Why This Is Important
Many public service scandals have come to light in Canada over the past several years. A few notable examples are:
- The Tainted Blood Scandal, in which 60,000 Canadians were infected with hepatitis C, many of them fatally.
- The Gun Registry Scandal, in which a program with a budget of $2 million spent $1 billion without authorization or reporting of the cost overrun to Parliament.
- The Sponsorship Scandal, in which millions of dollars of public money were diverted illegally to government-favoured advertising agencies.
These cases have received extensive and at times sensationalist media coverage. However, there has been very little media coverage or public debate regarding what our country can do to prevent such abuses in the future. This is understandable: by comparison with revelations of wrongdoing, the work required to prevent recurrences is much less newsworthy. Reform is a slow and often tedious process, involving the painstaking drafting and redrafting of lengthy bills by parliamentary committees.
However, it is essential that at least some members of the public pay close attention to this work, to ensure that it comes to fruition. As always, when changes are proposed there are powerful vested interests that favour the status quo. The history of whistleblower legislation in Canada is one of foot-dragging by politicians and bureaucrats alike.
Whistleblower legislation alone will not reform the public service but it is a key component. With effective whistleblower protection in place, wrongdoing can be quickly exposed. Without this, our public servants are silenced by the threat of retaliation, and inconvenient facts (and people) can easily be swept 'under the carpet' to avoid scandal.
