MAKE LYING BY CANADIAN GOVERNMENTS & THEIR BUREAUCRACIES ILLEGAL

Obviously there isn't a government at any level in Canada prepared to pass legislation that actually would make lying a criminal offence. Any such legislation would most likely result in municipal council members, federal M.P.s and provincial M.P.P.s quickly gaining criminal records. Maybe our governments could be persuaded to pass such legislation provided accompanying clauses made it clear that the politicians didn't lose their seats and were not prohibited from running in future elections. I can see the campaign advertising slogans now. "Our party has 24% fewer convicted criminals than the other guys".

My suggestion would be that either opposition parties could press charges, crown prosecuters or even citizens. Wouldn't this possibly revolutionize government as we know it today? Judges could have discretion regarding penalties. For example for a one off, routine self-serving lie perhaps a conditional discharge followed by community service. For a blatant whopper intended to deceive the general public a conviction plus 3 months in jail. The stiffest penalties would be reserved for both repeat offenders as well as those lies intended to deceive the public which are repeated repeatedly over a length of time.

I figure we'd have a revolving door with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. While undoubtedly other Ministrys are equally as bad I suspect that the M.O.E. would have a difficult time attracting professional liars as they kept getting sent off to jail.