March 22, 2004
Ottawa, Ontario

BACKGROUNDER

Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service: This code, currently in effect, sets out the fundamental values that public servants need to guide them in their work. It sets out specific rules relating to conflict of interest and post employment. The code applies only to employees of the core public service, not Crown corporations or separate employers.

Policy on the Internal Disclosure of Information Concerning Wrongdoing in the Workplace: This is the current policy within the core public service for employees to bring forward concerns about wrongdoing. The policy would be superseded by the legislation. The internal disclosure policy provides a process for federal public service employees to bring forward information concerning wrongdoing in the workplace, and to ensure that they are treated fairly and protected from reprisal.

Charter of Values of Public Service: Under the proposed Public Servants Disclosure Protection bill, the government commits to establishing a charter to set out the values that should guide employees throughout the federal public sector in their work and professional conduct. It is likely that these values will drawn upon the value statement in Chapter 1 of the existing Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service. However, the charter would broadly apply to all public sector employees.

Code of Conduct: The proposed legislation directs the Treasury Board to establish a code of conduct applicable to the public sector. Under the proposed legislation, wrongdoing is defined as a serious breach of conduct. In addition, chief executives may establish a code applicable to their organization. This would enable organizations with very different mandates and potentially different ethical risks to develop tailored codes of conduct specifying the expected behaviour and ethical actions for the kind of duties employees perform in that organization. However, these codes must be consistent with the code of conduct approved by the Treasury Board.

Federal Public Sector: The draft legislation covers the departments and other portions of the public service of Canada named in Schedule I of the Public Service Staff Relations Act; the bodies named in Schedule I.I, II and III of the Financial Administration Act and Crown corporations and any other public bodies set out in the schedule. Because of both differing employment status and security concerns, the bill would not apply to the Canadian Security Establishment, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Communications Security Establishment and uniformed members of the RCMP or the Armed Forces. These organizations would however, be required by the bill to establish comparable regimes for their members and employees including a code of conduct and reprisal protection.

Federal Public Service: For the purposes of the current Treasury Board Policy on the Internal Disclosure of Wrongdoing, the term federal public service applies to all departments and organizations of the Public Service listed in Part I, Schedule I, of the Public Service Staff Relations Act, often referred to as the “core public service”.

Chief Executive: The legislation defines chief executive as the deputy head or chief executive officer of any portion of the public sector, or the person who occupies any other similar position, however called in the public sector.

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