On whistleblower enablement

One would expect the current public service integrity officer to have a handle on what needs to be done to ensure accountability within the public sector. Which makes Edward Keyserlingk's comments today a useful guide to what's missing from the Accountability Act...and what doesn't need to be included.

On the Cons' plan to offer small cash rewards to whistleblowers, the response was less than enthusiastic:

Edward Keyserlingk told a parliamentary committee studying the massive bill that cash shouldn't be the main 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."

Meanwhile, Keyserlingk did note a need for whistleblower protection in a few areas of the government which could be ripe for abuse:

(Keyserlingk) 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.

Surely any corruption or waste would be even more egregious in the defense and national security sectors than anywhere else in government - and it speaks volumes about the Cons' motives that they didn't see fit to include whistleblower protection for those departments in their initial legislation. But with the issue made public, it'll be all the tougher for the Cons to justify keeping their pet sector for investment immune from the conscience of employees who want to ensure proper management of government money.