Thank you very much. Thank you.
The Institute's major concern respecting the government's strategy respecting passage of the Federal Accountability Act is the delay in proclaiming Bill C-11. The Federal Accountability Act may take a long time to put in place and will represent a major delay in the protections for which we have been fighting for over 15 years.
The government's argument for their strategy is that they don't want to put in place the apparatus for Bill C-11 only to have to perform a major overhaul once Bill C-2 is passed. In fact, with the exception of the tribunal, there are very few structural differences between Bill C-11 and the amendments under Bill C-2.
Since the Public Service Labour Relations Board is already in existence for its usual work, there would be nothing to tear down and replace with the creation of the tribunal, only the need to transfer any outstanding files. In addition, the details of putting the tribunal in place and communicating and operationalizing the complexities of its processes will further delay the full implementation of these protections. This is not an acceptable argument for a delay in implementing these protections.
Therefore, the Institute recommends the immediate proclamation of Bill C-11 so that public service employees have protections in place now.
In conclusion, the main concern posed by the Federal Accountability Act for the institute is, by far, the delay this strategy represents in seeing protections for whistle-blowers put in place. Bill C-2 is ambitious omnibus legislation and should not stand in the way of the long-awaited protections of our members who need to disclose wrongdoing in government. The government should proclaim Bill C-11 and amend it through Bill C-2.
Thank you very much.