QUESTION PERIOD — Treasury Board
Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner
February 4, 2026
Senator Moreau, on January 15, the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner submitted an urgent funding request to the Treasury Board to, in her words, “. . . avert collapse” of the whistleblower regime.
As more people learned about the office, the number of submissions received increased from 245 in 2022 to 638 in 2025. Unfortunately, the annual budget for the commissioner’s office has not kept pace.
Senator Moreau, does the government intend to move quickly to provide emergency funding to the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner in order to ensure that public servants and the public continue to have confidence in the whistle-blower system?
Thank you for the question, Senator Dalphond. To maintain growing trust in the system and ensure that the federal public service responds to questions adequately and correctly, with unwavering integrity, the government takes the issue of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner seriously.
Based on my information, Mr. Ali, the President of the Treasury Board, recently spoke with the Integrity Commissioner, specifically about budget-related questions. Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to disclose the subject matter of their discussions, but I assume that the budget issue was raised.
Thank you for that answer, Senator Moreau, which I hope is encouraging. Can we expect that Treasury Board officials will agree that, over the medium to long term, the office’s budget needs to be increased and widespread public service cuts need to be made judiciously, while preserving organizations like that one, because they are crucial to public trust?
The government’s objective in reducing expenditures isn’t to create a blanket policy, but to proceed intelligently, ensuring that we offer the best services to the people of Canada. Considering the number of these services, it’s imperative to maintain the integrity of the system, of the public service as a whole and of its actions to ensure they align with the legislation passed by the Government of Canada.
