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Mireille Laroche

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 19, 2023
Context: Committee Business Bill C-290, An Act to amend the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (OGGO) - Jun/19/23
Ms. Mireille Laroche (Assistant Deputy Minister, People and Culture, Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, Treasury Board Secretariat)
  • 05:45:02 p.m.
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Do you mean a royal recommendation? Mr. Gord Johns: Yes. Ms. Mireille Laroche: In terms of a royal recommendation, as before, I'd say that's not in my purview, so I will leave it to the legislative clerk to say something. However, in our view it would create a cost, because if you look at your proposed subsection (2.01), you see it says, “The Commissioner must conduct an annual survey”. This doesn't say to work with the PSES and include questions, so he or she would have to create their own survey that would be applied to all public servants in order to get this information. Therefore, it would require methodology, question design, applying it and so on. The other thing I would like to say is that the PSES currently asks a number of questions that are covered by proposed paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) in terms of awareness and the ability, so there could be an opportunity for collaboration to include some of the key questions of the PSIC in the current PSES.
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Context: Committee Business Bill C-290, An Act to amend the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (OGGO) - Jun/19/23
Ms. Mireille Laroche
  • 05:54:52 p.m.
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Thank you for your question. Just in terms of the trust, I want to point out that those working for the Auditor General, those doing internal audits for the government, are public officials, and I think we all strive, as public servants, to be impartial and to do the best job possible. That's one thing. Second, when you read the amendment, it says that, at appointment, the person should not be employed in the public service. Let's say that I apply. If I quit government the day before I am appointed, I can still be appointed as a PSIC. I don't think that this will have an impact at all, given how it's written because it says that the Government in Council appoint “a person not employed”. No one is employed because they will have given their notice to the federal or provincial government, wherever they work, in order to take on that job.
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Context: Committee Business Bill C-290, An Act to amend the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (OGGO) - Jun/19/23
Ms. Mireille Laroche
  • 05:56:47 p.m.
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Yes, it is, and that's what happens now, because you cannot both work for the government as a federal public servant and be appointed by the GIC.
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Context: Committee Business Bill C-290, An Act to amend the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (OGGO) - Jun/19/23
Ms. Mireille Laroche
  • 06:03:02 p.m.
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Thank you for the question. Basically, clause 38 says that the people involved in a disclosure should be asked if their name can be disclosed. We expect they won't give their consent. As for the other items that can be disclosed, obtaining the consent of the interested parties makes sense. However, we don't see how the people against whom allegations are made would want their names made public.
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Context: Committee Business Bill C-290, An Act to amend the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (OGGO) - Jun/19/23
Ms. Mireille Laroche
  • 06:04:54 p.m.
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Do you mean disclosing all names except the name of the person against whom the allegations are made?
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Context: Committee Business Bill C-290, An Act to amend the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (OGGO) - Jun/19/23
Ms. Mireille Laroche
  • 06:05:00 p.m.
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Yes. That said, we would never expect the alleged wrongdoer to give their consent. It would be very surprising if someone in that position were to say yes. So this provision in the bill is somewhat unnecessary. You could take that out and the rest could work.
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