From the office of Hon. David Kilgour, P.C., M.P., Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont, dated Oct.10;
An Open Letter
Re: Whistleblowers
Mr. Prime Minister
This is to convey my concern regarding the status of whistleblowers within our federal public service. Although Canadians value such persons highly for their willingness to stand up and speak out on injustices within the government, the response from management is almost invariably swift and severe punishment.
As we saw in the case of Allan Cutler, who almost lost his job and was shuffled around within his department, his attempt to reveal a scandal was ignored for considerable time. As far as I know, the only one who has ever thanked him for his good deed, besides Canadians generally, is Justice John Gomery. Does your government not believe he did the correct thing?
Although there has been some recognition of the difficulties faced by whistleblowers in their attempt to reveal unethical activity, Bill C-11 does not do even a barely adequate job. As Cutler himself points out in the October 17 issue of Hill Times – and he is one who is, as you know, more aware of the difficulties than you or I – C-11 is “still an ‘anti-whistleblower’ law and fundamentally and fatally flawed”. He notes that, among other things, the burden of proof to prove that the retaliation was in response to the whistleblowing remains on the whistleblower; there is no public disclosure; the whistleblower is not assigned a lawyer by the government, while the ‘accused’ is; and most worryingly, there is no authority or responsibility to take corrective action.
Moreover, the case of Joanna Gualtieri – who is one of the very few public servants who has chosen to challenge publicly wrongdoing – demonstrates that the government is not interested in truth and justice but rather in using its vast resources to debilitate and wear down the truth-teller. During the past week, as your government publicly claimed that it will protect whistleblowers, the Department of Justice dragged Ms. Gualtieri back into court rather than consent to her request that she have a reprieve from the court proceedings for a few months to attend to and breastfeed her newborn child. Is this how you intend to “protect” whistleblowers?
Ms. Gualtieri’s case has garnered significant public attention on account of the tax money squandered at the Foreign Affairs Department. Have you ever made any attempt to investigate the legitimacy of her claims of waste and harassment rather than spend much public money on lawyers to fight her? In my view, as a former Counsel with the Civil Litigation section with the Justice Department, it is tragic that such a capable civil servant should have had to spend the last ten years of her life defending her rights in a court case. With the treatment afforded Ms. Gualtieri,
few public servants are likely to dare take on ‘the system’ in the public interest.
Why are the Allan Cutlers, Joanna Gualtieris, Brian McAdams and RCMP Cpl. Robert Reads not given more respect by their peers in the federal public service? Why do they lose their jobs or go into early retirement? What could their careers have been like? And why has no one offered repair, restitution and reinstatement? Our whistleblowers – so necessary, as we have seen, even in a democratic society such as Canada – need to be protected by a serious piece of legislation.
I’d be grateful if you would provide this matter your consideration, and reply to me in a form that can be shared.
Perhaps one of our illustrious talking heads in media can file a question away on behalf of those whistleblowers who have put careers on the line to expose corruption – the next time you have Finance MInister Ralph Goodale at your ready, ask him directly when the Finance Department is going to issue a formal apology on behalf of former Finance Minister Paul Martin, for placing Cutler in the untenable position of rubberstamping Finance Department contracts for Earnscliffe that violated Treasury Board guidelines?
Better yet, when is he going to be at Rideau Hall to receive the Order Of Canada?
Prime Time Crime has more.
Consider this petition, as well; Cutler Meritorious Service Decoration Nomination
I have a great admiration for those who put their work and livelyhood on the line to try and expose scandles. It isn’t easy, especially when it’s hard to get something done to clean it up in this country.
Nice to be unequivocally on your side for once, Kate. I became near-friends with Walter Robinson on this issue in my union days. Allan Cutler deserves the Order of Canada, and I’m far from the first to say it. And C-11 gives utterly insufficient protection to potential whistleblowers in the federal public service–to the extent of shutting their bargaining agents entirely out of the process.
Don’t leave out Shiv Chopra and Margaret Haydon and Gerard Lambert from the list, bu the way. They have stood up for the public again and again over at Health Canada, and the sanctions have been severe, to put it mildly: all three were fired last year for speaking out.
Thanks for raising the issue.
