Government Operations committee  I think we're getting into questions that have a lot of moving parts. We'll offer to provide follow-up answers in writing to almost anything you've asked. I should say that in other jurisdictions this is a reality. We know how it's done. It's being done in lots of places. It's

Government Operations committee  I think people should be able to report anything that they see as being wrong. If the 911 service operated the way that this law operates, when you called in you wouldn't be asked which service you wanted. You'd be asked what law was being broken and which section, if you could f

Government Operations committee  It's so important for this committee to step up to the mark here. I believe that it will. I believe this bill is going to pass. I believe that, even with your best efforts, it will not significantly change the trajectory because of the limitations of the private member's bill. I

Government Operations committee  You raised several good points there. A feature of our current system is that it is completely sealed off from the real world. There is no access to the courts and no access, through access to information, to any of the information brought forward regarding wrongdoing, for examp

Government Operations committee  I'm not arguing against judicial review. I'm saying that there must be access to the courts. I'd also make the point that it's absurd, insanely absurd, that a whistle-blower goes to the tribunal with no support. He might have some financial support from his union if he's lucky.

Government Operations committee  It should never be.

Government Operations committee  I think it depends a lot on the management of the organization. In a well-run organization, there's zero tolerance for that, because harassment is a signal of incompetence. It's a controlling style of management that signals to you.... This is not a soft issue. The issue is not

Government Operations committee  I'll tell you a quick story on this. It's been known since the early 1980s that you need a reverse burden of proof. At the first attempt to do this in the U.S., of the first 2,000 whistle-blowers who went through this system, four prevailed, so the chances were one in 500. Thos

Government Operations committee  Could I add to that?

Government Operations committee  It's important to give the whistle-blower quite a few choices about how they can proceed. First of all, they might not be fully aware of all the rules. You don't want them to lose protection just because they didn't read the rules carefully enough. Secondly, they're taking a hu

Government Operations committee  You're describing fairly accurately what the problem is. We have to tie the government's hands, to some extent. We're talking about the appointment of an officer of Parliament. That does involve both parties and both Houses, so in theory, at least, there is the opportunity to obj

Government Operations committee  I can't determine the motives of MPs, no. I look at their actions, and I look at the facts. That's what we should all do.

Government Operations committee  I'd like to speak to that one. Something we've not really talked about is the role of the Integrity Commissioner. That's actually crucial in this system because this act is appalling bad as it is. It does actually give the Integrity Commissioner a fair bit of power. In fact it h

Government Operations committee  There will certainly be information available about that. A.J. Brown has published all kinds of research over the years, and that would be pretty easy to find out. That was introduced.... I can't say exactly how long ago, but there's certainly been a few years of experience, so t

Government Operations committee  I describe this phenomenon like cancer, and I described, when I was introducing this topic, how wrongdoers get away with things. They get promoted. They get more.... These are people who are, typically, both incompetent and dishonest, and they are totally focused on their own car