By Frances Russell | June 19, 2013 The office of Parliament's "ethics" commissioner has become a bad, sad joke. But the "new" relationship between the RCMP and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is alarming for a First-World democracy. Since her office was created in 2007, Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson has let dozens of Conservatives off the hook for ethics violations and made more than 80 secret rulings, according to Democracy Watch, a citizens' advocacy group. Last month, the watchdog filed a complaint to Dawson after Prime Minister Stephen Harper allowed the former, now defeated, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Peter Penashue to make a $1.35 million spending announcement in his riding just days before he resigned his seat to run in a byelection. Harper called the byelection before prosecutors had decided whether to charge Penashue for Canada Elections Act violations during the 2011 federal election. "This is yet another clear case where the lapdog federal Ethics Commissioner is ignoring clear ethics rules and instead using a dangerously narrow and legally incorrect enforcement approach to protect a politician who has improperly furthered the private interest of a friend and colleague," Democracy Watch's co-ordinator, Tyler Sommers, said in a news release. "The Ethics Commissioner actually makes the alarming claim in her ruling that the ethics law never covers any political decisions cabinet ministers make, no matter what the situation." Democracy Watch's board member Duff Conacher went further. Dawson, he said, "is so ineffective that the media, not her, have revealed all the ethics violations in federal politics in the last five years..." The watchdog agency provided a partial list of some of Dawson's questionable rulings. She claimed, without reasons or evidence, that Harper and Penashue were not friends despite all the "friendly" things that Harper had recently done for him- such as the $1.35 million spending announcement during his byelection campaign.. She also deemed that the Accountable Government rules apply only if the exact, specific situation complained about is referenced in the guide. Therefore, the spending announcement was acceptable because it focused only on enhancing the ruling party's image. Finally -- and most awe-inspiring -- Dawson justified her total disinterest by claiming that spending announcements and byelection calls are "political advantages" that are a "government prerogative." She therefore concluded that ethics rules can't touch those government prerogatives "no matter how unethical and abusive the exercise of the advantage or prerogative is." With that one breathtaking ruling, she turned Canada into an autocracy. Nor did the watchdog/lapdog "ethics" commissioner stop there. Democracy Watch cites more than 200 similar cases of people being let off the hook without penalty for very questionable actions. They include Harper's decision in 2007 to not have a full public inquiry into his then-friend Brian Mulroney's relationship/friendship with Karlheinz Schreiber; 25 Conservative cabinet ministers and cabinet officers including Nigel Wright, Tony Clement and Lisa Raitt and 35 Conservative MPs who handed out government cheques with Conservative Party logos on them, and finally, all MPs who accepted sponsored travel from lobbyists. Last Friday, Conacher reported online that "based on the clear public evidence available weeks ago," Dawson should have already found former Harper Chief of Staff Nigel Wright guilty of violating the federal ethics law for writing the infamous $90,000 cheque to Senator Mike Duffy. The Parliament of Canada Act and the Criminal Code prohibit offering or giving any kind of benefit to a senator or federal or provincial politician in return for any action or inaction by the politician. Far more disturbingly, Conacher continues, is that media reports indicate Wright's payment could have been in return for some action/inaction by Duffy to stay silent and stop co-operating with auditors. Late last month, alarming news surfaced that the RCMP Commissioner has been ordered to align his office with the office of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews in all public communications about the RCMP and to clear all its public communications through the minister's office. Civilian oversight of the police is basic to a democracy, but it should be conducted by a board of distinguished citizens, not a politician. The decision was apparently taken immediately following the Conservatives' majority victory in May, 2011. "This policy affects the ability of the RCMP to make independent law enforcement decisions," warns Democracy Watch. In fact, it has turned the RCMP into a political police force, something normally associated with Third World dictatorships and supposedly unthinkable in a First World democracy. Late last month, a former RCMP superintendent indicated the politicization of the force may be well underway. Garry Clement, a 30-year veteran, told Canadian Press he's never seen the degree of political control over the Mounties that exists now. He further stated that it "does not bode well" for an objective investigation of the Senate expense scandal. Clement, who served in the National Capital Region for almost 18 years dealing with all levels of investigations, said "I don't think I've seen- at least since my relationship with the RCMP started -- I don't think I've ever seen the type of control that's been placed on the RCMP, which is a little bit disconcerting from a former member." It's far more than a "little bit" disconcerting for Canadians -- and for Canada's stature in the world. Frances Russell was born in Winnipeg and graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science. A journalist since 1962, she has covered and commented on politics in Manitoba, Ontario, B.C. and Ottawa, working for The Winnipeg Tribune, United Press International, The Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun and The Winnipeg Free Press as well as freelanced for The Toronto Star, The Edmonton Journal, CBC Radio and TV and Time Magazine. She is the author of two award-winning books on Manitoba history: Mistehay Sakahegan - The Great Lake: The Beauty and the Treachery of Lake Winnipeg and The Canadian Crucible - Manitoba's Role in Canada's Great Divide. Both won the Manitoba Historical Society Award for popular history. She is married with one son and two grandsons and lives in Winnipeg.