Bill C-11

1st Session, 38th Parliament,

53 Elizabeth II, 2004

house of commons of canada

BILL C-11

An Act to establish a procedure for the disclosure of wrongdoings in the public sector, including the protection of persons who disclose the wrongdoings

Recognizing that

the public service of Canada is an important national institution and is part of the essential framework of Canadian parliamentary democracy;

it is in the public interest to maintain and enhance public confidence in the integrity of public servants;

confidence in public institutions can be enhanced by establishing effective procedures for the disclosure of wrongdoings and for protecting public servants who disclose wrongdoings, and by establishing a code of conduct for the public sector;

public servants owe a duty of loyalty to their employer and enjoy the right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that this Act strives to achieve an appropriate balance between those two important principles;

the Government of Canada commits to establishing a Charter of Values of Public Service setting out the values that should guide public servants in their work and professional conduct;

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act.

INTERPRETATION

2. The following definitions apply in this Act.

“chief executive” means 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.

“Minister” means, in respect of sections 4, 5 and 54, the Minister responsible for the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada.

“protected disclosure” means a disclosure that is not frivolous, vexatious or made in bad faith and that is made by a public servant

(a) in accordance with section 12, 13 or 14 or subsection 16(1);

(b) in the course of a parliamentary proceeding;

(c) in the course of a procedure established under any other Act of Parliament; or

(d) when lawfully required to do so.

“public sector” means

(a) the departments and other portions of the public service of Canada named in Schedule I to the Public Service Staff Relations Act;

(b) the bodies named in Schedules I.1, II and III to the Financial Administration Act; and

(c) the Crown corporations and the other public bodies set out in the schedule.

However, subject to sections 52 and 53, “public sector” does not include the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Communications Security Establishment or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in relation to members and special constables and persons who are employed by that police force under terms and conditions substantially the same as those of a member.

“public servant” means every person employed in the public sector, including chief executives.

“reprisal” means any of the following measures taken against a public servant because the public servant has made a protected disclosure or has, in good faith, cooperated in an investigation carried out under this Act:

(a) a disciplinary measure;

(b) the demotion of the public servant;

(c) the termination of employment of the public servant;

(d) any measure that adversely affects the employment or working conditions of the public servant; and

(e) a threat to take any of the measures referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (d).

“senior officer” means a senior officer designated under subsection 10(2).

“wrongdoing” means a wrongdoing referred to in section 8.

AMENDING THE SCHEDULE

3. The Governor in Council may, by order, amend the schedule by adding or deleting the name of any Crown corporation or other public body.

PROMOTING ETHICAL PRACTICES

4. The Minister must promote ethical practices in the public sector and a positive environment for disclosing wrongdoings by disseminating knowledge of this Act and information about its purposes and processes and by any other means that he or she considers appropriate.

CODE OF CONDUCT

5. (1) The Treasury Board must establish a code of conduct applicable to the public sector.

(2) The Treasury Board’s obligation under subsection (1) applies despite the provisions of the Financial Administration Act and of any other Act of Parliament that otherwise restrict the powers of the Treasury Board.

(3) Before the code of conduct is established, the Minister must consult with the employee organizations certified as bargaining agents in the public sector.

(4) The Minister must cause the code of conduct established by the Treasury Board to be tabled before each House of Parliament at least 30 days before it comes into force.

6. (1) Every chief executive may establish a code of conduct applicable to the portion of the public sector for which he or she is responsible.

(2) The codes of conduct established by chief executives must be consistent with the code of conduct established by the Treasury Board.

7. The codes of conduct applicable to a portion of the public sector apply to every public servant employed in that portion of the public sector.

WRONGDOINGS

8. This Act applies in respect of the following wrongdoings:

(a) a contravention of any Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province, or of any regulations made under any such Act, if the contravention relates to the official activities of public servants or any public funds or assets;

(b) a misuse of public funds or a public asset;

(c) a gross mismanagement in the public sector;

(d) an act or omission that creates a substantial and specific danger to the life, health or safety of persons, or to the environment;

(e) a serious breach of a code of conduct established under section 5 or 6; and

(f) the taking of a reprisal against a public servant.

9. In addition to, and apart from, any other sanction provided for by law, a public servant is subject to appropriate disciplinary action, including termination of employment, if he or she commits a wrongdoing.

DISCLOSURE OF WRONGDOINGS

10. (1) Each chief executive must establish internal procedures to manage disclosures of wrongdoings made by public servants employed in the portion of the public sector for which the chief executive is responsible.

