Canada’s public service integrity watchdog says it is being inundated with information about wrongdoing, from mismanagement to breaches of ministerial codes of conduct, and needs to double its budget to respond. There is.
Harriet Soloway, who has served as public sector integrity commissioner for just over a year, said the “crisis” could undermine her office’s mission to investigate wrongdoing in the federal public sector and protect whistleblowers from retaliation. Warning that there is sex.
He said this was already causing delays in the analysis of new cases by two to three years.
I need to decide which parts of the mission should continue and which parts should be put on hold. Because we simply don’t have the resources.– Harriet Soloway, Public Sector Integrity Commissioner
“If we can’t investigate, we can’t draw any conclusions and we can’t make any recommendations,” Soloway said. “If there’s a problem, it’s going to keep getting worse, and it’s probably going to get worse, not better.”
Soloway’s office says there are currently 161 pending files related to allegations of misconduct or unjust retaliation, five times the number of cases the director can investigate each month.
Since the start of this fiscal year on April 1, the Office of the Commissioner has already received 198 disclosures. Soloway said they received a total of 332 cases last year, suggesting a continued upward trend.
Advocates and whistleblowers have criticized the comptroller’s office in the past, but Soloway said the surge in disclosures is a sign of growing confidence in their work. She said she feared delays could undermine that newfound confidence.
“We may reach a situation where…evidence is no longer available. People may leave and we may not be able to find them. People’s memories may fade. “That will affect the outcome,” she said.
“I immediately have to decide which parts of the mission should continue and which parts should be postponed because we simply don’t have the resources.”
Secretary calls for doubling the budget
For the first time since its creation in 2007, the comptroller’s office is requesting additional funding from the federal government.
Specifically, they are asking for an immediate injection of $1.3 million. It also calls for an increase of $7.6 million from 2028 to 2029 and a permanent increase of $7.2 million thereafter, effectively doubling the annual budget.
Soloway said the cash infusion will allow her office to reduce and manage the current backlog.
Finance Commissioner Anita Anand’s office said officials are considering the secretary’s request through the standard process for increasing the operating budget.
Spokesperson Mya Tomasi said the government had introduced measures to support disclosure, including internal process guidelines and training and awareness campaigns for civil servants.
Mr. Soloway encourages federal employees to continue reporting misconduct to his office, even if work is slow or delayed.
“Please come forward. No one will hear from us about your disclosure,” Soloway said. “I’m optimistic that we’ll have the resources we need to respond to as many of these cases as we need.”
Meanwhile, the opposition private member’s bill proposes updating the commissioner’s mandate to expand the commissioner’s responsibilities, but does not provide any new funding.
The bill, which critics say is long overdue, is currently before the Senate, but could be removed from the order if an early election is held.
“Nip serious misconduct in the bud”
David Hutton, a senior fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Center for Freedom of Expression, agrees with Soloway’s assessment that her office is in crisis. He said adequate funding for the office provides great value for money.
“Integrity commissioners have the unique ability to nip serious misconduct in the bud,” Hutton said.
Mr. Hutton pointed to recent events. can arrive and Canadian sustainable development technology Scandal and Even the Phoenix pay system debacle. This is an example of a costly mistake that could have been avoided or mitigated if whistleblowers had more power.
“The moment a whistleblower starts to think things are wrong and somehow presents themselves to management, they become a target,” he said.
Hutton cited the example of a bureaucrat who appeared before a parliamentary committee after raising the alarm over financial mismanagement at Canada Sustainable Development Technologies.
The person, identified only as Witness 1, said they pursued their complaints all the way up within the department but were not listened to.
“Frankly, I’m embarrassed to be here because the fact that I’m here shows that the systems that are put in place to protect people are not working,” the witness said at the outset. I said this in my greeting.
The law has not changed since 2007.
Mr Hutton said a review of the Public Service Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA), which gives powers to public sector secretaries, was premature.
The Conservative Party passed the law in 2007 as part of a series of accountability measures proposed in the wake of the Liberal Party’s sponsorship scandal. A legal review was planned for 2011, but it never materialized.
The House committee’s 2017 report made significant changes, including placing the burden of proof on employers when whistleblowers face retaliation for coming forward and requiring departments to protect whistleblowers. Recommended changes.
These recommendations had no effect. In 2022, Prime Minister Trudeau will appoint an external task force, with a report expected by the end of this year.
Mr Hutton said current law gives the Office of the Commissioner “unfettered discretion to do nothing”, even though it has investigative powers under the Investigations Act.
“It just creates a series of bogus processes like this: [whistleblowers] It wears them down for years and there’s really no cure,” he said.
Senators considering updating the law
The Bloc Quebecois private member’s bill to renew the commissioner’s mandate passed the House of Commons with bipartisan support and is currently undergoing second reading in the Senate.
Freshman lawmaker Jean-Denis Garon said Bill C-290 proposes stronger protections for whistleblowers and witnesses, as well as expanding the scope of complaints that can be investigated.
A statement from Mr. Anand’s office said the government supports all efforts to strengthen the PSDPA and looks forward to receiving Royal Assent for Bill C-290.
Soloway said he expects the bill to increase his office’s workload, but declined to comment on criticism of current law.
If the bill is amended in the House of Lords, it would have to be sent back to the House of Commons, and it is unlikely to receive Royal Assent before the next election.
“We have limited time,” warned the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Pierre Dalphon. “This legislation is a huge improvement, and I think it’s time to make it happen.
“We have to have a system that allows us to handle their complaints in a timely, appropriate and efficient manner.”
