Never-used government panel has $8-million budget

A panel set up to protect government whistleblowers hasn’t heard a single case since it was convened in 2007.

The Public Servants Disclosure Protection Tribunal was set up in order to hear complaints from public servants who felt they had faced reprisals for filing reports on government wrongdoing. Cases are supposed to be referred to the tribunal by the federal public sector integrity commissioner, but during three years at that post Christiane Ouimet hasn’t found any cases that merited review. She received 170 complaints from public servants but could not find evidence of any government reprisals. Ouimet abruptly left her post a week ago as her office was being audited by Auditor General Sheila Fraser. The tribunal spent $836,000 in 2008-2009 and plans to spend $1.83 million annually until 2012-2013.