(2) Each chief executive must designate a senior officer to be responsible for receiving and dealing with, in accordance with the duties and powers of senior officers set out in the code of conduct established by the Treasury Board, disclosures of wrongdoings made by public servants employed in the portion of the public sector for which the chief executive is responsible.

(3) A chief executive may designate as a senior officer for the portion of the public sector for which the chief executive is responsible a person who is employed in any other portion of the public sector.

(4) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to a chief executive if he or she declares, after giving notice to the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, that it is not practical to apply those subsections given the size of that portion of the public sector.

11. Each chief executive must

(a) subject to any other Act of Parliament and to the principles of procedural fairness and natural justice, protect the identity of persons involved in the disclosure process, including that of persons making disclosures, witnesses and persons alleged to be responsible for wrongdoings; and

(b) establish procedures to ensure the confidentiality of information collected in relation to disclosures of wrongdoings.

12. Any public servant who believes that he or she is being asked to commit a wrongdoing, or who believes that a wrongdoing has been committed, may disclose the matter to his or her supervisor or to the senior officer designated for the purpose by the chief executive of the portion of the public sector in which the public servant is employed.

13. (1) A public servant may disclose a wrongdoing to the President of the Public Service Commission if

(a) the public servant believes on reasonable grounds that it would not be appropriate to disclose the matter to his or her supervisor, or to the appropriate senior officer, by reason of the subject-matter of the wrongdoing or the person alleged to have committed it;

(b) the public servant has already disclosed the matter to his or her supervisor or to the appropriate senior officer and is of the opinion that the matter has not been appropriately dealt with; or

(c) the portion of the public sector in which the public servant is employed is subject to a declaration made under subsection 10(4).

(2) Nothing in this Act authorizes a public servant to disclose to the President a confidence of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada in respect of which subsection 39(1) of the Canada Evidence Act applies or any information that is subject to solicitor-client privilege. The President may not use the confidence or information if it is disclosed.

14. A disclosure that a public servant is entitled to make under section 13 that concerns the Public Service Commission may be made to the Secretary of the Treasury Board. The Secretary of the Treasury Board has, in relation to that disclosure, the powers, duties and protections of the President of the Public Service Commission under this Act.

15. Sections 12 to 14 apply despite

(a) section 5 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, to the extent that that section relates to obligations set out in Schedule 1 to that Act relating to the disclosure of information; and

(b) any restriction created by or under any other Act of Parliament on the disclosure of information.

16. (1) A disclosure that a public servant may make under sections 12 to 14 may be made to the public if there is not sufficient time to make the disclosure under those sections and the public servant believes on reasonable grounds that the subject-matter of the disclosure is an act or omission that

(a) constitutes a serious offence under an Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province; or

(b) constitutes an imminent risk of a substantial and specific danger to the life, health and safety of persons, or to the environment.

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) affects the rights of a public servant to make to the public in accordance with the law a disclosure that is not protected under this Act.

17. Section 12, subsection 13(1) and sections 14 and 16 do not apply to a public servant who is a person permanently bound to secrecy within the meaning of subsection 8(1) of the Security of Information Act in relation to any information that is special operational information within the meaning of that subsection.

18. Nothing in this Act relating to the making of disclosures is to be construed as applying to the dissemination of news and information by a person employed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for that purpose.

PROTECTION OF PERSONS MAKING DISCLOSURES

19. No person shall take any reprisal against a public servant.

20. (1) In this section and section 21, “Board” means,

(a) in relation to a public servant who is employed in any portion of the public sector referred to in Schedule I to the Public Service Staff Relations Act or whose complaint relates to a reprisal taken while he or she was so employed, the Public Service Staff Relations Board; and

(b) in relation to any other public servant, the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

(2) A public servant, or former public servant, or a person designated by a public servant or former public servant for the purpose, who alleges that a person has taken a reprisal against the public servant in contravention of section 19 may make a complaint in writing to the Board in respect of the reprisal.

(3) The complaint must be made to the Board not later than

(a) 60 days after the date on which the complainant knew, or in the Board’s opinion ought to have known, that the reprisal was taken; or

(b) if the complainant has made a disclosure to the President of the Public Service Commission in respect of the reprisal during the 60-day period referred to in paragraph (a) and the President has decided to deal with the disclosure, 60 days after the President reports his or her findings to the complainant and the appropriate chief executive.

(4) Despite any law or agreement to the contrary, a complaint made under this section may not be referred by a public servant to arbitration or adjudication.

