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PACC Committee Report

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HOUSE OF COMMONS
CANADA

37th Parliament, 3rd Session
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(g), the Standing Committee on Public Accounts has the honour to present its
SECOND REPORT
On 17 February 2004, when he appeared before the Committee, President of Treasury Board, the Hon. Reg Alcock, discussed several concerns with regard to the treatment of public service witnesses appearing before the Committee in conjunction with its review of Chapters 3 (The Sponsorship Program), 4 (Advertising Activities), and 5 (Management of the Public Opinion Research) of the November 2003 Report of the Auditor General of Canada.
Mr. Alcock announced that the Government will introduce legislation that would offer protection against administrative sanction for public servants who report instances of wrongdoing in the workplace. Until such legislation becomes law, the Minister pointed out, the Committee needed "to craft a process ... so that the public servants who come forward can be satisfied that they will receive protection." (3:0915) In the interim, Mr. Alcock made it clear that he would undertake to use the authorities of his office "to ensure that no public servant suffers any penalty or loss of position or loss of advancement as a result of coming forward to testify" before the Committee and guaranteed that this would be so. (3:0915)
The Minister expressed his intention that legislation, when enacted, would provide retroactive protection to public service witnesses coming before the Committee. The Committee fully supports this intention with regard to its examination of Chapters 3, 4, and 5 of the Auditor General’s November 2003 Report.
The Committee recommends that:
    RECOMMENDATION 1

    That there be no administrative sanction levied against any federal employees below the level of Director General (or equivalent) who broke the Financial Administration Act, provided they received no personal benefit of any kind as a consequence.
In addition, the Committee recommends:
    RECOMMENDATION 2

    That a mediation process involving the Public Service Commission and the Public Service Integrity Officer be established to resolve matters relating to federal employees past or present who have allegedly suffered monetary loss or career damage as a consequence of having reported instances of wrongdoing with regard to the Sponsorship Program; and that the instances that have been judged to have merit be reported to the House.
A copy of the relevant Minutes of Proceedings (Meetings No. 3, 8 and 9) is tabled.
Respectfully submitted,
 
JOHN WILLIAMS, M.P.

Chair