are stronger anti-corruption laws needed in canada

[brett 1]

In just about every discussion regarding this winters election the word corruption seems to keep coming up. this election may vary well end up being remembered as the corruption election.

I am not taking sides here regarding who's corrupt and who's not because i feel that all the parties involved have had their moments regarding corruption . Here is my suggestion, or idea for changes in the law or constitution that may eliminate some of corruption and mismanagement that has plagued or nation.

TOTAL FINANCIAL TRANSPARANCY OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS , APPOINTEES and their SPOUSES - as well as any government employee that is responsible for the allocation or distribution of public public money ,and or any persons employed by the government in a position of community importance who's actions could negatively affect the community should they be caused to neglect there lawful duties in exchange for financial gains (eg:bribary).......

PART ONE -POLITICIANS -

First lets deal with the politicians. All electected officials and thier spouses should have the daily or monthly financial transactions of their bank accounts visible to the public. as well this open scrutiny should continue even if or after they have left public office. this is so that they may not be able to accept financial rewards or payoffs after leaving office, for their actions during their time in office. The SPOUSES or life partners have been included to prevent politicians from secretly hoarding money in their spouses account, money derived as a result of corruption . both the politician to be and their spouses must be bound to public financial scrutiny for life. and anyone that later wishes to become the spouse of an already elected politicians must also become bound to this same financial scrutiny.

The Argument against - is that this sort of extreme financial scrutiny would deter potential candidates from entering politics.

The Argument for - is that only Canadians who are serious and passionate about serving and making sacrifices for their country would enter politics. if politicians at the signing of a pen can send off troops to sacrifice their lives in foreign lands. Then a small price to pay it would be for a patriotic politician to relinquish his financial privacy.

Note as well that in a true democracy political office is not supposed to be something that is restricted to all except the rich and powerful, the public should be allowed to choose their political representative, a person of any social class , race or religion which the public want to represent them in government.

PART TWO -MINISTERS AND APPOINTEES-

Ministers are in charge of budgets, and therefore require the same scrutiny as that applied to politicians. The exceed the budget game is the primary reason for their inclusion under financial scrutiny. The exceed the budget game is a term applied to ministers and government employees that are given a yearly budget. If that budget is not used up then they fear having their budget cut the next year. To then make it appear to the government that they are under funded they try to EXCEED THE BUDGET by needlessly spending as much money as possible in order to go over budget for the year. Usually this is done by wasting the taxpayer's dollars on needles purchases bogus renovations and construction projects (there's a lot construction workers in canada with stories to tell on this topic). also the potential for kickbacks from construction companies and private contracts is also a good reason to monitor a minister's financial transactions , many businesses would gladly pay a government official thousands of dollars in return for securing multi million dollar government contracts. I am also including in this section under ministers any government appointee or employee who is responsible for authorizing cash flow to the private sector for services rendered.

PART THREE - THOSE EMPLOYED IN LAW ENFORCEMENT-

Judges, and government employed members of the court should all be subject to financial scrutiny. People employed by the government that are in involved in the prison system ,corrections and parole boards should also be subject to the publics scrutiny of their finances.

Police chiefs, division commanders and those in charge of or governing the actions of field officers, must also become financially transparent to the public. But those working officers who are actively involved in undercover work or who go out into the public to patrol should not have there financial information revealed directly to the public in order to protect their identities from criminals. But instead they should frequently have their financial records reviewed by at least two levels of higher ranking police agency members who themselves do fall under the publics financial scrutiny.

PART FOUR - IT MUST BE MADE ILLEGAL FOR A POLITICIAN TO HAVE A BANK ACCOUNT ON FORIEGN SHORES -

No safe haven must be provided for politicians to hide money that has been wrongfully acquired. Prior to running in an election a would be candidate would have to transfer all their currency abroad back to a Canadian bank. And if after leaving politics for private sector employment or retirement, he could then be allowed to open accounts on foreign shores only if he had signed a form or agreement PRIOR to his entering politics. an agreement that gives the Canadian government permission to have access to his foreign accounts only for the purpose of viewing them on behalf of the Canadian public.

