Wrong
to pay whistleblowers, committee told
May 11, 2006. 12:43 PM
CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — The new Tory government's plan to give bureaucratic
whistleblowers $1,000 for exposing wrongdoing is not a good idea and
should be scrapped from the proposed Accountability Act, says Canada's
public service integrity commissioner.
Edward Keyserlingk told a parliamentary committee studying the massive
bill that cash shouldn't be the principal incentive for doing what's
right.
"You will hopefully see it as your duty to report wrongdoing rather
than doing it because of a reward," he testified Thursday.
"It's a kind of motivation I would hope we don't have to appeal to."
The commissioner added that the offer of $1,000 would probably not
result in more people coming forward anyway.
"$50,000 might make a difference," he joked.
Keyserlingk helps public servants who feel they can't bring forward
accusations of wrongdoing independently, or who have made complaints
and gotten nowhere in their departments.
He said he largely approves of the Accountability Act, but had a number
of suggestions for changes.
For example, he said his jurisdiction should be extended to include
protection for whistleblowers within the Canadian Forces, the Canadian
Security and Information Service (CSIS), and the Communications and
Security Establishment.
He also would like whistleblowers in the private sector to be protected
from reprisals if they expose wrongdoing, specifically those who are on
contract with the government or are receiving grants from Ottawa.
Protecting those private-sector whistleblowers would require an
extension of his powers of investigation to outside the public service.
The proposed act already gives the auditor general the power to
investigate recipients of government cash, and he would like the same.
"If one does not provide the Public Service Integrity Office with
powers to follow the trail of evidence, there is a limitation imposed
on the investigation and that could result in an incomplete
investigation," he said.
On access-to-information issues, Keyserlingk told MPs that shielding
the privacy of whistleblowers is the right thing to do, but the names
of bureaucrats found guilty of wrongdoing should be made public.
He added that records of investigations should be available under
Access to Information laws once a case is resolved.