Response to ADM (RS): Concerning Governance issues and the PSDPA

23 October 2015

 

Mr. Amipal Manchanda
ADM (Review Services)
Department of National Defence
66 Slater Street, 23-14
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K2

 

Dear Mr. Manchanda,

Re: Governance issues and the PSDPA

I have received your 19 October 2015 response to my proposal for addressing governance issues related to the internal administrative process of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act. The concern that I have raised in all of my correspondence on governance issues relates to protecting the mandated independence of my office and avoiding potential conflict of interest where two organizations within the defence portfolio are in a position where they are investigating each other on substantive issues.

I believe that your acceptance of the crux of our proposal to engage an independent third party investigator to conduct any investigation in the event of a formal disclosure of wrongdoing involving the Office of the Ombudsman largely satisfies the concerns of this office. I request that this be formalized in the procedures found in DAODs 7024-0 and 7024-1.

Given the OAG’s recommendation that our organizations work jointly to resolve outstanding governance issue, and that we are up against the deadline to report to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP), I have enclosed a redraft of my response to PACP to reflect our agreement on the issue of PSDPA governance. Please let me know without delay how you will report our agreement on this matter and provide the date by which the relevant DAODs will be amended so that I can include it in my response. 

I look forward to your prompt feedback and to reviewing the new procedures before they are finalized.

Sincerely,

 

Gary Walbourne
Ombudsman

 

c.c. Mr. John Forster, Deputy Minister – National Defence

Enclosure

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