A POLITICIAN HAS BY CHOICE BECOME A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE MOST PATRIOTIC POSITION IN A NATION. THEREFORE IT IS A POLITICIANS PATRIOTIC DUTY IN OFFICE ASWELL AS IN THEIR PRIVATE LIFE TO MAINTAIN THE PUBLICS CONFIDENCE IN THE NATIONS FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS. FOR PERSONS OF SUCH HIGH SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STANDING TO PLACE THEIR FUNDS IN FORRIEGN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS , UNDERMINDS IN A MOST UNPATRIOTIC WAY THAT LEADERS CONFIDENCE IN THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS OF THE NATION THEY HAD CHOOSEN TO SERVE , AND THEREFORE UNDERMINES THE PUBLICS CONFIDENCE IN THE NATIONS FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ASWELL.

HOW TO MONITOR THE FINANCIAL INFORMATION.

the internet has provided the public with an exceptional tool, that is capable of easily posting and informing the tax payers and general public of government spending , the reason for the spending and those responsible for authorizing the spending. As well the internet can be used to post the personal financial information of government employees eg: elected or apointed government officials .

Laws would make it mandatory for banks in Canada to release financial information to the government regarding politicians and ministers etc. Banks could open special registries or accounts that are for selected government employee use only, thus helping to streamline the flow of information to the internet for transparent public viewing.

*this is my idea of how to reform or amend our laws , constitution and political process in Canada, so that we may remove some of the corruption and mismanagement that is eroding the publics trust in the government and costing taxpayers a lot of money. if you like these ideas that i have come up with here, then you have my permission to copy them down and show or send them to others. I feel that if more people see and read this then there may be a chance that some of these ideas or modified parts of them may find there way into law via a grass roots movement or word of mouth. If you don't agree with my ideas all or part of them, please feely pick them apart and explain why you don't agree or what should be added. I want to hear what your opinion and ideas are too, perhaps you have the solution that's needed ..*

DO WE ACTUALY NEED THIS OR LAWS BASED ON PARTS OF THIS IN PLACE

brett rycombel....toronto.

Edited April 13, 2009 by brett 1

[betsy]

I like Harper's plan of giving the Auditor General more power. It was because of lack of power that she was not able to get to the bottom of the Options Canada thing when it was reported.

She must have a formidable team....that when they swoop down to do their audit, no stone is left unturned.

Heads of departments must be held accountable, along with any perpetrators, for they should know....and make it a point to know what is going on in their departments.

Anyone who is being investigated must step aside until the investigation is concluded.

[scribblet]

In just about every discussion regarding this winters election the word corruption seems to keep coming up. this election may vary well end up being remembered as the corruption election.

DO WE ACTUALY NEED THIS OR LAWS BASED ON PARTS OF THIS IN PLACE

brett.

We sure do, much more accountabilityis needed. We also need the books to be fully audited and the correct figures released immediately after the writ is dropped. This means of course that someone will have to be performing a forensic audit on a regular basis. Of course, if we have set election dates then they would know when to start the audit.

[Hicksey]

After Chretien and Martin you think that question still needs to be asked?!

I thought the need was pretty obvious.

[brett 1]

i know i may be a little over the top in some of my ideas, but you usually never get all of what u ask for. so if we even get some of my ideas passed as laws or constitutional changes then thats a start in the right direction i feel . but certain things i feel should have been in place long ago like a national leader setting an example and maintaining confidence in our financial institutions by not placing his or her money in foreign banks.

[Murray B.]

Brett, you are right but I don't think it can ever happen at any level of government.

Even at the local level have you noticed how somebody can be worth a $100k when elected for office, work four years at $100K and then be worth $10 million? Now you are asking the fox to put a fence around the chicken coop.

Methinks this is something that the chickens will have to do if it is doable at all.

[brett 1]

hi all

I was just reading this post again 3 years after i had originally posted it , just to see if it still made sense to me or if i had changed my thoughts on any of it since then.

I was kinda angry with the whole system at the time i had written it, But for the most part after rereading it again 3 years later i think i still feel about the same on the matter of reforming and cleaning up the Canadian Political system... its sad in a way that somethings dont change, even when everyone knows they should be changed

oh BTW 3 years ago this was probably my first post ever on a forum , since then i kinda figured out how to use some of the basic forum features that at the time seemed so complicated and strange to me lol.... i went back and used Bold lettering , underlines, and blue colour text to spruce up the original post a bit ,,,,, looks a bit better now..

cheers all