Motion No. 1
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 2, be amended by adding after line 9 on page 2 the following:
““Commissioner” means the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner appointed under subsection 39.1(1).”
Motion No. 2
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 2.1, be amended by replacing line 30 on page 3 with the following:
“Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a chief executive in respect”
Motion No. 3
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 13, be amended by
a) replacing lines 42 to 44 on page 6 with the following:
“13. (1) A public servant may disclose information referred to in section 12 to the Commissioner if”
b) replacing lines 17 to 22 on page 7 with the following:
“servant to disclose to the Commissioner a confidence of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada in respect of which subsection 39(1) of the Canada Evidence Act applies or any information that is subject to solicitor-client privilege. The Commissioner may not use the confidence or”
Motion No. 4
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 14, be amended by replacing lines 24 to 31 on page 7 with the following:
“14. A disclosure that a public servant is entitled to make under section 13 that concerns the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner may be made to the Auditor General of Canada who has, in relation to that disclosure, the powers, duties and protections of the Commissioner under this Act.”
Motion No. 5
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 20, be amended by replacing lines 30 to 34 on page 10 with the following:
“to the Commissioner in respect of the reprisal during the 60-day period referred to in paragraph (a) and the Commissioner has decided to deal with the disclosure, 60 days after the Commissioner reports”
Motion No. 6
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 20, be amended by replacing lines 6 and 7 on page 12 with the following:
“(7) The Commissioner has standing in any proceedings”
Motion No. 7
— That Bill C-11 be amended by replacing the heading before line 1 on page 14 with the following:
“DUTIES OF THE COMMISSIONER”
Motion No. 8
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 22, be amended by replacing lines 1 and 2 on page 14 with the following:
“22. The duties of the Commissioner under this Act are to”
Motion No. 9
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 23, be amended
(a) by replacing lines 1 and 2 on page 15 with the following:
“23. (1) The Commissioner may not deal with a disclosure”
(b) deleting lines 15 to 23 on page 15.
Motion No. 10
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 24, be amended by
a) replacing lines 24 and 25 on page 15 with the following:
“24. (1) The Commissioner may refuse to deal with a dis-”
(b) replacing lines 1 and 2 on page 16 with the following:
“(2) The Commissioner must refuse to deal with a”
(c) replacing line 11 on page 16 with the following:
“(3) If the Commissioner refuses to deal with a”
Motion No. 11
— That Bill C-11 be amended by deleting Clause 25.
Motion No. 12
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 26, be amended by
(a) replacing lines 27 to 29 on page 16 with the following:
“26. (1) The Commissioner may delegate to any employee of the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner any of his or her powers and”
(b) replacing line 41 on page 16 with the following:
“appear before the Commissioner or a person”
(c) replacing lines 7 to 15 on page 17 with the following:
“(2) The Commissioner may not delegate the conduct of any investigation that involves or may involve information relating to international relations, national defence, national security or the detection, prevention or suppression of criminal, subversive or hostile activities, except to one of a maximum of four officers or employees of the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner specifically designated by the Commissioner for the purpose of”
Motion No. 13
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 28, be amended by replacing lines 24 on page 17 to line 2 on page 18 with the following:
“28. (1) When commencing an investigation under this Act, the Commissioner must notify the chief executive concerned and inform that chief executive of the substance of the disclosure to which the investigation relates.
(2) The Commissioner, or the person conducting an investigation, may also notify any other person he or she considers appropriate, including every person whose acts or conduct are called into question by the disclosure to which the investigation relates, and inform that person of the substance of the disclosure.
(3) It is not necessary for the Commissioner to hold any hearing and no person is entitled as of right to be heard by the Commissioner, but if at any time during the course of an investigation under this Act it appears to the Commissioner that there may be sufficient grounds to make a report or recommendation that may adversely affect any individual or any portion of the public sector, the Commissioner must, before completing the”
Motion No. 14
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 29, be amended by replacing lines 9 to 14 on page 18 with the following:
“29. (1) If the Commissioner so requests, chief executives and public servants must provide him or her, or the person conducting an investigation, with any facilities, assistance, information and access to their respective offices that the Commissioner may”
Motion No. 15
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 30, be amended by replacing lines 20 to 32 on page 18 with the following:
“30. (1) In conducting any investigation under this Act, the Commissioner has all the powers of a commissioner under Part II of the Inquiries Act.
(2) Whenever the Commissioner issues a subpoena or other request or summons to a person in the exercise of any powers referred to in subsection (1), he or she must allow that person to be assisted or represented by counsel, or by any person.
