Calls for Whistle-Blowing Watchdog to Step Down

Calls for Whistle-Blowing Watchdog to Step Down: "Calls for Whistle-Blowing Watchdog to Step Down
Andrew Mayeda — Canwest News Service
July 5, 2009

Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet
testifies in the Senate on Jun. 19, 2007.
Photo: Chris Wattie/ReutersOTTAWA -- Nearly two years since she was appointed by the Harper government, the head of a federal agency designed to protect whistleblowers is off to an underwhelming start, critics say.
As part of the accountability reforms put in place in the wake of the sponsorship scandal, the Conservatives beefed up legislation that gives public servants a confidential outlet for reporting wrongdoing, while protecting them from reprisals. In August 2007, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Public Sector Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet to enforce the new act.
However, Ouimet has yet to report a single case of public-sector wrongdoing to Parliament. Her office has not referred any cases to a new tribunal of senior judges that has the power to award as much as $10,000 in compensation to whistleblowers who have been punished for coming forward, as well as to discipline their bosses."


The faint hope clause in politic should prevail -get people with knowledge and aility to really do the job in the public interest, PR