Whistle-blowing, public appointments, conflicts offices have no influence

Stephen Harper set up watchdog offices, but most have yet to make an impact on government.

Cynthia Münster – Hill Times: July 13th, 2009

The Commissioner of Lobbying, the Public Appointments Commission, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, and the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, all created by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Federal Accountability Act have yet to make a difference in the federal landscape, say machinery of government experts.

With the visible exception of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the offices and commissioners created have not yet had a measurable impact.

Critics say to date most of the offices aren't proactive enough and can only investigate cases brought forward.

The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson, who has an annual operating budget of $7.1-million has only found one case of wrongdoing since it was created.

The Public Appointments Commission Secretariat has an annual budget of about $1-million, which goes largely unused, as the secretariat's main purpose is preparing to the set up of the commission which has been on hold since Parliament rejected Prime Minister Harper's (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) choice for chief commissioner in early 2006.

Former PCO clerk Kevin Lynch told MPs at a committee before he retired last month that the federal government has spent three years "substantially" overhauling the political appointments process, has made six major reforms, and said the PCO has developed a guide to spell out how appointments should be made.

The Commissioner of Lobbying headed by Karen Shepherd has a budget of $4.5-million, the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal has an annual $1.8-million budget, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions headed by Brian Saunders has an annual budget of $162.8-million, and the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner headed by Christiane Ouimet has a $6.5-million annual budget.

David Zussman, the Jarislowsky Chair in Public Sector Management at the University of Ottawa and part-time commissioner of the Public Service Commission of Canada, told The Hill Times that since the inception of the legislation there have been questions about whether there was enough demand for the agencies and "probably not a whole lot" has changed since they were created.

Prof. Zussman said the most significant change has been the Parliamentary Budget Officer as a visible and "a new voice in a conversation about public finance."

Declared Prof. Zussman: "The problems that the legislation was designed to address were already, in some ways, being dealt within the organization. So, in some ways, it's a marginal difference that they make."

Paul Thomas, a Duff Roblin professor of government at the University of Manitoba, said part of the problem is that officers take a complaint-based approach to their jobs, rather than proactively looking for cases to investigate.

"I don't think we've had any really dramatic cases where someone said, 'Eureka!' These offices are working and the evidence of that is we had a scandal in the making and it was the efforts of, say, the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner in the House of Commons or the Commissioner of Lobbying who uncovered this in the course of her proactive investigations and before it exploded in Parliament or before the media got wind of it, this individual brought it to public attention," said Prof. Thomas, who, however, warned that because of media reports there is a "widespread, false perception that there is rampant corruption and gross mismanagement in government."

Duff Conacher, coordinator of Democracy Watch, said all the commissioners should have the power to penalize individuals or departments.

"They are not there for show but they have not been given the mandate and require [them] to effectively enforce the laws that are there now and the laws have loopholes as well," said Mr. Conacher.

David Hutton, executive director of the Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform, a group that advocates for government whistle-blowers, said he isn't impressed by Ms. Ouimet's track record and is asking for her to step down because after two years of operating, her office still hasn't reported on one case of wrongdoing. Her last annual report included two ongoing investigations.

However, after two years without a single case reported, "it's a death spiral now" because she hasn't used her considerable powers to investigate and she has lost credibility.

But Ms. Ouimet has defended her office and told The Hill Times in the past that she believes that "building trust together is the best way to make sure we have a disclosure regime that works."

When she was questioned about the numbers by members of the Senate committee of National Finance in May, Ms. Ouimet said some of the disclosure cases were turned away because they did not satisfy the definition of "wrongdoing" and in some cases, the person was referred to the appropriate place.

University Law Professor and Interim Integrity Commissioner for the City of Toronto Lorne Sossin told The Hill Times it's "hard to know how to measure success with these accountability offices," but said this may be a sign the accountability officers are changing the culture for the better and enhancing compliance"

Prof. Thomas, who was written a paper for Ms. Ouimet, wrote that the culture and climate of the federal public service play a bigger role in determining how willing public servants are to blow the whistle. They require confidence that they will be protected against reprisals and that something will be done to fix the problem they're concerned about.

"Leadership style, skills and judgment play a crucial role in how successful individuals are in developing these unique institutions," wrote Prof. Thomas.

University of Ottawa professor Errol Mendes said there is still time for Ms. Ouimet to play a role at this early stage. He is particularly interested in her investigations of systemic issues affecting the health and safety of Canadians, which is hinted at in the mention of one case in her last report, and says she could play a key role overlooking procurement issues of the stimulus package, if any is brought forward.

cmunster@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times