administer the proposed Conflict of Interest Act, initiate formal investigations, and levy monetary penalties for administrative breaches under this Act.
Prohibit the use of blind management agreements (“Venetian blind trusts”), meaning that public-office holders will either have to sell assets in an arm’s-length transaction or place them in a fully blind trust
What this means to Chamber members:
· May make the rules more transparent for those that deal with the investments of public office holders.
Toughening the Lobbyists Registration Act
Establish a new Commissioner of Lobbying as an independent Agent of Parliament.
Provide the Commissioner with enhanced investigative powers and mandate to enforce compliance with the proposed Lobbying Act.
Prohibit ministers, ministerial staffers, and senior public servants from registering and lobbying the Government of Canada for five years after leaving office.
Ban any payment or benefit contingent on the outcome of a consultant lobbyist’s activity, and require all government contracts and agreements to state that contingency fees will not be paid.
Require lobbyists to report their lobbying activities involving certain public office holders more frequently and permit the Commissioner to request those office holders to confirm or correct the information reported by lobbyists.
Double the criminal monetary penalties for lobbyists who fail to comply with the requirements of the Lobbying Act.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Potential impact on private sector individuals accepting certain public office positions given post-employment restrictions.
· Significant new requirements for tracking and reporting contacts with government.
Establishing a Parliamentary Budget Authority
Expand the mandate and resources of the non-partisan Library of Parliament by establishing within it the position of Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Give this officer the mandate to:
Provide objective analysis to the Senate and House of Commons concerning the state of the nation’s finances and trends in the national economy.
Undertake economic and fiscal research for the Standing Committee on Finance, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, or the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance, on the request of those committees.
Estimate the cost of proposals currently or prospectively under consideration in either House when asked to do so by a Member, a committee of the Senate or the House of Commons, or a committee of both Houses.
Require departments and agencies to provide the Officer with any existing data necessary to fulfill his or her mandate.
The government will provide quarterly updates to government fiscal forecasts, and will continue to provide monthly financial statements in the Fiscal Monitor.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Parliamentarians may have better fiscal information to determine the costs/benefits of proposed legislation.
Making qualified government appointments
Institute a uniform approach to appointing Officers and Agents of Parliament, and ensure a meaningful role for Parliament in the process.
Create a Public Appointments Commission in the Prime Minister’s portfolio to oversee, monitor and report on the selection process for appointments to government boards, commissions, agencies and Crown corporations.
Allow the Chief Electoral Officer to appoint returning officers, with provisions that ensure the merit principle is applied.
Remove the entitlements of all ministers’ staff to priority appointments and instead allow them to apply for internal competitions for public-service positions for up to one year.
What this means to Chamber members:
N/A
Cleaning up the procurement of government contracts
Include an overarching statement of principles on procurement that commits the government to promoting fairness, openness and transparency in the bidding process.
Require that contracts include integrity provisions.
Create the position of a Procurement Auditor to:
Review procurement practices across government.
Handle complaints from potential suppliers.
Review complaints regarding contract administration.
Manage an alternative dispute resolution process for contracts.
Submit an annual report to be tabled in Parliament.
Engage an independent procurement expert to review the draft policy on managing procurement to ensure that its requirements reinforce a fair, open and transparent procurement process.
Introduce a Code of Conduct for Procurement to consolidate the existing suite of conflict-of-interest and anti-corruption policies, which would apply to both suppliers and public service employees.
Provide more resources and greater regional presence to the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises within Public Works and Government Services Canada, to help businesses maintain access to government opportunities and ensure that they are treated fairly.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Possible easier access to procurement contracts, especially for small businesses.
· May make applying for procurement contracts more complicated.
· Possible higher compliance burden.
Cleaning up government polling and advertising
For public opinion research and advertising:
Prohibit verbal-only reports
Require departments and agencies to send a final written report on research findings obtained under contract to Library and Archives Canada within six months of completing data collection.
Will amend communications policy and related procedures by June 2006 to reflect the new statutory requirement for written reports, to include a requirement that contracting be open, fair and transparent, and to add a new definition of advertising to distinguish it from collateral services such as public relations or events management.
