Time for Commissioner Ouimet to blow the whistle

Hill Times: 25 May 2009

Re: "Time for some bold leadership in Public Service Integrity Commissioner's Office," (The Hill Times, May 18, p. 10).

Canadians for Accountability supports FAIR's views on the Public Service Integrity Commissioner's second report, expressed in last week's issue of The Hill Times. The current Commissioner, Christiane Ouimet, is failing in her mandate.

Ms. Ouimet's second report wasn't a complete surprise. We had already heard from concerned government employees that her office was refusing to investigate complaints. One disclosed to us that when she tried to submit a complaint, she was made to feel like the wrongdoer.

Furthermore, Ms. Ouimet's claim that she is still building the organization two years in—and so needs another year before her performance should be evaluated—is one that only a seasoned bureaucrat could make with a straight face. She has 30 staff, which in the private sector doesn't even qualify as a medium-sized enterprise. But it is a common excuse in Ottawa, one of many used to explain poor performance.

By way of comparison, Canadians for Accountability has received about 30 verifiable disclosures of wrongdoing in our first year. And we have very limited resources—almost no money and only volunteer staff.

To add insult to injury, Ms. Ouimet misrepresented consultation with Canadian whistleblower groups. Like FAIR, we were excluded from her September 2008 symposium. This left real whistleblowers without a voice.

Her "prevention" approach while dismissing the value of investigations is also laughable. There is corruption and mismanagement in government—the law of averages demands it. But without a culture of accountability, the culprits get progressively bolder in their abuses and more aggressive in crushing dissent and whistleblowing.

Luc Pomerleau, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency scientist who gave an inappropriately classified document to his union, learned that the hard way when he was fired last summer. A few weeks later his concerns proved valid when the listeriosis outbreak started killing Canadians.

Preaching prevention in this environment is akin to telling burglars loaded with loot to stop stealing. Without the threat of public shame, administrative penalties or the potential of jail time, government wrongdoers aren't about to put everything down and walk away.

In short, Ms. Ouimet's report serves to embolden the culprits of wrongdoings and further discourage whistleblowers from coming forward.

We conclude with a quote from her own report: "Heads of agencies, boards and commissions act as the Chief Executives of their organizations and... must conduct themselves and perform their duties in a manner beyond reproach."

Indeed. But Ms. Ouimet must be held to the same standard. Otherwise, it will be "business as usual" in Ottawa, and we will all suffer for it.

Allan Cutler, Haiyan Zhang and Ian Bron
Canadians For Accountability
Ottawa, Ont.
 

Copyright Hill Times 2009