The Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA) was created to protect Canadians who blow the whistle on Federal government wrongdoing.
A central part of the Federal Accountability Act, the PSDPA establishes a regime for allegations of wrongdoing to be investigated, and for whistleblowers to seek protection from reprisals.
In late 2012, Alison Redford’s Progressive Conservative government passed the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act. Presented as making good on a longstanding promise, the government argued this legislation offered meaningful safeguards to Alberta whistleblowers.
Unfortunately, this claim does not stand up to scrutiny. The Alberta law does not protect those who blow the whistle on incompetence or corruption, nor does it ensure that such allegations will be properly investigated.
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act (ERRA) received Royal Assent on 25 April 2013 which includes major changes to employment law which will impact considerably on whistleblower protection:
- The Government has introduced a public interest test into PIDA: workers will have to show that they reasonably believe that the disclosure they are making is in the public interest. The test will apply to disclosures made on or after 25 June 2013.
New Democrat Treasury Board critic Mathieu Ravignat (Pontiac) tabled a private member’s bill to strengthen the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act today in the House of Commons.
“Public servants who witness wrongdoings must be able to report them without fear of reprisals—whether those reprisals come from a colleague or superior, or even from the government,” said Ravignat.
FAIR has completed an in-depth analysis of Canada's provincial whistleblower legislation, examining the laws that currently exist in seven provinces. This study examines how well these laws are written (with reference to best practices) and how effective they have been in practice (with reference to the results achieved).
Our draft report is currently being prepared for release and will be published on this web page in mid May.
The European Council and Parliament has reached a historic agreement on transparency legislation so that extractive industry companies will publish what they pay in countries where they operate.
The legislation will help in the global fight against corruption, as well as releasing resources for development in an international context where alternatives to aid are increasingly needed. Natural resource revenues are crucial in the fight against poverty. In 2010 exports of oil, minerals and gas to Africa were nearly seven times what the continent received in international aid.
Integrity Commissioner recommends changes to Ontario’s Disclosure of Wrongdoing legislation Integrity Commissioner Lynn Morrison has today released her recommendations for amendments to the disclosure of wrongdoing section of the Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006.
Under the Act, this section is to be reviewed after five years. “We have learned a great deal from our experiences in receiving disclosures from members of the Ontario Public Service, and have reflected this in our suggestions for change,” Commissioner Morrison said.
| The following are selected extracts |
The whistleblowing chief executive of Olympus and the dean of St Paul’s Cathedral are helping lead a new independent commission aimed at making it easier to raise the alarm on corporate or government misbehaviour.
Put together by Public Concern at Work, the charity, the eight-member commission will spent the rest of the year looking at how laws, rules and public attitudes towards whistleblowing should be changed to encourage employees and customers to speak out when they see wrongdoing.
There is a large body of experience in implementing whistleblowing legislation in progressive countries: some jurisdictions have literally decades of experience. There has also been some outstanding research conducted, notably in Australia, to determine what works and what does not. As a result there is a strong consensus today regarding what constitutes best practice.
This consensus is readily accessible to lawmakers because it has been documented in various ways. The table below sets out some of the documents available.
New Brunswick’s whistleblower law has barely been used in the five years since it was introduced to allow civil servants to report illegal or dangerous actions by their co-workers, according to the province’s acting ombudsman.
François Levert, the acting ombudsman, took over responsibility for the Public Interest Disclosure Act, which is better known as the whistleblower law, a year ago.
