FEDERAL OMBUDSMAN WOULD REDUCE DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT

Donald C. Rowat

Paul Martin has long been an advocate of reducing the democratic deficit, but one of the most effective means of doing so would be the appointment of a federal ombudsman as an independent officer of Parliament. A national ombudsman is now in place in some 65 democratic countries, including Australia, as well as in the Canadian provinces, but not as yet in Ottawa. It is now five years since provincial ombudsmen urged Ottawa to create such a position, “so far to no avail,” writes a longtime Canadian ombudsman scholar. “Why the federal government has so far failed to adopt a scheme to match the provincial ones is somewhat of a mystery,” writes Donald Rowat. “Now that he is leading the government, Prime Minister Martin has a golden opportunity to reduce the democratic deficit and to leave a permanent legacy by instituting this important democratic reform.”

Paul Martin affirme depuis longtemps vouloir combler le déficit démocratique, et l’un des meilleurs moyens d’y parvenir serait de nommer un ombudsman fédéral agissant au Parlement comme fonctionnaire indépendant. Ce poste existe aujourd’hui dans quelques 65 pays, dont l’Australie, ainsi que dans plusieurs provinces canadiennes. Mais Ottawa fait toujours la sourde oreille cinq ans après que les ombudsmen provinciaux l’eurent exhorté à créer un tel poste. Pourquoi le gouvernement fédéral tarde-t-il tant à répondre à leur demande ? Le mystère reste entier, selon Donald Rowat, spécialiste de la question. Maintenant qu’il tient les rênes du pouvoir, Paul Martin dispose pourtant d’une occasion en or de tenir son engagement et de laisser un héritage politique signifiant en instituant cette fonction.

efore Prime Minister Martin came to power he spoke headquarters of the International Ombudsman Institute is often and long about reforms to reduce the demo- located in Canada, and that the federal government has B cratic deficit. But an obvious reform that escaped his been promoting the ombudsman idea in developing democ- attention is the creation of a federal ombudsman plan to racies, yet has never implemented a general scheme of its handle complaints from citizens about unfair treatment and own. In these countries an ombudsman is widely regarded maladministration. Since the February release of the auditor as one of the indispensable pillars of a democratic society. general’s report on the sponsorship scandal, he has also By now there is certainly plenty of experience on which talked loud and long about the need for transparency and to base a federal scheme. Besides the provinces, nearly all of accountability. A national ombudsman scheme would help the western democracies now have a national ombudsman to meet both of these objectives. And it would greatly system. So our federal government has dropped well behind reduce the democratic deficit, not only by remedying thou- them, as it has with other democratic reforms. Australia, for sands of citizen complaints, but also by improving adminis- instance, has an elected senate, a federal adminsitrative court, tration with its recommendations. a law protecting whistleblowers, and not only an ombuds- The fact that the provinces have been operating suc- man for each state but also a federal ombudsman system that cessful ombudsman plans for many years means that a has been operating with great success for nearly 30 years. This national ombudsman would be a popular, well-tested office now handles more than 17,000 complaints and over reform whose benefits clearly outstrip its cost. In the 1970s 23,000 inquiries yearly. Yet it is done with fewer than a hun- the provinces were world leaders in adopting this reform, dred employees. Canada’s population is much larger than which has since spread throughout the democratic world at Australia’s, and its political system is much the same. So these all levels of government. There are now national ombuds- figures reveal the tremendous number of citizen complaints man systems in 65 democratic countries. It is ironic that the that are never remedied at the federal level in Canada. A

