AMAPCEO Applauds Government's Public Service Act Reforms: Whistleblower Protection, PSA Modernization, Successor Rights
November 2, 2006
AMAPCEO has announced its support for whistleblower protections for provincial civil servants, introduced today in the Ontario Legislature by Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips.
“We submitted three extensive briefs on this matter to the government,” said AMAPCEO President Gary Gannage, “and the government accepted virtually all of our recommendations. We believe the Ontario whistleblower legislation, if enacted, will be the strongest in Canada and will serve as an effective accountability mechanism for the citizens of this province. I want to personally thank Gerry Phillips for listening to us and for recognizing the importance of getting the details right.”
While whistleblower protections will promote transparency and accountability, the modernization of the Public Service Act will recognize the public service, in law, as apolitical and non-partisan. “Non-partisan public servants,” said Gannage, “provide impartial, objective and frank advice and support to the government in the formulation, implementation, and administration of public policies; in so doing, we strengthen good government, democracy and Ontario society. It is in the public interest that this role be codified in legislation and citizens will be the ultimate beneficiaries.”
“AMAPCEO is also very pleased,” Gannage continued, “that the government has fulfilled its commitment to restore successor rights to Ontario civil servants, which will ensure that our members whose jobs are divested in the future can take the protections of their collective agreement with them to their new employer. In other words, civil servants will now have the same rights that every other unionized employee in the province has.”
AMAPCEO has been advocating strong whistleblower protection and restoration of successor rights since this government was elected. Among the important changes the government made in response to our interventions were the need for clear and broad grounds for disclosure of wrongdoing; an independent commissioner to receive disclosures of wrongdoing; anonymity for whistleblowers; and the need for tough measures to deal with reprisals against whistleblowers.
To access AMAPCEO’s three recent briefs on Public Service Act reform, please click here.
To read the March 2006 edition of AMAPCEO Member News (“Two commitments still not met – whistleblower protection and successor rights”), please click here.
To read AMAPCEO’s previous (2003 and 2004) correspondence with the government on whistleblower protection, please click here.
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