(3) Before entering the premises of any portion of the public sector in the exercise of any powers under subsection (1), the Commissioner”
Motion No. 16
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 31, be amended by replacing line 40 on page 18 to line 5 on page 19 with the following:
“client privilege. The Commissioner may not use the confidence or information if it is nevertheless received under section 29 or 30.
(2) Nothing in this Act is to be construed as limiting the application of the Canada Evidence Act to investigations conducted by the Commissioner.”
Motion No. 17
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 32, be amended by replacing lines 9 and 10 on page 19 with the following:
“powers in section 30, the Commissioner must consider whether”
Motion No. 18
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 33, be amended by replacing lines 15 and 16 on page 19 with the following:
“cooperating with the Commissioner, or with a person conduct-”
Motion No. 19
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 34, be amended by
a) replacing lines 28 to 30 on page 19 with the following:
“the Commissioner by a person who is not a public servant, the Commissioner has reason to believe that another”
(b) replacing line 40 on page 19 to line 3 on page 20 with the following:
“(2) The Commissioner may not, in the course of an investigation commenced under subsection (1), use a confidence of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada in respect of which subsection 39(1) of the Canada Evidence Act applies, or information that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, if the confidence or information is disclosed to the Commissioner.”
Motion No. 20
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 35, be amended by replacing lines 4 and 5 on page 20 with the following:
“35. If the Commissioner is of the opinion that a matter”
Motion No. 21
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 36, be amended by replacing lines 12 to 37 on page 20 with the following:
“36. (1) If the Commissioner has reasonable grounds to suspect that information obtained in the course of an investigation may be used in the investigation or prosecution of an alleged contravention of any Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province, he or she may, in addition to or in lieu of continuing the investigation, remit the information, at that point in time, to a peace officer having jurisdiction to investigate the alleged contravention or to the Attorney General of Canada.
(1.1) If the information relates to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Commissioner may remit the information only to the Attorney General of Canada.
(2) To maintain the separation of investigations carried out under this Act and those carried out for law enforcement purposes, after information has been remitted under subsection (1) in relation to any matter, the Commissioner may not — except in accordance with a prior judicial authorization — remit to any peace officer or to the Attorney General of Canada any further information in relation to that matter that the Commissioner obtains in the course of his or her”
Motion No. 22
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 37, be amended by replacing line 43 on page 20 to line 1 on page 21 with the following:
“Commissioner may, if he or she considers it appropriate to do so, request that the chief executive provide the Commissioner, within a time specified in the report,”
Motion No. 23
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 38, be amended by replacing lines 6 to 12 on page 21 with the following:
“38. If the Commissioner considers it necessary, he or she may report a matter to the Minister responsible for the portion of the public sector concerned or, if the matter relates to a Crown corporation, to its board or governing council, including, but not limited to, when the Commissioner is of the”
Motion No. 24
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 39, be amended by replacing line 23 on page 21 to line 16 on page 22 with the following:
“39. (1) Within three months after the end of each financial year, the Commissioner must prepare and submit to Parliament an annual report in respect of the activities of the Commissioner during that financial year.
(2) The annual report must set out
(a) the number of general inquiries relating to this Act;
(b) the number of disclosures received and the number of those that were acted on and those that were not acted on;
(c) the number of investigations commenced under this Act;
(d) the number of recommendations that the Commissioner has made and their status;
(e) whether there are any systemic problems that give rise to wrongdoings;
(f) any recommendations for improvement that the Commissioner considers appropriate; and
(g) any other matter that the Commissioner considers necessary.
(3) The Commissioner may, at any time, make a special report to Parliament referring to and commenting on any matter within the scope of his or her powers and duties under this Act if, in his or her opinion, the matter is of such urgency or importance that a report on it should not be deferred until the time provided for transmission of the annual report.
(4) Every report to Parliament made by the Commissioner shall be made by being transmitted to the Speaker of the Senate, and to the Speaker of the House of Commons, for tabling in those Houses.
(5) After it is transmitted for tabling, every report of the Commissioner stands referred to the committee of the Senate, the House of Commons or both Houses of Parliament that may be designated or established for the purpose of reviewing the Commissioner’s reports.”
Motion No. 25
— That Bill C-11 be amended by adding after line 16 on page 22 the following new clause:
“39.1 (1) The Governor in Council shall, by commission under the Great Seal, appoint a Public Sector Integrity Commissioner after approval of the appointment by resolution of the Senate and House of Commons.
