A democratic watchdog organization has given the Green Party of Canada top grades for accountability pledges in its platform, but gave the People's Party of Canada a failing grade.
Democracy Watch gave the Green Party a B, which ties the best grade any party has ever received going back to 1993. The Bloc, Conservatives and NDP all tied with C- while the Liberals received a D- and the PPC an F.
These grades were assigned according to the following criteria:
A – Platform makes clear promise to implement proposal
B – Platform makes vague or partial promise to implement proposals
C – Platform makes clear promise to explore proposal
D – Platform makes vague or partial promise to explore proposal
D- – Platform mentions proposal
F – Platform mentions theme of proposal
I – Platform does not mention proposal
“While it is notable that the Green Party has promised a partial honesty-in-politics law covering only false claims made in election advertising, given the current lack of such a law, voters should be wary of trusting any political promises,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch (DWatch).
Prime Ministers Chrétien, Harper, and Trudeau all failed to keep half of their democratic reform promises, according to Conacher, while Paul Martin didn't make any.
The Green Party’s platform is fairly detailed and comprehensive in four of the five areas evaluated, with their lowest grade in the area of Efficient Government as they proposed fewer and mostly vague government spending accountability measures.
Unfortunately, the Greens also propose (on p. 89 of their platform) exploring the implementation of online voting which Democracy Watch calls "very dangerous" because the vote count can’t be verified. The organization is also concerned with the proposal of mandatory voting which would violate the Charter unless a right to vote “none of the above” is also enacted.
The Liberals’ D- grade platform is worse than their 2015 election platform that received a B. DWatch says the Liberals have an "(un)democratic reform record since 2015."
Liberal Leader Mark Carney called a snap election before key anti-foreign interference and whistleblower protection measures were enacted and hid his investments that DWatch says "cause financial conflicts of interest."
“Mark Carney has shown clear signs of having a ‘father knows best’ attitude that favours secrecy over transparency and is dismissive of unethical conflicts of interest, and the Liberals’ negligently weak democratic reform and government accountability election platform is a worrying signal that he wants power with few restrictions and little accountability,” said Conacher.
The Conservatives C- grade platform faired worse than their 2006 election platform when they were elected into power. That platform earned a B for its 60 comprehensive democratic reform and government accountability pledges, including a “Federal Accountability Act.”
“[T]heir 'Accountability Act 2.0' promises would only make 10 changes, nine strengthening ethics rules and one partially increasing lobbying disclosure,” said Conacher of the 2025 promises.
“It is worrying also that the Conservative platform doesn’t even mention or propose any measures to stop disinformation given that it threatens democracy and is a main means of foreign interference in Canadian politics," Conacher adds.
The NDP’s C- grade platform is also very weak compared to their 2015 election platform when they earned a B grade.
“Given a large majority of voters want comprehensive democratic reforms, it is unfortunate for the NDP that they continue to forget their middle name when making election promises,” said Conacher.
Hundreds of thousands of messages have been sent to federal party leaders and politicians through DWatch’s campaigns calling for dozens of key changes to ensure fully democratic and accountable federal government and politics.
Conacher says, “Canadians can only hope that the parties will actually address these concerns when Parliament opens again so that everyone in federal politics will, finally after 158 years, be effectively required to act honestly, ethically, openly, representatively and to prevent waste.”
Many surveys over the past 15 years have shown that a large majority of voters do not trust politicians, and want reforms to stop politicians from abusing their power.