I know this request has been posted here before, but it bears repeating. Go the the following link and sign the petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/cutler/petition.html
Only 865 people have sign it thus far and it is a shamefully low number for what this man had to endure for his principles.
This number is even more pathetic when one considers that a dickhead like Mercer can drum up 600,000 signatures for his Stockwell/Doris Day stunt a few years back.
Get to it and forward it to your friends!!
The reason is simple, fear and corruption. The Lie-beral’s can never fix the problems that exist, for it was they who created them. The institutionalised theft of taxpayer dollars has been in this country ever since the days of Wilfred Laurier. The Lie-beral philosophy is about how much they can enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else. They are a corrupt, morally bankrupt and ethically challenged organization that by all rights should be deregistered as a national political party. The Auditor General must be given free and unfettered access to every corner of government and be barred from none.
The quickest way to solve the problem of the iron-fisted, fascist “Liberal” regime is to give ’em the hook and vote in the Conservatives with a big, solid majority. Anything less would be unpatriotic.
Canadians deserve better. They must know this.
38th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
Standing Committee on Public Accounts
EVIDENCE
CONTENTS
Monday, April 18, 200
The Chair: Thank you, Ms. Fraser.
Now, Mr. Kinsella is the only other person who has given me an opening statement. However, even in the absence of a written statement, Mr. Cutler, do you want to make an opening statement?
+-
Mr. Allan Cutler: Yes, I’d like to make just a very brief one.
+-
The Chair: Okay, Mr. Cutler.
+-
Mr. Allan Cutler: I just want to make two comments, and they’re actually not on public opinion research per se.
The first comment is with regard to the April 2005 report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. In particular, I would like to thank the members of the committee, all of you, for expressing regret for the treatment I had to endure. This is the only formal or informal acknowledgement that I have received, and it really has been appreciated by me.
From my former minister on through the senior bureaucracy, I’ve heard nothing but silence. My opinion on this is that I’m still regarded as an embarrassment for having reported the situation. The informal gossip indicates that they still believe that I deserved to get what I got. You are the only people who have acknowledged that there was a price to be paid, and again, it’s very much appreciated.
My second comment is in regard to my appearing here. As you know, this is the third scheduled time, and it finally has arrived. The first two times I was quite easily able to make arrangements. In order to be here today, I cancelled a minor medical procedure that had been scheduled for me six months ago. Unfortunately, the waiting list is now eight months, so I’m scheduled now for December. However, I made that as a willing decision because I think my attendance here, upon your request, is important.
That ends my opening statement. Thank you very much, and thank you all for supporting me. >>more
http://www.rapp.org/url/?1TGXPZB7
To start with I would not subject my worst ennemy to the order of librano canada. I think you will not find many true wistle blowers within the public “service”. The whole system is built on “empire building” and most of them owe their livelyhood to that system. The federal government is a giant make work project, mostly for Quebec.
As a side note I wonder if Quebecers realize that when they seperate their unemployment rate will probably increase to 50%.
Unfortunately I don’t expect any real protection for whistleblowers until a major overhaul in the public service ‘culture’ has taken place.
National Business Ethics Survey 2005
Ethical Culture
One critical finding of the 2005 NBES is the importance of an ethical culture in organizations, the informal and social system that sets norms for the employee behavior that tells employees how things really work in that organization. The NBES measures elements of an ethical culture such as the ethics-related actions of employees at all levels, and perceptions of accountability for ethics violations. Employees in organizations with a weak ethical culture reported a much higher level of observing at least one type of misconduct than employees in an organization with a strong ethical culture (70 percent compared to 34 percent). Those employees in organizations with a strong ethical culture were more likely to report the misconduct than those in weak-culture organizations (79 percent compared to 48 percent). Culture had a stronger impact on the results or outcomes reported by employees than did formal ethics and compliance programs…
…”Creating a strong ethical environment should be a top priority of all companies,” said Harned. “We know formal programs are critical and work well initially, but we must now focus greater attention on building the right culture in which programs operate. This data shows, for example, that management needs to lead by example to set the right tone throughout the whole organization.”
http://www.ethics.org/nbes/nbes2005/release.html
I think Kate et al are gravely mistaken.
Giving Allan Cutler the Order of Canada solves nothing. I would suggest the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the US, but that would cause accusations of being shills for Uncle Sam. The OC is liberal hackwater.