(5) On receipt of a complaint, the Board may assist the parties to the complaint to settle the complaint. The Board must hear and determine the complaint if it decides not to so assist the parties or the complaint is not settled within a period considered by the Board to be reasonable in the circumstances.

(6) If the Board determines that the com­plain­ant has been subject to a reprisal taken in contravention of section 19, the Board may, by order, require the employer or the appropriate chief executive, or any person acting on behalf of the employer or appropriate chief executive, to take all necessary measures to

(a) permit the complainant to return to his or her duties;

(b) reinstate the complainant;

(c) pay to the complainant compensation in an amount not greater than the amount that, in the Board’s opinion, is equivalent to the remuneration that would, but for the reprisal, have been paid to the complainant;

(d) rescind any measure or action, including any disciplinary action, and pay compensation to the complainant in an amount not greater than the amount that, in the Board’s opinion, is equivalent to any financial or other penalty imposed on the complainant; and

(e) pay to the complainant an amount equal to any expenses and any other financial losses incurred by the complainant as a direct result of the reprisal.

(7) The President of the Public Service Commission has standing in any proceedings under this section for the purpose of making submissions.

21. (1) A public servant who alleges that a reprisal was taken against him or her by reason that he or she, in good faith, disclosed a wrongdoing in the course of a parliamentary proceeding or an inquiry under Part I of the Inquiries Act — after February 10, 2004 and before the day on which section 20 comes into force — may make a complaint under that section in respect of the reprisal.

(2) The public servant may make the complaint within 60 days after the later of

(a) the day on which section 20 comes into force, and

(b) the day on which he or she knew or, in the opinion of the Board, ought to have known that the reprisal was taken.

DUTIES OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

22. The duties of the President of the Public Service Commission under this Act are to

(a) provide advice to public servants who are considering disclosing a wrongdoing;

(b) receive, record and review disclosures of wrongdoings in order to establish whether there are sufficient grounds for further action;

(c) conduct investigations of disclosures made in accordance with section 13, and investigations referred to in section 34, including to appoint persons to conduct the investigations on his or her behalf;

(d) ensure that the right to procedural fairness and natural justice of all persons involved in investigations is respected, including persons making disclosures, witnesses and persons alleged to be responsible for wrongdoings;

(e) subject to any other Act of Parliament, protect, to the extent possible in accordance with the law, the identity of persons involved in the disclosure process, including that of persons making disclosures, witnesses and persons alleged to be responsible for wrongdoings;

(f) establish procedures to ensure the confidentiality of information collected in relation to disclosures or investigations;

(g) review the results of investigations and report his or her findings to the persons who made the disclosures and to the appropriate chief executives; and

(h) make recommendations to chief executives concerning the measures to be taken to correct wrongdoings and review reports on measures taken by chief executives in response to those recommendations.

23. (1) The President of the Public Service Commission may not deal with a disclosure under this Act if a person or body acting under another Act of Parliament is dealing with the subject-matter of the disclosure other than as a law enforcement authority.

(2) The President may not deal with a disclosure under this Act if the matter could be dealt with under the Public Service Employment Act, unless he or she is satisfied, on reasonable grounds, that the disclosure relates to conduct of a systemic nature or the taking of a reprisal.

24. (1) The President of the Public Service Commission may refuse to deal with a disclosure if he or she is of the opinion that

(a) the public servant has failed to exhaust other procedures otherwise reasonably available;

(b) the subject-matter of the disclosure is one that could more appropriately be dealt with, initially or completely, according to a procedure provided for under another Act of Parliament;

(c) the subject-matter of the disclosure is not sufficiently important or the disclosure is frivolous or vexatious or made in bad faith; or

(d) there is a valid reason for not dealing with the disclosure.

(2) If the President decides to refuse to deal with a disclosure or to cease an investigation under this Act, he or she must inform the person who made the disclosure and give the reasons for the decision.

25. (1) The Public Service Commission may provide the President of the Public Service Commission with the officers, employees, professional advisers and facilities that are necessary for the proper conduct of the President’s duties under this Act.

(2) The Public Service Commission may appoint the persons, in the manner provided in the Public Service Employment Act, that are necessary for the proper conduct of the President’s duties under this Act.

