Alberta's whistleblower protection law should apply to more public entities and those who contract with the province, and should be strengthened to protect complainants from being sued, the public interest commissioner told a legislative committee earlier this month. Feb. 4, commissioner Marianne Ryan appeared before the legislature's standing committee on resource stewardship to present her office's recommended changes to the whistleblower protection act. As public interest commissioner, Ryan investigates allegations of wrongdoing under the act as well as complaints from employees who claim they faced reprisal for whistleblowing. "We have encountered circumstances where employers have sought to identify whistle-blowers and even indicated an intention to harm suspected whistleblowers," Ryan told the committee. Whistleblowers act "as kind of a firewall to protect both the public and the government from incompetence or corruption within the bureaucracy," he told the committee.

Source: CBC News February 16, 2021 16:30 UTC