Whistleblower of the Year 2007

He stuck out his neck and was fired

Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun. Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Gord McAdams, a career civil servant fired for turning whistleblower, said Tuesday he learned something along the way from rare painted turtles he helped to save near Nelson.
"What have I learned from the turtles?" McAdams said after receiving a 2007 whistleblower award in Vancouver. "To move forward, you have to stick your neck out, but it's nice to have a hard shell."

McAdams was fired as a resource officer in the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management in April 2005 after 34 years with the B.C. government, much of that in park planning.

WHISTLEBLOWER OF THE YEAR: Gord McAdams was fired as a B.C. resource officer after 34 years with the government. Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun.

"I had my retirement party that afternoon," he said in an interview. "They changed the locks, and told people not to associate with me. But most everybody came to my retirement party, anyways."

He caught the government's ire for providing confidential documents to the West Kootenay Community Ecosociety, which was trying to thwart plans by Bill Barisoff, then Liberal minister of Water, Land, and Air Protection, to move a road in Grohman Narrows Provincial Park.
The new road would have allowed developer Dan Bayoff to access his property for the purpose of developing a truck service maintenance yard, but it was also regarded as a threat to the painted turtles.

McAdams's documents were instrumental in B.C. Supreme Court Justice Janet Sinclair-Prowse ruling in May 2005 that the minister had made an "unauthorized exercise of his statutory power."

McAdams said his pension was not affected by the firing, but that other benefits such as sick leave and holidays totalling about five months salary were affected. With the help of the
B.C. Government Employees' Union, he subsequently reached a settlement with the B.C. government. Details are confidential.

Barisoff, who became Speaker of the House in September 2005, said in response Tuesday he has no regrets, arguing his decision to move the road was done in collaboration with transportation ministry officials to provide the safest vehicle access. He added the plan also involved enhancement of the park to benefit the turtles.

"Purely from a parks [legislative] perspective, we probably overstepped our bounds," he said.
"But for the travelling public and the enhancement of the turtles, we made the right decision."
Barisoff said he couldn't comment on the need for whistleblower legislation, given his position as Speaker.

McAdams, who is a Nelson councillor, received the award from the Freedom of Information and Privacy Association and the Campaign for Open Government, which are urging the province to whistleblower legislation.

Such disparate groups as the Western Canada Wilderness Committee and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, both present at the news conference, are in favour of such legislation.
"Corruption thrives in an environment of secrecy," said federation director Maureen Bader. "Whistleblowers are the last line of defence for the taxpayer and those acting in the public interest where the government isn't."

In the absence of such legislation, McAdams urged other civil servants who might consider following his lead to be "very careful" but that "if you look inside your soul, I think you'll know."

NDP MLA Shane Simpson has introduced a private member's bill, the Whistleblowers Protection Act. He admits it won't be passed by government, but hopes it at least increases public pressure for such legislation.

lpynn@png.canwest.com
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© The Vancouver Sun 2007