26. The President of the Public Service Commission may delegate to any employee of the Commission any of his or her powers and duties under this Act, except

(a) the power to delegate under this section;

(b) the duties in paragraphs 22(g) and (h) to review the result of investigations, to report findings and to make recommendations;

(c) the power in section 24 to refuse to deal with a disclosure and the duty in that section to provide reasons for the refusal;

(d) the power to issue, in the exercise of any powers referred to in subsection 30(1), a subpoena or other request or summons to appear before the President or a person appointed to conduct an investigation;

(e) the power in section 34 to commence another investigation;

(f) the power in section 35 to refer a matter to another authority;

(g) the power in subsection 36(1) to remit information; and

(h) the duty or power in any of sections 37 to 39 in relation to making a report.

INVESTIGATIONS

27. (1) Investigations under this Act are for the purpose of bringing the existence of wrongdoings to the attention of chief executives and making recommendations concerning corrective measures to be taken by them.

(2) The investigations are to be conducted as informally and expeditiously as possible.

28. (1) When commencing an investigation under this Act, the President of the Public Service Commission must notify the chief executive concerned and inform that chief executive of the substance of the disclosure to which the investigation relates.

(2) The President, or the person conducting an investigation, may also notify any other person he or she considers appropriate, including every person whose acts or conduct are called into question by the disclosure to which the investigation relates, and inform that person of the substance of the disclosure.

(3) It is not necessary for the President to hold any hearing and no person is entitled as of right to be heard by the President, but if at any time during the course of an investigation under this Act it appears to the President that there may be sufficient grounds to make a report or recommendation that may adversely affect any individual or any portion of the public sector, the President must, before completing the investigation, take every reasonable measure to give to that individual or the chief executive responsible for that portion of the public sector a full and ample opportunity to answer any allegation, and to be assisted or represented by counsel, or by any person, for that purpose.

29. (1) If the President of the Public Service Commission so requests, chief executives and public servants must provide him or her, or the person conducting an investigation, with any facilities, assistance, information and access to their respective offices that the President may require for the carrying out of his or her duties under this Act.

(2) Subsection (1) applies despite any restriction created by or under any other Act of Parliament on the disclosure of information.

30. (1) In conducting any investigation under this Act, the President of the Public Service Commission has all the powers of a commissioner under Part II of the Inquiries Act.

(2) Whenever the President issues a subpoena or other request or summons to a person in the exercise of any powers referred to in subsection (1), he or she must allow that person to be assisted or represented by counsel, or by any person.

(3) Before entering the premises of any portion of the public sector in the exercise of any powers under subsection (1), the President must notify the chief executive of that portion of the public sector.

31. (1) Sections 29 and 30 do not apply in respect of a confidence of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada in respect of which subsection 39(1) of the Canada Evidence Act applies or information that is subject to solicitor-client privilege. The President of the Public Service Commission may not use the confidence or information if it is nevertheless received under section 29 or 30.

(2) Sections 29 and 30 do not apply to a person permanently bound to secrecy within the meaning of subsection 8(1) of the Security of Information Act in relation to any information that is special operational information within the meaning of that subsection.

32. With respect to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, in making a request referred to in section 29 or in exercising the powers in section 30, the President of the Public Service Commission must consider whether doing so will unduly disrupt the gathering and dissemination of news and information by the Corporation.

33. No public servant shall be excused from cooperating with the President of the Public Service Commission, or with a person conducting an investigation, on the grounds that any information given by the public servant may tend to incriminate the public servant or subject him or her to any proceeding or penalty, but the information, or any evidence derived from it, may not be used or received to incriminate the public servant in any criminal proceeding against him or her, other than a prosecution under section 132 or 136 of the Criminal Code.

34. If, in the course of an investigation, the President of the Public Service Commission has reason to believe that another wrongdoing has been committed, he or she may, subject to sections 23 and 24, commence an investigation into that other wrongdoing and the provisions of this Act applicable to investigations commenced as the result of a disclosure apply to investigations commenced under this section.

35. If the President of the Public Service Commission is of the opinion that a matter under investigation would involve obtaining information that is outside the public sector, he or she must cease that part of the investigation and he or she may refer the matter to any authority that he or she considers competent to deal with it.

36. (1) If the President of the Public Service Commission has reasonable grounds to suspect that information obtained in the course of an investigation may be used in the investigation or prosecution of an alleged contravention of any Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province, the President may, in addition to or in lieu of continuing the investigation, remit the information, at that point in time, to a peace officer having jurisdiction to investigate the alleged contravention or to the Attorney General of Canada.

