The Federal Accountability Act, explained

What it is

The Federal Accountability Act (S.C. 2006, c. 9) was an omnibus statute — introduced as Bill C-2, the first government bill of the parliament elected in 2006 — passed in the aftermath of the sponsorship scandal and the Gomery inquiry. Rather than creating a single new rule, it reached into more than two dozen existing statutes at once and created two new ones.

That omnibus structure is why the Act is confusing to look up. You will rarely see a modern transparency obligation cited as "under the Federal Accountability Act". You will see it cited under the Act the FedAA created or amended. It is the origin story, not the day-to-day citation.

The two Acts it created

• The Conflict of Interest Act — the statutory ethics regime for ministers, parliamentary secretaries, ministerial staff and Governor in Council appointees. Before 2006 this was a prime ministerial code, not a law. Codification is what made it enforceable by an independent Commissioner rather than by the government of the day. Everything in our conflict of interest guide about divestment, recusal and post-employment rules comes from this Act.
• The Director of Public Prosecutions Act— separating federal prosecution decisions from the Attorney General's office, so that a decision to prosecute is insulated from political direction.

The offices and records it produced

The amendments matter more than the new Acts, because they created the institutions that publish most of the federal accountability record.

• An independent Commissioner of Lobbying. The Act overhauled the Lobbyists Registration Act, which became the Lobbying Act, replacing a registrar inside a department with an independent Officer of Parliament, extending the registration regime, and introducing the post-employment restriction on designated public office holders. The monthly communication reports that let you see which organisations met which minister exist because of this change — see the lobbying registry guide.
• The Parliamentary Budget Officer.Created through amendments to the Parliament of Canada Act, to give Parliament independent analysis of the nation's finances rather than relying solely on the government's own figures.
• A Procurement Ombudsman, through amendments to the Financial Administration Act, to review complaints about federal contracting practices. Related transparency obligations around contracting are covered in our government contracts guide.
• Stronger whistleblower protection, via the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, for public servants who report wrongdoing.
• Wider access to information. Amendments to the Access to Information Act brought a range of Crown corporations, agents of Parliament and foundations within its reach for the first time.
• Tighter political financing. Amendments to the Canada Elections Act changed who may contribute to federal political entities and how much. Current contribution limits are published by Elections Canada, which also publishes the contribution records themselves.

The Act was organised into five parts covering conflicts of interest and political financing, support for Parliament, prosecutorial independence, administrative oversight, and procurement — a fair summary of its ambition.

What it did not do

Being clear about the limits is more useful than praising the statute, and several of the gaps explain questions readers of this site keep running into.

• It did not put values on disclosure.The published summary of an office holder's interests still omits dollar amounts, which is why no net worth figure is derivable — see MP salary and net worth.
• It did not create a transaction-reporting regime. There is still no Canadian record of individual share trades by federal politicians; see MP stock trades.
• It did not open complaints to the public. A request for an examination under the ethics regime still comes from a parliamentarian, not a citizen.
• It is federal only. Provincial ethics, lobbying and procurement regimes were untouched, which is a large part of why provincial transparency varies so much — see the provincial guide.

Reading it yourself

The consolidated text is on Justice Laws at the link above. Because it is an amending statute, much of it reads as instructions to change other Acts, so it is usually more productive to read the Act you actually care about — the Conflict of Interest Act or the Lobbying Act — in its current consolidated form. For how to tell a bill from the Act it became, see the bill tracker guide.