Democracy Watch, established in 1993, is a Canadian organization that advocates on
democratic reform
Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an democratic transition, authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction ...
, government
accountability
In ethics and governance, accountability is equated with answerability, culpability, liability, and the expectation of account-giving.
As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the public secto ...
and
corporate responsibility
Corporate responsibility is a term which has come to characterize a family of professional disciplines intended to help a corporation stay competitive by maintaining accountability to its four main stakeholder groups: customers, employees, shareh ...
issues.
Background
Duff Conacher co-founded Democracy Watch in September 1993. He served as coordinator until June 2011, and then again from April 2014 on. Conacher, who lives in Toronto, Ontario, is a graduate of the
University of Toronto Faculty of Law
The University of Toronto Faculty of Law (U of T Law, UToronto Law) is the law school of the University of Toronto, located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Downtown Toronto. It is the top ranked common law facu ...
.
Democracy Watch provides information and support, and works in conjunction with, good government and corporate responsibility organizations from other countries.
Democracy Watch has worked in collaboration with
Global Integrity, which conducts assessments on the
state of democracy and good government in various countries.
[While other organizations have been established in various countries since 1993 called Democracy Watch (for example, in Australia, Bangladesh, ]Liberia
Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
, Nepal, Pakistan, Somaliland
Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...
, Thailand, Ukraine), these organizations are not affiliated with Democracy Watch in Canada. Democracy Watch in Canada focuses on democratic reform in Canada, while the other organizations focus on democratic reform in their countries.
In the media
A 2018 ''iPolitics'' article said that Democracy Watch, an "advocacy group for government accountability", recommended that Canada follow the lead of other countries with "parliamentary democracies", such as the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, to develop "written rules for a minority government scenario" to replace the existing unwritten, traditional rules, which are "constitutional conventions".
''Huffington Post'' cited Conacher and Democracy Watch in their report on an ethics investigation launched by Canada's conflict of interest and ethics commissioner, Mario Dion, related to Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau
Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...
's potential conflict of interest in the awarding of a $900M contract
We Charity
WE Charity (), formerly known as Free the Children (), is an international development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger. The organization implemented development progra ...
2020
contract with the federal government.
In 2019, ''CBC News'' reported that Democracy Watch's Duff Conacher, had requested that the provincial ethics commissioner, Marguerite Trussler, in
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
, investigate whether Alberta's Minister of Justice and Solicitor General,
Doug Schweitzer,
had violated Alberta's Conflicts of Interest Act when he appointed Steve Allan, as commissioner of the
Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns
Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns was a $3.5-million inquiry led by Steve Allan, commissioned on July 4, 2019, by newly-elected Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and tasked with investigating foreign-funded efforts to undermine the oi ...
—a job with an annual salary of $290,000. In November 2019, ''CBC News'' had revealed emails showing Allan had supported and/or campaigned for Schweitzer in 2018 and 2019.
In July 2020, Trussler ruled that Minister Schweitzer had not breached any conflict of interest, saying that, "Just because Mr. Allan made political donations to Minister Schweitzer in the past does not make the subsequent appointment of Mr. Allan as inquiry commissioner a private interest for the minister."
In her ruling Trussler said, "It does stretch credibility that Mr. Allan did not consider whether or not there may possibly be a conflict of interest in his engaging of Dentons as counsel for the inquiry, given that, for all intents and purposes, the firm gave him free office space and both his close friend (although that alone is not significant) and his son were partners at the firm...
owever ither the minister, his children, nor his direct associates had any personal or particular interest in, or anything to gain from, the appointment of Mr. Allan as inquiry commissioner".
See also
*
List of democracy indices
Notes
References
External links
Democracy Watch website
{{Election Organizations
1993 establishments in Ontario
Political organizations based in Canada
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
Whistleblower support organizations
Legal advocacy organizations based in Canada
Legal organizations based in Ontario
Democracy promotion