(2) To maintain the separation of investigations carried out under this Act and those carried out for law enforcement purposes, after information has been remitted under subsection (1) in relation to any matter, the President may not — except in accordance with a prior judicial authorization — remit to any peace officer or to the Attorney General of Canada any further information in relation to that matter that the President obtains in the course of his or her investigation into that matter and in respect of which there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.

REPORTS

37. In making a report to a chief executive in respect of an investigation under this Act, the President of the Public Service Commission may, if he or she considers it appropriate to do so, request that the chief executive provide the President, within a time specified in the report, with notice of any action taken or proposed to be taken to implement the recommendations contained in the report or reasons why no such action has been or is proposed to be taken.

38. If the President of the Public Service Commission considers it necessary, he or she may report a matter to the Minister responsible for the portion of the public sector concerned or, if the matter relates to a Crown corporation, to its board or governing council, including, but not limited to, when the President is of the opinion that

(a) action has not been taken within a reasonable time in respect of one of his or her recommendations; and

(b) a situation that has come to his or her attention in the course of carrying out his or her duties exists that constitutes an imminent risk of a substantial and specific danger to the life, health or safety of persons, or to the environment.

39. (1) The President of the Public Service Commission must, within three months after the end of each fiscal year, prepare and transmit to the Minister a report for that fiscal year in respect of the activities of the President under this Act during that financial year.

(2) The annual report must set out

(a) the number of general inquiries relating to this Act;

(b) the number of disclosures received and the number of those that were acted on and those that were not acted on;

(c) the number of investigations commenced under this Act;

(d) the number of recommendations that the President has made and their status;

(e) whether there are any systemic problems that give rise to wrongdoings;

(f) any recommendations for improvement that the President considers appropriate; and

(g) any other matter that the President considers necessary.

(3) The Minister must cause the annual report to be laid before each House of Parliament within the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the Minister receives it.

(4) The President may, at any time, make a special report to Parliament referring to and commenting on any matter within the scope of his or her powers and duties under this Act if, in his or her opinion, the matter is of such urgency or importance that a report on it should not be deferred until the time provided for transmission of the annual report.

(5) The Governor in Council may designate a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada to be the Minister for the purposes of this section.

PROHIBITIONS

40. No person shall, in a disclosure of a wrongdoing or in the course of any investigation under this Act of a wrongdoing, knowingly make a false or misleading statement, either orally or in writing, to a supervisor, a senior officer, the President of the Public Service Commission or a person acting on behalf of or under the direction of any of them.

41. No person shall wilfully obstruct a senior officer or the President of the Public Service Commission, or any person acting on behalf of or under the direction of a senior officer or the President, in the performance of the senior officer’s, or the President’s, as the case may be, duties under this Act.

42. No person knowing that a document or thing is likely to be relevant to an investigation under this Act shall

(a) destroy, mutilate or alter the document or thing;

(b) falsify the document or make a false document;

(c) conceal the document or thing; or

(d) direct, counsel or cause, in any manner, any person to do anything mentioned in any of paragraphs (a) to (c), or propose, in any manner, to any person that they do anything mentioned in any of those paragraphs.

CONFIDENTIALITY

43. The President of the Public Service Commission and every person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the President who receives or obtains information relating to an alleged wrongdoing must, with respect to access to and the use of that information, satisfy any security requirements applicable to persons who normally have access to and use of that information and take any oath of secrecy required to be taken by them.

44. Unless the disclosure is required by law or permitted by this Act, the President of the Public Service Commission and every person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the President shall not disclose any information that comes to their knowledge in the performance of their duties under this Act.

PROTECTION

45. No criminal or civil proceedings lie against the President of the Public Service Commission, or against any person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the President, for anything done or omitted to be done, or reported or said, in good faith in the course of the exercise or performance, or purported exercise or performance, of any power or duty of the President under this Act.

46. The President of the Public Service Commission or any person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the President is not a competent or compellable witness in any proceedings, other than a prosecution for an offence under this Act, in respect of any matter coming to the knowledge of the President, or that person, as a result of performing any duties under this Act.

47. For the purposes of any law relating to libel or slander,

(a) anything said, any information supplied or any document or thing produced in the course of an investigation under this Act by or on behalf of the President of the Public Service Commission is privileged if it was said, supplied or produced in good faith; and

(b) any report under this Act made in good faith by the President of the Public Service Commission is privileged, and any fair and accurate account of the report made in good faith in a newspaper or any other periodical publication or in a broadcast is privileged.

GENERAL

48. The disclosure of information to the President of the Public Service Commission under this Act does not, by itself, constitute a waiver of any privilege that may exist with respect to the information.

