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| NEWS > 02 November 2006 |
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 Article sourced from
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Canada NewsWire (press release
02 November 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Ontario Government Introduces
Proposed Legislation Will Protect Whistleblowers
and Restore Successor Rights
>>
QUEEN'S PARK, Nov. 2 /CNW/ - Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips
today introduced the Public Service of Ontario Statute Law Amendment Act,
which will support and maintain a high standard of integrity for public
servants while providing important protections public servants need to deliver
high-quality services to Ontarians.
"Our government stands for transparency and accountability. That is why
we are strengthening our public service legislation based on the fundamental
principles of public service: accountability, non-partisanship, competency and
professionalism," Phillips said.
<<
The legislation will, if passed:
- Provide a human resources management framework for employees of
the Crown
- Contain the conflict-of-interest framework for ethical conduct in
the public service of Ontario
- Contain the rights and obligations of public servants related to
political activity
- Establish a process by which public servants may disclose
wrongdoing in the public service of Ontario and be protected from
reprisal
- Create a separate act for collective bargaining provisions for the
Ontario Provincial Police
- Restore Crown successor rights.
"This legislation provides strong whistleblower provisions that would
provide public service employees with the very important ability, should the
need arise, to disclose alleged serious wrongdoing without fear of reprisal,"
Phillips said. "Our proposed whistleblower protection would give authority to
an independent officer of the legislature - the Integrity Commissioner - to
investigate and publicly report on serious allegations of wrongdoing."
Whistleblower protection would:
- Establish a modern and effective framework for disclosure with
clear procedures and accountabilities
- Give authority to the Integrity Commissioner to investigate and
publicly report on allegations of wrongdoing
- Protect public servants who disclose a serious wrongdoing from
reprisal.
>>
The proposed legislation would also restore successor rights for Ontario
government employees and employees of certain Crown agencies. Currently, most
unionized workers in Ontario, in the private and public sectors, have some
form of successor rights, except Ontario government employees. Under the new
legislation, public sector employees will again have the same rights enjoyed
by workers in the private sector. These rights were removed in 1995.
"Our government is fulfilling its commitment to restore fairness and
balance to labour relations," said Labour Minister Steve Peters. "Ontario has
a public service that is second to none; it is only fair that public servants
have the same successor rights as people working in the private sector."
In addition, the proposed legislation will clarify political activity
rights and restrictions for all public servants by establishing clear and
consistent rules across the public service of Ontario.
"The proposed legislation will balance the need to preserve the integrity
and neutrality of the public service with an individual's right to participate
in political activity," said Phillips.
The proposed legislation includes a new conflict-of-interest framework
that would clarify accountabilities for ministry and agency staff. It will
give agencies the ability to establish their own rules while making them
accountable for their staff and responsible for enforcing those rules.
Finally, the new legislation, if passed, will strengthen human resources
management and administration by establishing clear accountability and
introducing modern language.
This proposed legislation is a key component of the government's efforts
to modernize government. It builds on other important initiatives the
government has undertaken, including:
<<
- The introduction of legislation banning partisan advertising by
government
- Amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy
Act to include universities, Hydro One and Ontario Power
Generation
- The inclusion of the financial results of hospitals, school boards
and colleges of applied arts and technology in the provincial
budget
- Expanded authority for the Auditor General to carry out value-for-
money audits of organizations receiving government funds to
deliver front-line services.
"The proposed new act would ensure that the public service meets public
expectations for transparency, accountability and professionalism while at the
same time providing safeguards and protections that public servants need to do
their jobs," said Phillips.
Disponible en français
www.mgs.gov.on.ca
Backgrounder
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PUBLIC SERVICE OF ONTARIO STATUTE
LAW AMENDMENT ACT
The new Public Service of Ontario Statute Law Amendment Act, 2006 has been
introduced to set and maintain a high standard of integrity for public
servants while providing important safeguards and protections that public
servants need to do their jobs.
The new legislation, if passed, would address several issues.
Whistleblower Protection
The proposed legislation would establish a modern, effective framework for
disclosure with clear procedures and accountabilities. It would ensure that
the foundation is in place to allow allegations of wrongdoing to surface and
be addressed. For instance:
- Employees of Ontario government ministries and agencies would be
covered by this provision and able to disclose a serious
wrongdoing without fear or threat of reprisal
- There would be a procedure to enable internal disclosure
- The proposed legislation would give power and authority to the
Integrity Commissioner to investigate and publicly report on
allegations of wrongdoing
- The framework is consistent with other jurisdictions, such as the
federal government, and with provisions recently introduced by the
McGuinty Government with respect to nursing homes
- Anti-reprisal protections for the discloser of wrongdoing would
apply to both internal disclosure and disclosures to the Integrity
Commissioner.
Human Resources Management and Administration
- Responsibilities related to human resources matters would be
clarified for Management Board of Cabinet and the Public Service
Commission
- Terminology simplified with archaic terms (classified,
unclassified staff, civil servant) being eliminated.
Conflict of Interest
Provisions in the proposed legislation would reinforce government's strong
culture of ethics and clarify lines of accountability for ministry staff,
agency staff and staff in ministers' offices. It would ensure that:
- Heads of ministries and agencies would be accountable for their
respective staff and responsible for enforcing in-service and
post-service conflict-of-interest rules
- The Integrity Commissioner would provide this role for staff in
ministers' offices
- Agencies would be permitted to create their own conflict-of-
interest rules as long as those rules are consistent with
standards required of ministries and approved by an independent
Conflict of Interest Commissioner
- Agencies would be responsible for giving advice and enforcing
compliance
- The Lieutenant Governor In Council would establish in-service and
post-service rules.
Political Activity Rights and Restrictions
Political activity provisions would balance the need to preserve the
integrity and neutrality of the public service with an individual's right to
engage in political activity. The legislation would:
- Maintain the same rights and restrictions to political activity as
the current Public Service Act
- Amend categories of public servants for the purposes of political
activity and describe the rights and restrictions that apply to
employees in those categories
- Identify ministerial staff as a separate category of public
servant and permit staff to engage in political activity in the
workplace that relates to the performance of a minister's powers,
duties or function
- Expand rules to all government agencies
- Expand political activity rights for middle managers.
>>
Successor Rights
The legislation would also restore successor rights for Ontario
government employees by making amendments to the Crown Employees Collective
Bargaining Act.
This reinforces the government's efforts to restore fairness and balance
to labour relations in Ontario and would provide the same rights to government
employees as those in place for private sector and broader public sector
employees.
If a government undertaking is transferred to, for example, a municipal
government in Ontario or a non-government organization, affected public
servants would continue to keep their benefits and rights under their existing
collective agreement, to the same extent as private sector employees in a sale
situation.
Ontario Provincial Police Collective Bargaining Act
Part II of the current Public Service Act relates to collective
bargaining provisions for the Ontario Provincial Police.
This bill proposes to move these collective bargaining provisions,
essentially unchanged, into a new, stand-alone statute - the Ontario
Provincial Police Collective Bargaining Act.
This is consistent with collective bargaining provisions for other public
service bargaining units that are in statutes other than the Public Service
Act.
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