Pick either Britain or Australia — 2 members of the Commonwealth with some kick butt armored divisions — and have them give him their highest civilian honor.
Then tell Paul “we’re takin’ the Pony away” Martin to go whine to China if he doesn’t like it.
And final kick in the slats for the Liberals:
HAVE BILL SAMPSON PRESENT THE AWARD TO MR. CUTLER.
Whoooo-haah as Al Pacino would say.
Don’t mess with the Stepchild.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/sampson/
Have Rick Mercer spend 22 minutes on this.
“Aug. 10, 2003
British newspapers report that Prince Charles played a pivotal role in helping Canadian William Sampson and five Britons gain their freedom in Saudi Arabia. The papers say Prince Charles contacted senior members of the Saudi government and repeatedly demanded the mens’ release.”
Like I said. The Brits.
Perhaps the Governor General can propose a toast or something.
I understand why whistleblowers are so rare, and why they should be celebrated and protected – it is because the government salaries, benefits and pensions that they pull down are so huge, that most of them could never hope to get as well compensated in the private sector, if they were to be fired for exposing government wrongdoing. As it stands right now, bureaucrats who are outraged by official waste and corruption face financial ruin if they blow the whistle.
So one of the things we can do for whistleblowers, is to make sure there is a strong private economy which can adequately and securely compensate intelligent and honest employees. The best way that I know of to create a strong private economy in which workers have the free choice of working or not working for morally repugnant people, is to reduce taxes, and reduce regulation and other forms of government interference in the marketplace, so that enterprise and competition will flourish.
Another thing we can do is ensure that government salaries, benefits and pensions are actually in line with the private sector, so that bureaucrats who are exposed to wrongdoing will not be placed into such a fiscal dilemma should they wish to speak out.
But wait a minute – if you do those things to give whistleblowers more employment choices and free them from such terrible fiscal choices, then the bureaucracy will be so small that there will be hardly any cash left in government’s hands that they can waste and steal!
So let’s all agree right now – the best way to prevent waste and theft in government is to keep the money and power out of their stinking greedy hands in the first place.
Not often, does a man come and see…
And he’s saw.
Behold, a conservative woman in Socialist Canada.
Rarest of them all.
You are a vision of beauty, a vision of light.
I’d eat you like a tossed freakin’ salad anyday.
– R
My blog: http://canadianliberals.blogspot.com/
Don’t forget Dr. Brille-Edwards who lost her job at Health Canada for warning that our blood supply was contaminated with HIV and Hep C.
And a big raspberry to Health Canada who seems to have lost focus–contaminating Canadians rather than doing their job.
Well this is a little disturbing. In today’s Ottawa Citizen:
POLL
Is it acceptable to have a dishonest ruling party as long as the economy is strong?
Yes 68.17 %
No 31.83 %
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/index.html
Good idea coming out of New Jersey that we should consider using as a template up here:
State Senator Ellen Karcher is sponsoring a bill that would permit county prosecutors and New Jersey’s Attorney General to seek damage fees against corrupt developers and use those fees to help repay the municipalities for the cost of corruption.
“The bill would allow prosecutors to pursue monetary damages from developers convicted of bribing public officials in an effort to get approval for developments.
Under the measure, developers could be charged with the crime of public corruption during a criminal trial. If convicted, they could face penalties of three times the value of any property involved in the crime, with an extra assessment of up to $500,000, depending on the severity of the crime.”
http://www.nj1015.com/absolutenm/templates/?a=847&z=1
RE: Liberal Corruption
The Liberals days are numbered…
Everyone I talk to wants an early election…
They want the theft to STOP NOW…!!
Before KyotoScam becomes the next AdScam…
Allowing the theft of BILLIONS this time…
When we elect the conservatives…
First come the audits…
Then the criminal charges…
If I were an elected liberal now, I’d be thinking of doing the (Jane Stewart) thing and disapearing with her ill gotten booty…
Yes Jane, we haven’t forgotten you or the BILLION dollars that vanished under your watch…
Yes Alphonse we haven’t forgotten you either and your (money trail) cleanup posting to the Netherlands…
Just how many sidetrips did you make to Switzerland…??????
Yes Misters Martin and Chretien…
The audits are comming…!!!!
Long live truth and justice and the Stephen Harper way…