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A Code of Ethics or Code of Conduct for Political Parties as a Potential Tool to Strengthen Electoral Democracy in Canada

9. CONCLUSIONS

The purpose of this paper was to identify issues, questions and options related to the possible adoption of a code of conduct or ethics to be applied to the activities of political parties. As a document intended to support a consultation and discussion process, the paper did not offer specific recommendations that might preclude consideration of a full range of issues and options.

By way of conclusion, the paper will offer some general observations related more to the process of adopting a code than to the issues of content and enforcement. These observations are based on the review of the secondary literature, which often employs case studies.

The process of code development is at least as important, if not more important, than the product in terms of realizing the potential benefits and avoiding unforeseen consequences of adopting a code.

The process for formulation and adoption of a code should not be based or appear to be based on anti-politics thinking, which reflects and reinforces negative stereotypes of politicians and political parties that are false or at least exaggerated. Imposing legal rules and ethical norms that inappropriately restrict the scope of political judgment should not be the outcome of a code. It could be argued that there would be greater gains for electoral democracy in Canada by trusting political parties to take more (but not total) responsibility for developing, promoting and regulating their own ethics than from having a code developed, implemented and enforced by an outside body.

Experience with the formulation of codes in different contexts suggests that, without consultation, dialogue, frankness, a search for consensus and the achievement of a genuine commitment to the value of a code, there is the risk that the impacts of a code will be minimal. Achieving these conditions for success in the political realm of competitive political parties is obviously more difficult than in other settings.

If a statute or code is adopted during or in the immediate aftermath of a scandal, there is a greater risk that documents will reflect an anti-politics motivation. In such a context, partisanship is likely to be more intense as competing parties engage in "purity duels", in which they claim to be more committed than their opponents to cleaning up the political process. Under these conditions, there is the risk that the resulting law or code will not be well designed and will focus narrowly on the problematic activities that gave rise to the scandal.

Forecasting the impacts of a code in the context of national politics in Canada is uncertain. Codes have benefits but also can have unintended and detrimental consequences. Working models of codes governing political ethics are few in number, are found mostly in less mature democracies and are relatively recent in their origins. Manitoba is the only jurisdiction in Canada to adopt a shared code of conduct for political parties, and its impacts have not been examined in any systematic manner. The fact that there are no references to the code in political debates or in the media might suggest that the code with its inspirational commitments has faded into the political background.

Even without evidence about such impacts, there is no denying the fact that discussion and adoption of a code would cause political parties and their followers to be more aware of, sensitive to and capable of reasoning about ethically challenging situations in ways that they otherwise might not have in the past.