Appoint an independent advisor for a period of six months to conduct a full review of public opinion research practices discussed in Chapter 5 of the Auditor General’s November 2003 report and determine whether further action, such as a judicial inquiry, is required.
Require departments and agencies to post contract information on public opinion research and executive summaries of completed projects on the Internet for ease of public access.
What this means to Chamber members:
· Need to consider if this affects operations of projects operated jointly between the government and the private sector.
Providing protection for whistleblowers
Make the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner an Agent of Parliament with an expanded mandate.
Give public-sector employees direct access to the Commissioner to report wrongdoing in the workplace.
Give the Commissioner the authority to deal with complaints, conduct investigations, and attempt to conciliate a settlement between parties.
Create an independent Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal, with the power to decide whether reprisal occurred and to order action to remedy the situation and ensure that those who took reprisal are disciplined.
Introduce specific penalties for offenses under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, including tougher penalties for those who willfully impede investigations of wrongdoing.
Give the Commissioner the power to authorize free access to legal advice for both public-sector and non-public-sector employees.
Remove the ability of the Government to exclude Crown Corporations from coverage under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act.
Provide more open access to information about disclosures of wrongdoing.
Recognize and reward public-sector employees who expose wrongdoing by instituting a special recognition award of up to $1,000.
What this means to Chamber members:
N/A
Strengthening access to information legislation
Expand the coverage of the Access to Information Act to the following Agents of Parliament, Crown Corporations, and foundations created under federal statute:
Office of the Information Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Auditor General, Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
Canada Post, Via Rail, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Atomic Energy of Canada, Export Development Canada, National Arts Centre, Public Service Pension Investment Board
Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canada Foundation for Sustainable Development Technology, Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation
Provide a duty for institutions to assist requesters without regard for their identity, and clarify the time limit for making a complaint under the ATIA.
Separate draft bill that reflects the Information Commissioner’s recommendations, along with a discussion paper to highlight a variety of issues and options for discussion
What this means to Chamber members:
· As ATIA is applied to Commissioner of Lobbying, then more information about member lobbying efforts could be available.
Strengthening the power of the Auditor General
Give the AG the authority to “follow the money” by inquiring into the use of funds that individuals, institutions and companies receive under a funding agreement with any federal department, agency or Crown corporation.
Require the Government to include the provisions in all funding agreements that recipients keep records and cooperate with the AG on request.
Require every department to review, at least once every five years, the relevance and effectiveness of its grants and contributions programs.
Ensure that the Office of the Auditor General has adequate resources to fulfill its mandate
Government will establish an independent blue-ribbon panel to review the draft policy on transfer payments, identify barriers to accessing grants and contributions programs and consider eliminating legislative barriers and report to the President of the Treasury Board by December 2006.
What this means to Chamber members:
· The AG may investigate the use of funds that members receive from the federal government.
Strengthening auditing and accountability within departments
Designate ministers and deputy heads as accounting officers who are accountable before the appropriate committee of Parliament to answer questions related to their responsibilities
Require that a clear process be followed in the event that a minister and deputy minister are unable to agree on the interpretation or application of a Treasury Board policy, directive or standard.
Require that deputy heads ensure an appropriate internal audit capacity and establish departmental audit committees.
Ensure that audit committees in Crown corporations are independent of corporation management.
Make fraud involving public funds committed by officials an offence, carrying a maximum term of five years in prison for fraud of $5,000 or less, a maximum term of 14 years in prison for fraud over $5,000 and automatic dismissal for any official convicted of this offense.
The Government will implement the new Treasury Board Internal Audit Policy and develop a compliance framework that includes training and tools for employees, disciplinary codes to provide clarity on misconduct and related consequences, and consistent application of disciplinary measures.
What this means to Chamber members:
· N/A
Creating a Director of Public Prosecutions
· Create the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to reside outside the Department of Justice (the Director will be selected in a manner similar to that used to make the most recent appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada).
· Give the Director of Public Prosecutions jurisdiction to conduct prosecutions for offences under federal jurisdiction, including new fraud provisions proposed under amendments to the Financial Administration Act.
· Give the Director the power to make binding and final decisions on whether to prosecute, unless the Attorney General instructs the Director to do otherwise by means of public written notice
· Require that the Director submit an annual report to the Attorney General for tabling in Parliament
Summary provided by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce
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