Ethics commissioner to face
court challenge
by Romeo St. Martin
[PoliticsWatch Updated 5:15 p.m. August 15, 2005]
OTTAWA — The public interest group Democracy Watch says it plans to go ahead as early as next week with a provincial court challenge of Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro.
Shapiro is the first Ethics Commissioner to be an officer of Parliament.
Democracy Watch accuses Shapiro of being biased against holding a "reasonable standard of enforcement" of federal ethics rules.
In late June, Democracy Watch sent Shapiro a letter asking him to have a provincial ethics commissioner review his activities within 30 days or resign.
In a letter obtained by PoliticsWatch, Shapiro wrote back on August 2 and ruled out having a provincial ethics commissioner examine him.
"While I respect your entitlement to express your concerns in relation to the functioning of my office and the discharge of my duties and responsibilities, I feel that it is important that the framework within which the Ethics Commissioner works is clearly understood," Shapiro wrote.
Shapiro then goes on to outline his role as an independent officer of Parliament and how he is held accountable.
Duff Conacher, coordinator of Democracy Watch, said he was not satisfied with Shapiro's response and plans to go ahead with a court challenge.
"We are left with no choice but to seek an independent review through the courts," Conacher said.
Democracy Watch was successful in its allegation of bias against the office of former ethics counsellor Howard Wilson.
In July 2004, following a complaint by Democracy Watch the office of the former ethics counsellor was found to be biased by a federal court judge in dealing with a number of complaints related to lobbying
In June, the Commons access to information, ethics and privacy committee rejected a motion from NDP Ed Broadbent to express no confidence in Shapiro.
Broadbent's motion had the support of the Conservatives but the Bloc Quebecois and the Liberals voted against the motion.
In its complaint to Shapiro, Democracy Watch cites 14 reasons why he should resign.
Among the list of reasons:
> Even though the federal court found Wilson's office to be biased, Shapiro kept most senior staffers when he took over.
> Shapiro hired a law firm with extensive ties to the Liberal party to aid in his investigation of former Immigration minister Judy Sgro.
> Shapiro decided not to audit any financial disclosure statement filed by anyone covered by federal ethics rules, and stated that it would create a "police state" if he did so.
Democracy Watch also plans to have the court rule on whether the new lobbyist registrar's office is institutionally biased.
Ethics rules for lobbyists used to be handled by the ethics counsellor, but when the new ethics commissioner position was created, the lobbyist watchdog was split off.
The current lobbyist registrar reports to the Industry minister and Conacher said he believes that means the office is not fully independent and thus biased.
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