Can I just add something, Mr. Chair?
There are two issues. Primarily from our members' perspective, worried about protection, you have to look at the Allan Cutler situation to make that judgment. If there had been a process whereby Mr. Culter could have been advised how to safely disclose, the obligation to hear that disclosure, an outside agent, an agent of Parliament to hear it, and then protection from reprisal and a prohibition on reprisal, absolutely, from our perspective that's a protection. If those protections discourage wrongdoing then certainly they go a long way.
The other piece of this bill that is aside from whistle-blowing, but definitely plays in this issue, is the changes to the report to the procurement process. The sponsorship scandal was a procurement issue. Our concern and the concern of our members in procurement is that through the certification process and other processes, responsibility is being downloaded to the lowest level. When procurement wrongdoing happens, whether or not it's instigated at a higher level, the blame will rest on our members.
Right now in the procurement area there's something like a 40% shortfall in staffing. Not only are we putting in place these huge changes, but there may not be enough people to handle these changes. You can't build in an assumption of innocence at the top levels. If you're going to bring in accountability, it has to be reciprocal throughout the ranks.