Tory MP whistling to himself about whistleblower bounty?

Pierre Poilievre says he has a green light to talk about the idea but that's about all

Ottawa (28 March 2006) - The curious Conservative approach to new whistleblowing legislation continues.

It's starting to resemble an old movie script where the bad guys light a fire on one side of town to divert attention from the bank heist on the other.

The Ottawa Citizen published a long story Monday quoting MP Pierre Poilievre as saying he plans to pursue a Canadian version of American legislation that pays a bounty to citizens who blow the whistle on companies that defraud the federal government or waste taxpayers' money.

In reality, he has no mandate to do anything of the sort.

Poilievre has been assigned by the new government to consult with groups on the drafting of whistleblower protection that is supposed to be included into the government's much-touted "accountability act" - scheduled for introduction when Parliament opens April 4.

Yet the young MP, who represents the Ottawa-Carleton riding of Nepean-Carleton, pulled the rug out from under himself by announcing, even as he declared his support for it, that the bounty concept is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Specifically, he told reporter Kathryn May that it will not be part of the Tories' accountability legislation.

Nor has it even been formally endorsed by either Prime Minister Stephen Harper or Treasury Board President John Baird, the heavies he must convince in the new Tory cabinet, he said.

All smoke, no fire?

Harper and Baird have given him a green light to "champion" the idea personally, he said, but that's all. He doesn't even know yet whether the idea has any support among his own MPs, let alone other parties in the minority Parliament.

Apart from sounding out a few MPs privately, Poiliever said he has not yet taken the idea to his own Tory caucus. Citizen report

So is there any fire amid all this smoke? Not much, it appears. So far, the idea sounds more like a diversionary tactic, to draw attention away from whatever whistleblower provisions end up being included in the new accountability legislation, than a real plan to arm whistleblowers against wrongdoing in government.

Pat Martin, the NDP's ethics critic, doesn't think much of the bounty concept. He says it smacks of vigilante justice and profiteering. He also says the NDP "ideologically opposes" paying Canadians rewards "to do the right thing."

Larry Brown, NUPGE's national secretary-treasurer, has criticized Poilievre for going off on "tangents" such as the "bounty" idea when basic protection for whistleblowers is still lacking in Canada.

"History proves that we have a large number of honest public sector workers that are prepared to call misdeeds to account, without expecting payment for their actions. What they expect is protection, and they haven't had it," Brown says.

"What we need is clear, firm legal protection for those who blow the whistle. We don't need to begin by offering to pay people to scrounge up accusations."

The bottom line is that no one yet knows what the Conservatives will do to protect whistleblowers and whether they will live up their election campaign promises on the issue. NUPGE

More information:
• Blow the whistle and get paid? Tories studying idea
• Are the Tories wavering on new whistleblower legislation?