49. (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), when referring any matter under section 35 or making a special or annual report under this Act, the President of the Public Service Commission shall not disclose any information of the kind referred to in any of sections 13 to 24, 69 or 69.1 of the Access to Information Act.

(2) The President may disclose any information of the kind referred to in any of sections 13 to 22 of the Access to Information Act if it has already been disclosed following a request under that Act or with the consent of the relevant individual or an authorized person in the organization with a primary interest in the information.

(3) The President may disclose any information of the kind referred to in any of sections 14 to 22 of the Access to Information Act if, in his or her opinion,

(a) the disclosure is necessary to refer any matter under section 35 or to establish the grounds for any finding or recommendation in a special or annual report under this Act; and

(b) the public interest in making the disclosure clearly outweighs the potential harm from the disclosure.

(4) The President must consult with the organization having a primary interest in the information before he or she discloses, under subsection (3), any information of the kind referred to in section 15, 16 or 20 of the Access to Information Act.

50. Despite section 5 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, to the extent that that section relates to obligations set out in Schedule 1 to that Act relating to the disclosure of information, a report by a chief executive in response to recommendations made by the President of the Public Service Commission to the chief executive under this Act may include personal information within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of that Act, or section 3 of the Privacy Act, depending on which of those Acts applies to the portion of the public sector for which the chief executive is responsible.

51. Subject to subsection 20(4), nothing in this Act is to be construed as prohibiting

(a) a person from presenting a grievance under section 91 of the Public Service Staff Relations Act; or

(b) an adjudicator from considering a complaint under section 242 of the Canada Labour Code.

EXCLUDED ORGANIZATIONS

52. As soon as possible after the coming into force of this section, the person responsible for each organization that is excluded from the definition of “public sector” in section 2 must establish procedures, applicable to that organization, for the disclosure of wrongdoings, including the protection of persons who disclose the wrongdoings. Those procedures must, in the opinion of the Treasury Board, be similar to those set out in this Act.

53. The Governor in Council may, by order, direct that any provision of this Act applies, with any modifications that may be specified in the order, in respect of any organization that is excluded from the definition of “public sector” in section 2.

FIVE-YEAR REVIEW

54. Five years after this section comes into force, the Minister must cause to be conducted an independent review of this Act, and its administration and operation, and must cause a report on the review to be laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the review is completed.

CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS

Access to Information Act

55. Section 16 of the Access to Information Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):

Canada Evidence Act

56. The schedule to the Canada Evidence Act is amended by adding the following after item 19:

Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act

57. Subsection 9(3) of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act is amended by striking out the word “or” at the end of paragraph (c.1), by adding the word “or” at the end of paragraph (d) and by adding the following after paragraph (d):

Privacy Act

58. Section 22 of the Privacy Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):

COORDINATING AMENDMENTS

59. (1) On the later of the coming into force of section 2 of the Public Service Modernization Act and the coming into force of subsection 20(1) of this Act,

(a) paragraph 20(1)(a) of this Act is replaced by the following:

(a) in relation to a complainant who is employed in any portion of the public sector referred to in Schedule I, IV or V to the Financial Administration Act or whose complaint relates to a reprisal taken while the complainant was so employed, the Public Service Labour Relations Board; and

(b) paragraph 51(a) of this Act is replaced by the following:

(a) the presentation of an individual griev­ance under subsection 208(1) of the Public Service Labour Relations Act; or

(2) On the later of the coming into force of section 11 of the Public Service Modernization Act and the coming into force of section 2 of this Act, the definition “public sector” in section 2 of this Act is replaced by the following:

“public sector” means

(a) the departments named in Schedule I to the Financial Administration Act and the other portions of the federal public administration named in Schedules I.1 to V to that Act; and

(b) the Crown corporations and the other public bodies set out in the schedule.

However, subject to sections 52 and 53, “public sector” does not include the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Communications Security Establishment or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in relation to members and special constables and persons who are employed by that police force under terms and conditions substantially the same as those of a member.

(3) On the later of the coming into force of section 224 of the Public Service Modernization Act and the coming into force of section 1 of this Act, the reference to “public service of Canada” in the preamble of the English version of this Act is replaced by a reference to “federal public administration”.

COMING INTO FORCE

60. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the provisions of this Act, other than section 59, come into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.

(2) The reference to the “Canada Pension Plan Investment Board” in the schedule comes into force, in accordance with subsection 114(4) of the Canada Pension Plan, on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council .