Given Prime Minister Trudeau’s appointment fiasco with David Johnston, Democracy Watch has called on the Trudeau cabinet to stop its “multi-year charade” and establish a truly independent, merit-based appointment process for all public inquiry commissioners, and all federal democratic good government watchdogs..Democracy Watch, co-founded by Duff Conacher, welcomed openness by the Trudeau cabinet to having opposition parties participate in choosing the commissioner(s) who will investigate foreign interference in Canadian politics. However, legacy processes remain for choosing the interim ethics commissioner, the ethics commissioner and the integrity commissioner..“Like every cabinet, the Trudeau cabinet is in a conflict of interest when choosing inquiry commissioners and democratic good government watchdogs because those commissioners and watchdogs investigate and enforce rules that apply to cabinet ministers and their departments,” Conacher said..“The only way to stop this dangerously undemocratic and unethical appointment process is to establish a fully independent appointments commission to conduct public, merit-based searches and then send a short list of well-qualified candidates to an all-party committee which will make the final choice for each watchdog position.”.Despite promising in the 2015 federal election to change the process, the Trudeau Cabinet did not do so. Cabinet ministers still choose all inquiry commissioners, all appointment advisory committee members, and choose all watchdog appointees from the long lists of candidates that the committees provide, with little or no consultation with opposition parties..The Federal Court of Appeal ruled unanimously in Jan 2020 that the cabinet is biased when choosing watchdogs such as the ethics commissioner and lobbying commissioner..A Democracy Watch press release said the David Johnston “fiasco” was only one of many appointments that suggested an appointment process “far from merit-based,” and drew attention to the following..• Interim ethics commissioner Martine Richard resigned soon after being appointed when it was discovered she is the sister-in-law of Trudeau cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc..• Mario Dion, chosen as ethics commissioner in Nov 2017 had a record of eight unethical actions in his former job as integrity commissioner. The cabinet hid emails for two years that showed they had other qualified candidates and lied to opposition party leaders..• The Trudeau cabinet used the same process to handpick Nancy Bélanger in late 2017 to be lobbying commissioner..•Former Ontario Liberal MPP Madeleine Meilleur admitted in spring 2017 before a House Committee that when she was considering ending her political career she had talked with Trudeau’s then-senior adviser Gerald Butts, and Chief of Staff Katie Telford, and asked to be appointed as federal commissioner of official languages. Her statement became so politically costly to the Trudeau cabinet that she withdrew her candidacy..• After Julie Payette resigned as governor general in 2021, cabinet admitted she was not properly vetted for the position..The Trudeau cabinet also handpicked the chief electoral officer (who was switched by the Trudeau cabinet for secret reasons); auditor general; information commissioner; privacy commissioner; parliamentary budget officer, and; the governor general (who plays a key role in judging whether a prorogation or snap election should be allowed, and who governs after an election)..Democracy Watch wants a fully independent appointments commission established, with commission members approved by all parties. The commission would do public, merit-based searches and submit a short list of three or less well-qualified candidates to an all-party committee which would make the final choice for watchdog posts. Stephen Harper pledged to do this in 2006 before becoming prime minister but did not follow through..Almost 16,000 Canadians have sent a letter through Democracy Watch’s Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign calling on the federal Liberals to make the cabinet appointment process independent and merit-based.
