Government That Works for You
Democratic Reform and Good Governance
The strength and integrity of our democracy is a core value. We believe that a truly democratic nation is one where every voice is heard, every vote matters, and public trust is honored. Our vision is to build a democracy that is transparent, accountable, and inclusive for all Canadians.
The Green Party will modernize Canada's electoral system by implementing proportional representation and convening a citizens' assembly on democratic renewal to examine crucial reforms like online voting, lowering the voting age to 16, and mandatory voting.
To protect our political system from foreign influence, we will restore the per-vote subsidy, reduce donation limits, and introduce a foreign influence transparency registry. We will empower Elections Canada to proactively investigate foreign interference and provide public reporting on threats to election integrity, including from emerging technologies like AI.
We must restore Canadians' trust in our democracy. That begins with transparency and integrity. Strengthening the Conflict of Interest Act to include personal, political, and family ties is essential, Canadians deserve to know that public service means serving the public, not private interests. A government with nothing to hide would close the revolving door between politics and lobbying, enforce real penalties for conflicts of interest, and shine a light into every backroom meeting.
We would implement real-time transparency in lobbying, and ensure all regulatory board appointments undergo meaningful conflict-of-interest screening. Whistleblowers must be protected, not punished. And our parliamentary watchdogs — the ethics commissioner and auditor general — must have true independence and the power to act. Ethics aren't optional, they're the foundation of democracy.
ELECTORAL REFORM
- Modernize Canada's electoral system and protect Canadian democracy by implementing Proportional Representation.
- Convene a Citizens' Assembly on Democratic Renewal to study proportional representation systems, lowering the voting age to 16, online voting, and mandatory voting.
- Ensure the Citizens' Assembly is independent, diverse, and consensus-driven.
- Require political parties to report on candidate recruitment from underrepresented groups.
POLITICAL FINANCE AND FOREIGN INFLUENCE PROTECTIONS
- Restore the per-vote subsidy for political party funding and reduce donation limits to curb foreign influence in elections, strengthen financial transparency, and reduce reliance on private donors who may act as conduits for foreign interests.
- Strengthen protections against foreign funding and influence in Canadian elections, including expanding third-party political financing rules.
- Establish a Foreign Influence Transparency Registry, requiring individuals and entities lobbying on behalf of foreign governments to disclose their activities.
- Expand the mandate of Elections Canada and the Commissioner of Canada Elections to proactively investigate suspected foreign interference.
- Require political parties and candidates to report any known instances of attempted foreign influence or coercion.
- Introduce public reporting on foreign interference threats in elections, balancing transparency with national security concerns.
CAMPAIGN INTEGRITY AND ELECTION OVERSIGHT
- Require all political parties to submit campaign platform cost estimates to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
- Mandate Elections Canada to create a truth-in-advertising framework for election campaigns.
- Empower the Commissioner of Canada Elections to regulate and sanction false political advertising.
- Mandate full transparency in publicly released polls, requiring disclosure of sample size, weighting methods, funding sources, question wording, and margin of error to prevent misinformation.
- Hold media and polling firms accountable for responsible poll reporting, ensuring all published polls are independently verified and presented with clear methodological context.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY FROM EMERGING THREATS
- Establish an all-party standing committee to examine the risks and opportunities of emerging technologies, including AI and digital platforms, in elections.
- Oppose the pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause and support legislative measures to restrict its application, ensuring it remains a tool of last resort in exceptional circumstances.
ETHICS, CONFLICT OF INTEREST, AND LOBBYING REFORM
- Strengthen the Conflict of Interest Act by broadening the definition of conflicts to include personal, political, and family interests, with meaningful financial penalties for violations.
- Impose mandatory conflict of interest screening and disclosure for all federal regulatory board appointments.
- Close the revolving door between politics and lobbying by enforcing a five-year cooling-off period for former politicians and senior public officials.
- Enhance transparency by requiring lobbyists to publicly disclose, in real-time, all interactions with elected officials and public servants.
- Expand whistleblower protections with robust safeguards against retaliation and secure channels for confidential disclosures.
- Strengthen the independence and investigative powers of parliamentary officers, including the Auditor General and Ethics Commissioner.
- Replace the secretive Board of Internal Economy with an independent oversight committee to transparently review MPs' salaries, expenses, and budgets.
- Prohibit federal funding for industry-backed NGOs that advocate private interests under the guise of public benefit.
- Mandate open government practices, ensuring proactive disclosure of government documents and timely responses to access to information requests.
RESTORING EXCELLENCE IN THE FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE
- End reliance on costly private consulting firms such as McKinsey and Deloitte, ensuring that core governmental functions and services are delivered by professional, experienced public servants.
- Reinstate effective, citizen-focused service delivery models, reversing damaging restructuring from previous governments, such as the creation of Service Canada under Harper.
- Reinvest in Canada's federal public service, rebuilding capacity, morale, and expertise to deliver high-quality, efficient services that Canadians expect and deserve.
- Enhance oversight and accountability to prevent misuse of taxpayer dollars.
- Reduce wasteful spending at the political level, including significantly cutting the Prime Minister's Office budget from $10 million to $1 million
ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY
- Extend the Access to Information Act to the Prime Minister's Office, ministers' offices, and Parliament.
- Scrap all Access to Information (ATI) fees except for filing fees.
- Enforce deadlines for timely ATI request processing and empower the Information Commissioner to order the release of information.
- Override government secrecy exemptions in the public interest.
- Allow the Information Commissioner to review cabinet confidentiality claims.
PRIVACY, SURVEILLANCE, AND DATA PROTECTION
- Expand Privacy Commissioner powers to protect personal data and enforce privacy laws.
- Require CSIS and CSE to obtain warrants before surveillance on Canadians.
- Ban routine surveillance of protestors and NGOs and prohibit data sharing with agencies like the National Energy Board.
- Require internet service providers (ISPs) to release user data only with a legal warrant, except in emergencies.
- Make political parties subject to the Privacy Act.
- Mandate data breach reporting for all government agencies, companies, banks, and political parties.
This isn't about "laziness" at all - it's about structural barriers to voting that disproportionately affect certain demographics.
Research consistently shows that convenience voting methods like mail ballots and early voting help increase participation among:
These demographics often (but not always) lean left, but that's correlation, not causation. The key point is that when we remove structural barriers to voting, participation tends to increase across diverse groups.
What's especially interesting is that under proportional representation, voter turnout is consistently higher across all demographics. When people know their vote will actually help elect someone who represents their values, they're more motivated to participate, regardless of party preference.
The real issue isn't about left vs. right, but ensuring our democratic systems provide equal accessibility for all eligible voters while maintaining security and integrity. With PR electoral systems, these concerns get addressed together - higher participation AND every vote counting toward representation.