OTTAWA - Canada's integrity officer says the Liberals vaunted whistleblowing legislation tabled yesterday is too weak and could discourage bureaucrats from exposing wrongdoing and corruption in government.
Edward Keyserlingk said the proposed bill is a "disappointment" that ignores the strongest recommendations urged by a special working group whose blueprint would have made Canada's whistleblowing laws the strongest among the Commonwealth nations.
[. . . .] "It does not respond to public servants' cynicism and lack of confidence and I think it might end up feeding both and, to me, that's a tragedy. It's better than what we have now, but it is deficient in so many ways."
[. . . .] The proposed bill creates a new Public Service Integrity Commissioner who reports through a minister, rather than directly to Parliament, which critics argue undermines the office's independence and credibility.
Now, re-read that. Why is this layer of insulation necessary? It smacks of having our Ethics Commissioner on JCs short leash -- to me.
[. . . .] Mr. Keyserlingk said the new integrity commissioner would have no more investigatory and enforcement powers than he now has. The bill does not give the commissioner subpoena powers, access to Cabinet documents, or the ability to follow investigations into ministers' offices nor probe complaints from Canadians about wrongdoing in government, all of which were recommended by the working group.
That last paragraph is the crux of the problem with the proposed legislation! An integrity commissioner not able to follow investigations into minsters' offices -- exactly what ***, ***, and all the rest want. Would this keep those investigations away from a crucial source of information that should come out? What do you think -- based on Canadians' past experience of another commissioner -- our Ethics Commissioner to whom ministers were able to turn in their hour of need -- when conflict of interest questions started coming? NJC
