OTTAWA — Several watchdog groups have called for Canada's integrity commissioner to be fired after the auditor general accused him of gross mismanagement in the handling of two government whistleblower files.

Mario Dion is the second integrity commissioner in a row accused of incompetence and mismanagement by the auditor general.

Government watchdog groups Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform, Canadians for Accountability, and Democracy Watch demanded Tuesday that Dion be dismissed in order for government whistleblowers to feel safe disclosing wrongdoings.

The Conservatives created the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada in 2007 to allow government employees to report wrongdoings such as corruption in public agencies.

Auditor General Michael Ferguson released two reports in April criticizing the commissioner's office for mismanaging two files between 2011 and 2014.

In one case, a complainant's file was closed over 17 months late, and the auditor general accused the commissioner's office of "grossly mismanaging the storing, handling, and processing of the complainant's reprisal file."

In December 2010, the auditor general criticized Dion's predecessor, Christiane Ouimet, who was found to have retaliated against employees and generally acted inappropriately while in office.

David Hutton, executive director of Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform, said Tuesday that Dion "has too much discretion" in the handling of complaints, and "he always uses his discretion to protect the government."

Hutton said FAIR was kicked out of the integrity commissioner's advisory board for publicly criticizing the office.

He said FAIR is in contact with 50 government whistleblowers, many of whom Hutton said have had negative experiences with Dion's office.

Edith Lachapelle, spokeswoman for the integrity office, said the misconduct described in the auditor general's report "is almost impossible to happen again."

Lachapelle said the problems with the two files started at the beginning of Dion's mandate and the office has "covered all the bases to assure that these isolated incidents do not happen again."