The Protecteur du citoyen's 2023-2024 Annual Report - News release 5 - Public integrity investigations put an end to abuses

QUÉBEC CITY, Sept. 19, 2024 /CNW/ - In his 2023-2024 Annual Report, Ombudsperson Marc-André Dowd presents various breaches of integrity by Québec's public bodies, mainly irregularities concerning remuneration, hiring, staff management, contract awarding, and expenses. Further to whistleblower disclosures, the Protecteur du citoyen's investigations and recommendations put an end to the abuses reported.

This aspect of the Protecteur du citoyen's work stems from its mandate under the Act to facilitate the disclosure of wrongdoings relating to public bodies.

The confidentiality surrounding this type of investigation generally requires that the individuals and organizations involved remain anonymous.

"The primary aim of our work on the integrity front is not to publicly point the finger of blame. The most important thing for us is to curb wrongdoing, prevent it from happening again and protect the identity of those who cooperated in our investigations," explained Marc-André Dowd.  

Examples of favouritism, cost overruns and misuse of public funds

• Ignoring hiring rules, the principal of an educational institution hired a former colleague as a consultant to produce video vignettes. In turn, the consultant hired the principal's spouse to assist him. The investigation showed that the principal violated the school service centre's code of ethics and financial policies. He bypassed the public tendering process and did not comply with the regulation on power delegation. In addition, he approved expenses that favoured him personally and that far exceeded the thresholds allowed for purchases without prior authorization from the school service centre.
• In a school service centre, a director general retired while continuing to perform the same duties under contract. The result was that she ended up with a higher income than she had been receiving as a permanent employee. The Protecteur du citoyen's investigation showed that the contract had been awarded unbeknownst to certain members of the school service centre's board of directors, who were responsible for signing the contract. The contract was therefore invalid.
• A private group managed private institution (including private seniors' residences) and private CHSLDs under agreement (financed by public funds). Over time, many private sector expenses (salaries, travel and accommodation expenses for conferences, meals, donations) were paid for out of public funds. The Protecteur du citoyen's investigation revealed severe irregularities.

Increased responsibilities for the Protecteur du citoyen

As a result of major legislative changes, as of November 30, 2024, disclosure officers in government departments and agencies will become ethics and integrity officers for their colleagues. This means that the handling of disclosures and reprisal complaints will be the Protecteur du citoyen's exclusive responsibility. This is a challenge that the Protecteur du citoyen welcomes with a determination to further promote the values of probity and transparency within government services.

"This major expansion of our mandate reflects both the legislator's confidence in the Protecteur du citoyen as a key player in public integrity and the progress we've made in recent years," commented Mr. Dowd.

2023-2024 in a few figures

In 2023-2024, the Protecteur du citoyen received 311 public integrity requests, for a 25.4% increase compared to 2022-2023. The number of disclosures, 216, represents an increase of 30.1% over the previous year.

The Protecteur du citoyen deals confidentially with reports of wrongdoing in or by public bodies, as well as complaints of reprisal for reporting or cooperating in an investigation.

For everything you need to know about the Protecteur du citoyen's 2023-2024 Annual Report, see the Annual Reports section of our website.

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SOURCE Protecteur du citoyen

Information: Carole-Anne Huot, person in charge of media relations, Cell: [phone]/Phone: [phone], Email: [email protected]