Thank you very much to the committee for the opportunity to testify today.
My name is Duff Conacher. I am co-founder of Democracy Watch, which started up in 1993. We now have 45,000 supporters across the country and another 100,000 people who have signed petitions in support of one or another of our campaigns, including our campaign to protect whistle-blowers who protect Canadians.
More than 21,000 people have signed a petition. The leaders of each federal party would have received those letters, and that's just in the last couple of weeks—a petition that we launched just two weeks ago on change.org. It calls for 17 key changes by the federal government, not just to strengthen the Public Sector Disclosure Protection Act but to strengthen whistle-blower protection overall.
Whistle-blower protection is not only needed for public sector workers. I know the system is currently open to anyone who might want to file a complaint with the Integrity Commissioner, but the Integrity Commissioner would have difficulty protecting people from retaliation who are outside the public sector currently. As well, private sector workers in federally regulated institutions are not protected by the law, and the overall system for private sector workers is very inadequate. There are some protections under competition law, labour law, and environmental law, but education as to where to go and the entire system of protection is far too weak, as it is for public sector workers.
The petition calls for 17 key changes to the federal government system to ensure that everyone who blows the whistle on business or government wrongdoing in the federal sector will be fully and effectively protected. As the current banking service scandals show, such protection is needed not just for public sector workers but for all federally regulated business workers.
I won't go through all of the 17 key changes in detail, but I am happy to give you detail. I have made a submission to the committee, so you will have them. They're set out in the petition.
Our first is ensuring that everyone is covered by the protection law and system, including political staff and also including CSIS, RCMP officers, and the military, who are currently not covered by any system.
Another is allowing everyone to file their complaint directly and anonymously with the protection commissioner. That commissioner should not only be the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, but at the federal level we are proposing that there be a private sector central office set up to cover anyone in the federal private sector. It would be a clearing house, ombudsman-like office that would help them find the law enforcement agency they should go to, while protecting them as soon as they file a complaint.
Next is ensuring that the protection commissioner is fully and independently appointed and empowered to impose penalties. First of all, in terms of appointment, Ontario has the best practice appointment system. They only, unfortunately, use it for provincially appointed judges. An independent commission does a public merit-based search, comes up with a short list, submits that short list to the minister, and the minister has to choose from that short list for any position that's open on the provincial bench in Ontario.
That system should be used for all cabinet appointments, especially of anyone involved in law enforcement. Currently the ruling party chooses the Integrity Commissioner or all the other officers of Parliament. The opposition parties are consulted, but they don't have any power at all. Instead, an independent commission should be set up, as Ontario has done. It's the best practice in the world.
Next is requiring the protection commissioner or agency to conduct audits and to rule on all complaints publicly, in a timely manner, with the identity of all wrongdoers made public.
Currently, the Integrity Commissioner is using a discretionary measure under the Privacy Act to hide people who are employed by the public who have done wrong. It's just a bad idea. Those people can leave and someone else may hire them never knowing that they've actually done wrong. They may transfer within government, and the other people in a different government division do not know that they've done wrong.
It's a discretionary measure under the Privacy Act. There's no reason at all to hide name of a wrongdoer. Unfortunately, the Integrity Commissioner is abusing that discretion currently. It should be taken away from the commissioner.
The commissioner should also have the power to impose penalties, administrative monetary penalties, as a front-line enforcement officer so that we don't have to go through the whole process of the tribunal every single time.
Next, whistle-blowers need to be compensated fully for legal advice that they need, and they should also be rewarded adequately if they are reporting wrongdoing that is proven. That is because whistle-blowers stick out their necks and often either have to leave their jobs or move their jobs. In the U.S., it's a 10% rule, essentially, for both private- and public-sector whistle-blowing. They get 10% of what they saved the government or in terms of the fine under the securities law. We don't necessarily have to go that high, but I think at least one year's salary should be provided to somebody and also priority in transferring within government if their allegations are proven.
Finally, I have a couple of quick ones. First is allowing everyone to appeal to court if they disagree with the protection commissioner's ruling, making sure that's set.
A very important measure in the U.S. was proven that you need to reverse the onus so that the employer would always have to prove that retaliation was not taken against the whistle-blower. If you leave it that the whistle-blower has to prove it, in the first 2,000 cases in the U.S. where that was heard, the whistle-blower lost every time. It is often very difficult to prove retaliation.
Finally, ensure that there's an independent audit of the protection system at least every three years.
The federal Liberals have promised open government and openness by default. If the Liberals do not strengthen the whistle-blower protection law, they will not be able to keep that promise. You cannot have open government if whistle-blowers are not protected fully and effectively.
I welcome your questions. Thank you very much.