(2) Subject to this section, the Commissioner holds office during good behaviour for a term of seven years, but may be removed by the Governor in Council at any time on address of the Senate and House of Commons.
(3) The Commissioner is eligible to be re-appointed for a further term of not more than seven years.
(4) In the event of the absence or incapacity of the Commissioner, or if the office of Commissioner is vacant, the Governor in Council may appoint another qualified person to hold office instead of the Commissioner for a term of not more than six months, and that person shall, while holding that office, have all of the powers, duties and functions of the Commissioner under this or any other Act of Parliament and be paid the salary or other remuneration and expenses that may be fixed by the Governor in Council. ”
Recommendation
(Pursuant to Standing Order 76(3))
Her Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in the following amendment to Bill C-11, An Act to establish a procedure for the disclosure of wrongdoings in the public sector, including the protection of persons who disclose the wrongdoings.
That Bill C-11 be amended by adding after line 16 on page 22 the following new clause:
“39.1 (1) The Governor in Council shall, by commission under the Great Seal, appoint a Public Sector Integrity Commissioner after approval of the appointment by resolution of the Senate and House of Commons.
(2) Subject to this section, the Commissioner holds office during good behaviour for a term of seven years, but may be removed by the Governor in Council at any time on address of the Senate and House of Commons.
(3) The Commissioner is eligible to be re-appointed for a further term of not more than seven years.
(4) In the event of the absence or incapacity of the Commissioner, or if the office of Commissioner is vacant, the Governor in Council may appoint another qualified person to hold office instead of the Commissioner for a term of not more than six months, and that person shall, while holding that office, have all of the powers, duties and functions of the Commissioner under this or any other Act of Parliament and be paid the salary or other remuneration and expenses that may be fixed by the Governor in Council.”
Motion No. 26
— That Bill C-11 be amended by adding after line 16 on page 22 the following new clause:
“39.2 (1) The Commissioner has the rank, and all the powers, of a deputy head of a department.
(2) The Commissioner shall not hold any other office or employment in the public sector or carry on any activity that is inconsistent with his or her powers and duties.”
Recommendation
(Pursuant to Standing Order 76(3))
Her Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in the following amendment to Bill C-11, An Act to establish a procedure for the disclosure of wrongdoings in the public sector, including the protection of persons who disclose the wrongdoings.
That Bill C-11 be amended by adding after line 16 on page 22 the following new clause:
“39.2 (1) The Commissioner has the rank, and all the powers, of a deputy head of a department.
(2) The Commissioner shall not hold any other office or employment in the public sector or carry on any activity that is inconsistent with his or her powers and duties. ”
Motion No. 27
— That Bill C-11 be amended by adding after line 16 on page 22 the following new clause:
“39.3 (1) The Commissioner is to be paid the remuneration determined by the Governor in Council.
(2) The Commissioner is entitled to be paid reasonable travel and other expenses incurred in the course of his or her duties while absent from his or her ordinary place of work if he or she has been appointed to serve on a full-time basis or his or her ordinary place of residence if he or she has been appointed to serve on a part-time basis.
(3) The Commissioner is deemed to be employed in the public service for the purposes of the Public Service Superannuation Act.
(4) The Commissioner is deemed to be employed in the federal public administration for the purposes of the Government Employees Compensation Act and regulations made under section 9 of the Aeronautics Act. ”
Recommendation
(Pursuant to Standing Order 76(3))
Her Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in the following amendment to Bill C-11, An Act to establish a procedure for the disclosure of wrongdoings in the public sector, including the protection of persons who disclose the wrongdoings.
That Bill C-11 be amended by adding after line 16 on page 22 the following new clause:
“39.3 (1) The Commissioner is to be paid the remuneration determined by the Governor in Council.
(2) The Commissioner is entitled to be paid reasonable travel and other expenses incurred in the course of his or her duties while absent from his or her ordinary place of work if he or she has been appointed to serve on a full-time basis or his or her ordinary place of residence if he or she has been appointed to serve on a part-time basis.
(3) The Commissioner is deemed to be employed in the public service for the purposes of the Public Service Superannuation Act.
(4) The Commissioner is deemed to be employed in the federal public administration for the purposes of the Government Employees Compensation Act and regulations made under section 9 of the Aeronautics Act. ”
Motion No. 28
— That Bill C-11 be amended by adding after line 16 on page 22 the following new clause:
“39.4 (1) The officers and employees that are necessary to enable the Commissioner to perform his or her duties and functions are to be appointed in accordance with the Public Service Employment Act.
