Public Administration and Ethics

1. Public Administration and Ethics Week 10

2. McCallion’s conflict of interest • http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/1063908--hazel-s-new-legacy-a-hurricane-of-conflict?bn=1 • “Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion engaged in a very real conflict of interest when she secretly promoted a land deal that could have put millions of dollars into her son’s pocket. “

3. Ethics and Public Administration • In Canada, and other liberal democracies, the 1970s saw the rise of concerns about public sector ethics.

4. Ethics and Public Administration New Public Management raises new concerns. Civil servants responsible for results not process, has led to focus on values rather than rules. Alternative service delivery raises question of whether private partners share public sector values.

5. Complex Responsibilities The public service has many responsibilities and commitments: • to the public • to the laws that govern its powers and management; • to the Ministers who are the political heads of departments.

6. Conflicting responsibilities These multiple responsibilities can create tensions between the duty of the public service to serve the government and its ethical obligation to promote the public interest.

7. Ethical issues • conflicts of interest • confidentiality of information • political partisanship

8. How can we, or should we, encourage ethical behaviour in the public service?

9. Strengthening public sector ethics • codes of conduct • training and education • role models • an attentive public (citizens, NGOs, mass media) • However, it is clear that rules and guidelines about process still will need to play a role.

10. Tait Report: A Strong Foundation Task Force on Public Service Values and Ethics, 1996 called for development of public service code of conduct

11. Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service In 2003 a Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service was prepared by the Treasury Board, and it came into force on September 1, 2003. The Code sets out Public Service values as well as Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Measures.

12. Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service Public Service Values • Democratic Values • Professional Values • Ethical Values • People Values http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/hrpubs/tb_851/vec-cve-eng.pdf

13. IPAC, “A Public Servant’s Commitments” Institute of Public Administration of Canada A strong Commitment to Personal Integrity A strong Commitment to Democratic Governance A strong Commitment to Respectfulness A strong Commitment to Continual Learning and Innovation A strong Commitment to Critical Reflection on Ethics and Values

14. Sponsorship Scandal • What was the “sponsorship scandal”? • How was it uncovered? • CBC Archives, May 8, 2002 • CBC News In-depth: Federal Sponsorship Scandal

15. Sponsorship Scandal • “then former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, his chief of staff, Jean Pelletier, the deputy minister of public works and government services Canada, Ranald Quail, a hands-on minister of public works and government services Canada (hereafter PWGSC), Alfonso Gagliano, and a middle-level entrepreneurial manager in charge of advertising in that same department, Charles (Chuck) Guité, were all responsible for allowing the sponsorship program to be run irresponsibly and without proper accountability safeguards” (Greene and Shugarman, 2006: 220).

16. Gomery Final Report • Recommendation: The Government should adopt legislation to entrench into law a Public Service Charter. • statement of the essential values that all public servants could be expected to embrace • a charter of the rights and obligations of public servants and as a symbol of the Government’s undertaking to give new respect to the public service

17. Federal Ethics Counselor • First appointed 1994 • To report to Prime Minister’s Office

18. Federal Ethics Commissioner • Appointed in 2004 • Greater independence from Prime Minister • Reported directly to Parliament • Bernard Shapiro appointed as first Commissioner in 2004, resigned in 2007.

19. Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner • Created in 2007, replacing the Ethics Commissioner created in 2004. • Mary Dawson was appointed as the first Commissioner in 2007. • Office administers the Conflict of Interest Act and the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons.

20. Conflict of Interest Act • Passed in 2006, coming into force in 2007. • A summary of the Act for public office holders including ministers, parliamentary secretaries, ministerial staff and all full-time Governor in Council appointees such as deputy ministers, heads of Crown corporations and members of federal boards. • “Conflict of Interest: public office holders are in a conflict of interest when they exercise an official power, duty or function that provides an opportunity to further their private interests or those of their relatives or friends, or that improperly furthers another person’s private interests.”

21. Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act • Passed in 2005, came into force in 2007. • “The Act provides a means for employees in the federal public sector to disclose information that they believe could show that a wrongdoing has been committed or is about to be committed in the federal public sector, or that they were asked to commit a wrongdoing. The Act protects public servant disclosers against reprisal.” • Created the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada (replacing the former Public Service Integrity Officer created in 2001).

22. Public Sector Integrity Commissioner • The Commissioner is an Agent of Parliament appointed by resolution of the Senate and House of Commons. He/she reports directly to Parliament. • Under investigation by the Auditor General, Public Sector Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet resigned in 2010. • December 2010, AG released her report critical of Integrity Commissioner.

23. Controversy over the Integrity Commissioner “Former Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet modeled many of the behaviours that she was charged with driving out of the public service: • abusing her staff, taking reprisals against a former employee, and demonstrating 'reluctance' to find wrongdoing; • failing to do her job. The Auditor General reported that Ouimet failed to fulfill her mandate: in three years she found zero cases of wrongdoing and failed to protect a single whistleblower from reprisals; • when the Auditor General's investigation into her conduct was nearing completion, Ouimet negotiated a $500,000 settlement, including a gag order seemingly designed to protect her (and the government) from criticism or consequences; • displaying a disregard for our democratic institutions by refusing for months to respond to a Parliamentary committee as it tried to summon her to explain her actions.” • http://fairwhistleblower.ca/no-more-ouimets

24. Protection for whistleblowers? • Despite the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act and the creation of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, many complain that there is still not sufficient protection for whistleblowers in the civil service. • Critics include: • FAIR (Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform) • Canadians for Accountability • For a critique of the act, see: http://fairwhistleblower.ca/psdpa/psdpa_critique.html • One example of the lack of protection:http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1038934--effectively-silencing-canada-s-whistleblowers

25. Conservative Government and Ethics • http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/05/29/harper-lets-the-ethics-slide/

26. Corruption Rankings • Transparency International – Corruption Perceptions Index • Global Integrity – Global Integrity Report http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/986663--canada-slips-in-anti-corruption-rankings