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

 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)

 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.

 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)

 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

 Most corp have values to guide member’s conduct & reflect corp’s basic 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.

 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

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.

 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.

 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.