(2) The Commissioner may engage on a temporary basis the services of persons having technical or specialized knowledge of any matter relating to the Commissioner’s work to advise and assist the Commissioner in the performance of his or her duties and functions and, with the approval of the Treasury Board, may fix and pay the remuneration and expenses of those persons. ”
Recommendation
(Pursuant to Standing Order 76(3))
Her Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in the following amendment to Bill C-11, An Act to establish a procedure for the disclosure of wrongdoings in the public sector, including the protection of persons who disclose the wrongdoings.
That Bill C-11 be amended by adding after line 16 on page 22 the following new clause:
“39.4 (1) The officers and employees that are necessary to enable the Commissioner to perform his or her duties and functions are to be appointed in accordance with the Public Service Employment Act.
(2) The Commissioner may engage on a temporary basis the services of persons having technical or specialized knowledge of any matter relating to the Commissioner’s work to advise and assist the Commissioner in the performance of his or her duties and functions and, with the approval of the Treasury Board, may fix and pay the remuneration and expenses of those persons. ”
Motion No. 29
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 40, be amended by replacing lines 22 and 23 on page 22 with the following:
“officer, the Commissioner or a person acting on behalf of or”
Motion No. 30
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 41, be amended by replacing lines 26 to 30 on page 22 with the following:
“officer or the Commissioner, or any person acting on behalf of or under the direction of a senior officer or the Commissioner, in the performance of the senior officer’s, or the Commissioner’s, as the case may be,”
Motion No. 31
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 43, be amended by replacing lines 6 to 8 on page 23 with the following:
“43. The Commissioner and every person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the Commissioner who”
Motion No. 32
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 44, be amended by replacing lines 16 to 20 on page 23 with the following:
“44. Unless the disclosure is required by law or permitted by this Act, the Commissioner and every person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the Commissioner shall not disclose any information that”
Motion No. 33
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 44.1, be amended by replacing lines 26 to 29 on page 23 with the following:
“information under this Act by the Commissioner or any person acting on behalf of or under his or her direction.”
Motion No. 34
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 45, be amended by replacing lines 30 to 38 on page 23 with the following:
“45. No criminal or civil proceedings lie against the Commissioner, or against any person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the Commissioner, for anything done or omitted to be done, or reported or said, in good faith in the course of the exercise or performance, or purported exercise or performance, of any power or duty of the Commissioner under this Act.”
Motion No. 35
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 46, be amended by replacing line 39 on page 23 to line 3 on page 24 with the following:
“46. The Commissioner or any person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the Commissioner is not a competent or compellable witness in any proceedings, other than a prosecution for an offence under this Act, in respect of any matter coming to the knowledge of the Commissioner, or”
Motion No. 36
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 47, be amended by replacing lines 11 to 16 on page 24 with the following:
“or on behalf of the Commissioner is privileged if it was said, supplied or produced in good faith; and
(b) any report under this Act made in good faith by the Commissioner is privileged, and any fair and”
Motion No. 37
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 48, be amended by replacing line 21 on page 24 with the following:
“Commissioner”
Motion No. 38
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 49, be amended by
(a) replacing lines 28 and 29 on page 24 with the following:
“Act, the Commissioner shall not disclose any information”
(b) replacing line 11 on page 25 with the following:
“(2) The Commissioner may disclose any informa-”
(c) replacing line 18 on page 25 with the following:
“(3) The Commissioner may disclose any informa-”
(d) replacing line 30 on page 25 with the following:
“permitted by subsection (3), the Commissioner must”
Motion No. 39
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 50, be amended by replacing lines 13 and 14 on page 26 with the following:
“by the Commissioner to the chief executive under this Act may”
Motion No. 40
— That Bill C-11 be amended by adding after line 11 on page 27 the following new clause:
“54.1 (1) Each person employed in the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada in the administrative unit known as the Office of the Public Service Integrity Officer assumes, on the coming into force of this section, a position in the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) is to be construed as affecting the status of any person who assumes a position in the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner by reason of that subsection.”
Motion No. 41
— That Bill C-11 be amended by adding after line 11 on page 27 the following new clause:
“54.2 To the extent that the charges and expenses are in relation to the Office of the Public Service Integrity Officer, any amount appropriated, for the fiscal year in which this section comes into force, by an appropriation Act based on the Estimates for that year for defraying the charges and expenses of the federal public administration within the portion of the federal public administration known as the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, and that, on the day on which this section comes into force, is unexpended is deemed, on that day, to be an amount appropriated for defraying the charges and expenses of the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.”
