Canadian ethics crusader Duff Conacher is calling it quits as the head of Democracy Watch after 17 years of court challenges, research papers and pithy quotes for the media all in the name of making MPs, cabinet ministers and corporations more accountable.
A former Ralph Nader’s Raider who drew inspiration from the U.S. consumer advocate as an intern in the 1980s, Mr. Conacher has carved out a unique niche in Ottawa since he formed Democracy Watch in 1993 with seed money from the proceeds of a book he and Mr. Nader co-wrote.
No one else looks for loopholes and studies the details of federal ethics rules quite like he does, meaning that after Mr. Conacher departs from the national scene, Canadians could be in the dark as to which MPs, ministers or lobbyists may be running afoul of guidelines governing their conduct.
He will stay on for a few more months until he finds a replacement, but the challenge of raising money for the organization means there is no guarantee that it can survive without him.
“It’s been 25 years of very non-profit work,” said Mr. Conacher, 46, a University of Toronto law school graduate. “Hopefully, if all goes well, it can continue. Then I’ll stay on the board and have someone else do what I’m doing.”
Never associated with a political party, Mr. Conacher said he may one day run for office, but not any time soon. His grandfather Lionel was a two-term Liberal MP, NHL star and CFL Hall of Famer.
He hasn’t decided what he will do next, but said he simply felt it was time to do something else. Looking back, he said, changes to party donation rules, ethics and lobbying rules and banking regulations were the organization’s biggest accomplishments.
“Overall, we’ve played a big part in winning more than 100 changes to federal law in the areas of government accountability and bank accountability,” he said.
Before Elections Canada began posting campaign donations online, Mr. Conacher’s group would do the hard slogging through mountains of paper at Elections Canada’s Ottawa head office, scanning corporate donations for signs of conflicts of interest.
Helped in part by the sponsorship scandal, Democracy Watch’s long-standing criticism of corporate donations eventually won out in Ottawa when prime minister Jean Chrétien imposed new limits in 2004 and Prime Minister Stephen Harper banned corporate and union donations entirely in 2006.
Rejecting government funding, Mr. Conacher’s small operation is essentially a one man show operating out of a downtown Ottawa office that runs on volunteers and an annual budget of about $60,000.
“There’s not too many people in civil society who are that selfless and work that tirelessly for no financial gain,” said NDP MP Pat Martin, who has often taken up many of the issues Mr. Conacher raised. “It’s a real loss and a real disappointment, but the guy deserves a medal. ... The guy did a great deal with very little and a very marginal little organization that punched way above its weight.”
Mr. Conacher was relentless in his criticism of Mr. Chrétien’s ethics adviser, Howard Wilson, repeatedly calling him a “lapdog” who lacked independence. Reached on Friday, Mr. Wilson said Mr. Conacher deserves credit for his indefatigable campaign for an independent ethics commissioner.
“He certainly was a force pushing the government to enshrine the position in legislation so that the person could not be removed except for cause,” Mr. Wilson recalled. “He was extraordinarily persistent.”
