Ottawa, ON—Stephanie Kusie, Conservative Shadow Minister for Treasury Board, and Pierre Paul-Hus, Quebec Political Lieutenant, released the following statement:

“For years federal public servants have been waiting for reforms to whistleblower protections laws and today it was announced that they will have to wait even longer.

“This task force is nothing but a delay tactic. Recommendations to improve Canada’s whistleblower protections already exist – they can be found in the 2017 report by the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, as well as in legislation currently before Parliament.

“This government demonstrates time and time again that they do not prioritize protecting public servants. It is also disappointing that the Liberal government continues to delay reforms by appointing an external task force to ‘consider the parliamentary debate’ rather than participate in the Parliamentary process.

“Conservatives have a long history of standing up for whistleblowers, first with the creation of the Public Servants Disclosure Protections Act under Prime Minister Stephen Harper as well as reforms to strengthen the act included in both our 2019 and 2021 platforms. As the Liberal government fails to prioritize these important protections, we will continue our work to stand up for public servants and protect whistleblowers.”