Motion No. 42
— That Bill C-11 be amended by adding after line 11 on page 27 the following new clause:
“54.3 Disclosures under the Treasury Board Policy on the Internal Disclosure of Information Concerning Wrongdoing in the Workplace that are being dealt with on the coming into force of this section are to be continued as though they had been made under this Act.”
Motion No. 43
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 55, be amended by replacing lines 25 and 26 on page 27 with the following:
“that Act, or by the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, in relation to or as a”
Motion No. 44
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 56, be amended by replacing lines 1 and 2 on page 28 with the following:
“20. The Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, for the purposes of the Public”
Motion No. 45
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 57, be amended by replacing lines 19 and 20 on page 28 with the following:
“10(2) of that Act, or by the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, in relation to”
Motion No. 46
— That Bill C-11, in Clause 58, be amended by replacing lines 6 and 7 on page 29 with the following:
“that Act, or by the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, in relation to or as a”
Motion No. 47
— That Bill C-11 be amended by adding the following after line 13 on page 29:
“58.1 The schedule to the Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order under the heading “Other Government Institutions”:
Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner
Commissariat à l'intégrité du secteur public”
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate members agreeing to dispense with the reading of the motions so we can get into this debate because I am here to celebrate. I am here to celebrate an awful lot of hard work by a lot of members in the House and a great many public servants and others outside this chamber.
The bill has been a long time in coming. We have had a great deal of discussion about the need for it. An enormous amount of work was done prior to this particular bill coming forward. As members will remember, an earlier bill was dealt with in a previous Parliament, and there also was a great deal of very open and straightforward debate on this that has led to substantial improvements in the bill.
In a way, what occurred in committee on this bill is what a great many of us who are concerned about the role of this chamber have always wanted to see happen. We took a difficult public policy question and we put it before the House at first reading. The government put in front of the House a structure and a proposal that it thought would work to address the issue that was at hand. The committee looked at that and it heard from many witnesses. The committee agreed to accept portions of it and decided to ask for changes in areas where it did not have the confidence to change and then made changes in areas that it could. The result of that is that we have a much better bill and one that will serve the public servants of this country and Canadians exceptionally well.
It is no secret that I came forward with a bill that was modelled on this function being handed to the Public Service Commission. The original bill had a recommendation that it be contained within the executive and was structured that way. When I was given the responsibility for this portfolio I felt there had been a great deal of concern about that in the debate on the previous bill and certainly that model was inconsistent with the recommendation that had been put forward when I was the chair of this committee in the House when we first were looking at this.
Therefore I came forward with a proposal that we would put this responsibility under the President of the Public Service Commission. I felt that was a very reasonable way to deal with this and there were lots of reasons to argue it and I shall not re-argue it because the committee disagreed with me. However the committee did not just disagree with me. It called in many witnesses and heard from many people. I have to say that I was persuaded when I heard the arguments. I also spoke to individuals who had made representations. I was trying to sort out why an independent body, such as the Public Service Commission which has nearly a 100 year history in this area, would not be an acceptable home for this.
I came to the conclusion, which hon. members had come to earlier, that this was not a satisfactory solution to this problem. I have informed the committee members of this and have given them copies of what the bill would look like with these amendments in it. I have the full support of the Prime Minister to create a new parliamentary officer who would be the home and the person responsible for carrying out these responsibilities. This office will have the same relationship to Parliament that the other parliamentary officers such as the Privacy Commissioner and others have. It is a major improvement in the bill and members of the committee are to be congratulated for the very hard work they did.
However I would like to go a step further because in a sense this is exactly what we want. In a minority House and in the period just before a potential election where some call what occurs in here the silly season as everyone vies for position and tries to make headlines, there are times when one despairs of whether or not the place will settle down and grapple with a significant and important public policy decision and there certainly were times when I despaired when hearing some of the debate.
However at the end of the day I have always been a strong believer that if a group of people are put around the table and given a complex problem, those diverse opinions will lead to something better. The work of this committee has proven this.
