Enhancing Public Trust: Implementing a Code of Ethics in Political Party Practices

1. Political Ethics Royal Commission on Electoral Reform & Party Financing Vol 12.

2. Public expectations Are demanding & extensive in areas of: • Process of how parties nominate candidates & select leaders • Outcomes of this process in regards to fair representation • Public interest also increased in other political institutions as Charter & constitutional debates

3. Public’s justification for increased interest • Expectations of fair & equitable manner when selecting candidates & leaders • The large extent of government subsidies to parties/candidates through tax credits and reimbursement of election expenses • 31% of total party expenditure or $66,658,000 over four years (1988)

4. Why? • Public perceives political parties not effective in addressing behaviour that undermines public confidence • Parties deemed unwilling or incapable of internally monitoring and enforcing fair procedure for their activities • Impression that parties not recognizing public concern suggest that more range of party activities should be regulated.

5. Code Of Ethics • Written statement of an organization’s basic values and behaviour principles. • Often contain 2 elements: • Explicit statement of org values & principles: grounded in its philosophy, objectives & traditions • Commitment: Expectation all members are committed to these values and principles. •  Few political parties have adopted a code of ethics (Reform & Christian Heritage parties but not to article’s suggested form)

6. Obstacles in reforming political activities • Decentralization of parties (leaders have trouble controlling member conduct, especially at constituency level) • Leaders deprived of sanctions used in the past to ensure compliance with party rules (via reduced patronage and increased use of professional experts) • Most of party members are volunteers

7. Corporate Use of Codes • Most corphave values to guide member’s conduct & reflect corp’sbasic assumptions • “What are the principles to guide one’s conduct when interacting with others?” • Challenges same as parties: Ensuring values and rules understood and followed. Decentralized structure. Geographically dispersed. • Corps do not rely on chance to ensure employees understand the values & rules. Like political parties, corps have been publicly scrutinized and suffered decline in public confidence.

8. Benefits of Articulating Party Values • Enable leaders to manage party standards • Foster a shared philosophy. Reinforce agreement with the values among members • Emphasize their importance as the collective standard • Enhance responsibility of party leaders for assessing member activity

9. SO? Party Members would have to: • Conduct themselves accordingly to values (via internal peer pressure) • Valuable for members making difficult decisions – enhance incentive to put party’s long term interests ahead instead of short term goals • Forestalling regulation of party life by giving effective management resources & increase internal control.

10. Considerations when developing a code • Realistic: balance the philosophical and practical application of values. • Permeate the org: leaders to validate principles and members will feel bound by. • Most important: Enforcement. These procedures should be fair and recognize difference between poor judgement vs. intentional violations. Solution: Could create committees or positions to perform this role.

11. Conclusion • Code of ethics give parties tools to enforce party principles, and give members clear sense of obligation to these values. • Will increase public confidence, and increase party integrity. • Effective way to manage member conduct and forestall demands for greater regulation. • Although law is a requisite for appropriate conduct, it may not always satisfy public expectation and electoral law can only go so far in encouraging certain behaviour.