46 OPTIONS POLITIQUES MAI 2004 Donald C. Rowat democracy should be ashamed of treat- the years there have been many studies single ombudsman. The heads of the ing its citizens in this way. and proposals for a federal system. specialized offices could then become Each year the provincial ombuds- A main reason for the federal failure members of the commission, with oth- men receive thousands of complaints to adopt may be the fear that a strong ers added to take care of other admin- against federal departments and agencies ombudsman would be too critical of the istrative segments, as the ombudsmen that they are powerless to remedy. They government in power. In 1978 the do in Sweden. A chairman of the com- became so frustrated about this that in Trudeau government was on the point mission could then be appointed to 1999 the Canadian Ombudsman of adopting a scheme, but then with- oversee the whole scheme. Such a plu- Association, composed mainly of provin- drew its bill, perhaps because at that ral commission could use its collective cial ombudsmen, issued a discussion very time there was a war of words wisdom to decide the more difficult paper and held a press conference in beween the Ontario government and its cases, as the ombudsman commission Ottawa urging the federal government to ombudsman. There may have been a does in Austria. And the current exec- create a national scheme, but so far to no fear among the federal ministers that an utive ombudsmen would then be inde- avail. The collective experience of the ombudsman would make embarrassing pendent of the department or agency provincial ombudsmen would make it revelations of government wrongdoing. they are monitoring because they much easier to design a national scheme. This fear may have continued, because would be established by law. the Liberals have been in power most of nterestingly, Stephen Owen, Martin’s the time since. It is a truism that the f such a system had existed earlier, pri- I minister of public works, was former- longer a government is in power, the I vacy commissioner Radwanski would ly the ombudsman in British Columbia more it has to hide. have been supervised by the chairman of and at that time was one of the main Another reason may be that the the commission and thus would not lobbyists for a federal scheme. The asso- federal government began creating spe- have been free to run his own show so ciation’s discussion paper contained an cialized ombudsmen for particular arbitrarily. And if the ombudsman com- extensive extract from an article of his departments or agencies where the need mission had been given the usual power which pointed out that “an ombuds- was most obvious. So it could argue that of protecting the identity of public ser- man, as an officer of the legislature, a general plan was not needed. But some vants as well as citizens, the sponsorship can...provide citizens with direct, acces- of them are not fully independent affair might have been nipped in the bud sible, timely, impartial, confidential and because they were created by the execu- long before it became a scandal, because effective remedies to bureaucratic tive rather than Parliament. Examples of public servants could have blown the unfairness.” If he could persuade the executive ones are the ombudsmen for whistle on their superiors to the commis- Martin government to adopt a national the armed forces, Indian and Northern sion without fear of retaliation. It is inter- scheme, his experience would be invalu- Affairs, and the postal service. Examples esting that the model whistleblower law able in its design. of ones created by law are the ombuds- prepared for the Organization of Other national organizations that man for prisons, and the language, pri- American States refers to the office to in recent years have advocated a nation- vacy and information commissioners. which the whistleblower takes his infor- al scheme are: the Canadian Bar mation as the Ombudsman Office. Association (1990), the Law Reform o the average citizen the federal Now that he is leading a new gov- Commission of Canada (1991), the T public service is frighteningly ernment, Prime Minister Martin has a National Council of Women of Canada big and complex. Altogether it has golden opportunity to reduce the (1993), and the Canadian Federation of over half a million employees, work- democratic deficit and to leave a per- University Women (1997). So it seems ing in more than fifty departments manent legacy by instituting this clear that there would be wide public and department-like agencies, and in important democratic reform. It support for the idea. over a hundred semi-independent would no doubt be supported enthusi- Why the federal government has so boards, commissions and corpora- astically by the other political parties, far failed to adopt a scheme to match tions. For this reason it is hard to so that it could be quickly adopted the provincial ones is somewhat of a understand why the federal govern- and implemented. If his government mystery. The superiority of the ombuds- ment hasn’t created an ombudsman fails to do this before the next elec- man system to other methods of reme- scheme that supervises all adminis- tion, the other political parties should dying citizen complaints, such as trative agencies. add it to their electoral platforms and through members of Parliament, the One problem with such a scheme should press whatever party forms the courts or the press, was already well doc- is the difficulty of integrating the exist- government to implement it. umented when the provinces adopted ing specialized offices into it. However, their plans. Since then this superiority this could be done by making the gov- Donald C. Rowat is a professor emeritus has been fully demonstrated by the erning head of the scheme a multi- of political science at Carleton University experience of many countries. And over member commission instead of a and author of The Ombudsman Plan.

POLICY OPTIONS 47 MAY 2004