The juxtaposition of two current events exposes a telling contradiction about the two main political parties in Canada: what they say versus what they do. Despite loudly voiced claims to respect public disclosure of information vital to the public interest, neither party is eager to act on the imminent opportunity to upgrade Canada’s inadequate legislation to protect whistleblowers.

The first event is the prominent political crisis over the recent whistleblower disclosure via the media of evidence that two years ago CSIS warned of foreign interference in Canada’s democracy, that a Chinese diplomat in Canada was threatening harm to the family in China of a Canadian MP in retaliation for that MP’s vote in the Canadian Parliament.

The second event is the low-key proceedings of the Government Operations Committee (OGGO) deep in the meeting rooms of Parliament Hill, videoed for public consumption, but not meriting anywhere near the 24/7 media attention of the daily Parliamentary turbulence.

The committee has been weighing the merits of a private members bill by the Bloc Québécois to improve whistleblower protection for public servants and should come to a vote this month. Bill C-290 seeks to amend the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act by providing protection from retaliation by government officials targeting public servants who come forward to disclose information vital to the public interest.

A recent international study of whistleblower legislation in about 50...

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