That was a good point, and I will absolutely pass on the thanks to Mr. Conacher.
Certainly I think we've established that it's important to give people access to court but also that court is not necessarily the most effective or practical option in many cases.
Mr. Devine, you made the point that our committee need not be particularly creative and that to a large extent we can draw upon international best practices in setting up a whistle-blower protection system. On the other hand, we heard last night from Professor Brown in Australia that it would be a mistake to simply try to replicate the legislation of another jurisdiction and that we need to fit these international best practices and concepts into the Canadian institutional context.
I guess one aspect of that context I'd like to raise is the role of Treasury Board, because we've talked a lot about the Public Service Integrity Commissioner, who is an officer of Parliament, but the whistle-blower protection system in individual government departments and agencies is really administered and overseen by Treasury Board, which is the federal government entity that functions as the employer throughout the federal public service.
I'd like our international guests to perhaps comment on whether this is appropriate or how it could be reconfigured, but maybe I'll go first to Mr. Conacher who, I think, is more immediately familiar with the Canadian system and the role that Treasury Board plays in it.