It is important to underline that the committee is chaired by the member for Vegreville—Wainwright. One of the vice-chairs is the member for Winnipeg Centre, who was also the co-chair of the subcommittee of this committee when it wrote the original report on whistleblowing. The other vice-chair is the member for Mississauga South. The membership of the committee are the following members: the member for Thunder Bay—Rainy River; the member for Saint-Maurice—Champlain; the member for Ottawa—Orléans; the member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry who is my critic on this particular file and I know worked exceptionally hard on this bill; my parliamentary secretary, the hon. member for Sudbury, who again put an enormous amount of time in as we worked through all of the changes in the approach to this particular bill; the member for Elgin—Middlesex—London; the member for Lac-Saint-Louis; and the member for Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques who was herself in a former life a public servant and added a great deal of value to the debate as she tried to sort out how this would affect her work as a public servant. That is also true of the member for Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry.
We also had the valuable advice of the member for Abbotsford who always brings a certain colour and, dare I say, unique perspective to these debates. Frankly, having worked with him many times in the past, I found his interventions quite helpful. I consulted him a couple of times as I was trying to sort out some of the testimony that I had heard.
We also had the active involvement of a couple of other individuals from this House who are not full members of the committee but nonetheless came to the committee and substituted for people and who played a very important role: the member for Nepean—Carleton who was an active participant in the debates that led to the creation of this bill; and the member for Repentigny.
It is that community of individuals in this House from both sides who took time and energy. I know a lot of negotiation went on because some of the points of this bill and some of the positions were quite far apart.
I want to assure the members of the House that the motions that have been laid before the House are the ones I committed to putting before the House exactly as I presented them to the members. The one thing the committee did not have the competence to create, that is competence in the sense of did not have the legal authority to create, was the new office. It takes a royal recommendation because it involves the spending of more money. As the committee was going into clause by clause I committed to bringing forward those amendments. This has been done and the royal recommendation has been provided. The office can with the passage of this bill be created.
It did not stop there. I think that was the most significant change from the previous legislation but there were other changes. The scope of the bill has been broadened. The RCMP, which was initially excluded from the bill, is now included in the bill. The definition of wrongdoing has been clarified to make it clear that wrongdoing includes any activity in or relating to the public sector, not just activities of public servants.
More flexibility has been given to the labour boards to extend the deadlines for reprisal complaints. Bill C-11 would truly create an environment that encourages the reporting of misconduct in the federal public sector and it would be swift to incur action to deal with allegations.
The bill now allows for providing temporary assignments for public servants who are involved in a disclosure of wrongdoing or a reprisal complaint process in order to ensure even great protection, if necessary, during an investigation.
The bill would protect public servants making disclosures and treat fairly those against whom allegations are made. The bill now gives greater encouragement to public servants to disclose information about a possible wrongdoing. They do not require certainty about whether a wrongdoing has in fact occurred or is about to occur before making a disclosure.
In the end, the bill is not just about catching wrongdoers. It also aims to create a positive public sector climate that will support the important role that our public service plays in our parliamentary democracy.
In addition to the Treasury Board code of conduct, under the bill each public sector organization would have to establish their own code that reflects the unique circumstances within their own departments.
The bill also requires me, as the minister responsible for the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, to actively promote ethical practices in the federal public sector. I think that is an important requirement.
When we went forward and began to get into this, I did quite a bit of consulting, in and outside of government. It is fine to talk about ethics, and we can frame behaviour with a set of rules, but what we really want is behaviour that comes from within.
One of the companies that is always rated very highly internationally for its ethical practices is General Electric. When I talked to people at General Electric and read about how they approach this, I found that so much of what really drives it is the inculcation of it in everything they do. It is represented in the speeches, in the instructions and in the communication that takes place in the organization at all levels, from the chairman of the board right on down. Every new person who comes into the organization is involved in it. It is not a one-time thing where they go by and post a code on the wall; it is part of the language of the organization.
I take that responsibility very seriously and will be speaking about that in the not too distant future.
I said when I came before the committee that I was looking forward to the members' input and I wanted this bill to be the best it could possibly be. I think they have achieved that and have produced a piece of legislation that will serve us very well.
In closing, I would like to recommend this bill to the House. I have noted that we have put down the amendments which I promised to put down to ensure the adjustments to this bill. I believe there may be one other amendment that is a technical change just to line up the French and English versions on an issue.
I understand that the other parties have been true to their desire to get this bill through the House. I thank them for facilitating this.
I commend the bill to the House. I again want to thank the members for it. I hope we will get speedy passage of the bill through this chamber because we still have to take it into the Senate and I know there will be a great deal of interest there. We need to have that discussion with the other place. Then perhaps we can all stand in this House and watch the proclamation of this particular piece of legislation, which the members of this House have had such a strong hand in creating.
