Ironically, today (November 24), we have the news that eight Toronto's policemen have been charged with fraud(1). What I think, is that this government is a manufacturer of recycled corrupted services, and I must give some credit to Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe when he stated that Jean Chretien called an early election because he was afraid of the results of police investigations into his government handling of subsidies and grants(2). Referring to the current governmental corruption, Gordon Robertson, former head of the Privy Council Office, has compared Canada to the older one-party political system of Mexico(3), while the National Post has equated Canada to a banana republic(4). And this authoritarian and recycled perception of our political system is factually included in a document prepared by the Privy Council Office: the prime minister has 'the sole authority' for setting standards of conduct for his government and then for deciding whether they have been breached(5). Now we know why the office of the Ethics Counselor is a farce(6).

Do we have a code of ethics for our parliamentarians? Yes, we have such a code of ethics, but this code is just a paper code of ethics to cover and increase the assets of our parliamentarians and their friends. The paper code of ethics has no factual relevance for our parliamentarians, for the RCMP, for our legal community, and for our justice system. However, I feel that we as citizens must know what is expected by our parliamentarians, by our RCMP, by our legal community and by our justice system, and therefore I list below the code of ethics(7); only four clauses:

1. Ethical standards Parliamentarians shall/should act with honesty and uphold the highest ethical standards, so as to maintain and enhance public confidence and trust in the integrity of each parliamentarian and in the institution of Parliament.
2. Public scrutiny Parliamentarians shall/should perform their official duties and arrange their private affairs in a manner that will bear the closest public scrutiny, an obligation that is not fully discharged by simply acting within the law.
3. Independence Parliamentarians shall/should take care to avoid placing themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organizations that might influence them in the performance of their official duties. Particular vigilance should be exercised in dealing with lobbyists.
4. Public interest Upon election or appointment to office, parliamentarians shall/should arrange their private affairs so that foreseeable real or apparent conflicts of interest maybe prevented from arising, but if a conflict does arise, it shall/should be resolved in a way that protects the public interest.

References/endnotes

Relevant political and economics articles http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign

1. Cop bust spurs case reviews. Latest charges could affect ongoing drug trials, By ROB GRANATSTEIN, TORONTO SUN, Friday, November 24, 2000 http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoNews/ts.ts-11-24-0009.html

2. Duceppe targets P.C. defectors, CBC, WebPosted Mon Oct 23 14:40:27 2000, http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/electionview.cgi?/news/2000/10/23/duceppe001023

3. PM's power 'unhealthy': ex-official. Need checks and balances, Alan Toulin, November 23, 2000, National Post http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20001123/380209.html

4. The rot at the top, October 19, 2000, National Post http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20001019/433717.html

5. Ethics rest squarely on PM's shoulders: briefing paper, Eric Beauchesne, November 24, 2000, Southam News http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20001124/381629.html

6. Prime Minister Jean Chretien: coping with his rules of ethics and his no-fault government, by Mario deSantis, November 23, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000_200/desantis270/ethics.html

7. Appendix C on Principles of the Code of Official Conduct, Page 12-37 of the Report of the Auditor General of Canada-October 2000 http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/reports.nsf/html/0012ce.html/$file/0012ce.pdf