CODES OF CONDUCT
selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership among public office holders.
Irrespective of their common Westminster heritage or other similarities, however, each parliament must develop its own tools for the effective enforcement of parliamentary behaviour in a manner that is consistent with its own particular practices and structures. Instructive, in this regard, is that Parliamentary Codes of Conduct appear best oriented towards the discharge of natural justice. Bearing parliamentary privilege in mind, the duty to act fairly – rather than a focus on legal rights and due process – provides the surest means to demonstrate a solid commitment to the public interest and to avoid public perceptions of bias. In addition to the principles of honourable conduct and the right to a fair hearing, parliamentarians tend to agree on at least one other characteristic that is critical to the effectiveness of all parliamentary codes of conduct: ‘Codes of conduct must remain relevant, be regularly reviewed and updated and made familiar to all those to whom they apply, as well as to the public whose interests they aim to uphold.’
In its ten years of existence, the Senate of Canada’s Code has already undergone several rounds of changes.
The latest measures help transform the Code into a tool to which Senators can turn from time to time as they determine appropriate courses of action, thereby ensuring that they are regularly reminded of its provisions. It is hoped that this new awareness will assist in ensuring that the new Ethics and Conflict of Interest Code for Senators is both more accessible and adapted to the evolution of public expectations. But the role of the committee in anticipating and affecting further changes
remains as central to the effectiveness of the Senate’s new ethics regime as ever. Indeed, the Senate of
Canada’s Ethics and Conflict of Interest Code for Senators will continue to change as long as dynamism remains a defining feature of the societies and public expectations it seeks to uphold. As Winston Churchill once
said “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” In an era of rapid social change, perfection may be an impossible standard for internal accountability systems, standards of conduct and ethical behaviour to meet; set against the imperative of maintaining public confidence in our parliaments, however, regular improvement remains a constant and necessary pursuit.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) produces a number of documents and booklets including the Recommended Benchmarks for Codes of Conduct for Members of Parliament.
Please contact
hq.sec@
cpahq.org for further information or visit
www.cpahq.org to download a copy.
The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue Two | 115
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