OTTAWA — The NDP is calling on Treasury Board President Tony Clement to investigate how a few public servants received political emails at work from the Conservative Party that linked them to a website asking which party they would vote for in the next election.
Mathieu Ravignant, the Treasury Board critic, appealed to Clement in a letter Monday that he should get to the bottom of the partisan emails sent to public servants, which flout the government’s own guidelines and the code of conduct governing a non-partisan bureaucracy.
“I believe this incident undermines the non-partisanship of the civil service,” Ravignat said in the letter. After all, how can non-partisanship be maintained if the governing party is submitting political surveys to public servants?
“I ask that you take immediate steps to investigate and put a stop to what I believe is a clear cut violation of Treasury Board guidelines.”
The Union of National Defence Employees complained about the practice after one of its members received the political solicitation on their public service email account, while another received it at their home email account. The union is trying to determine if more promotional messages may have been sent to departmental emails.
Ravignat said he recognizes that only one public servant received a solicitation at work but it’s up the Treasury Board, as employer, to make sure this isn’t part of a broader campaign aimed at public servants and that departments are not releasing the personal emails of their employees. He filed a similar complaint with the Privacy Commissioner to investigate whether the privacy rights of bureaucrats were breached.
He said he worried the practice may be more widespread than an incident at National Defence.
“Canadians are sick of the Conservatives being unable to tell the difference between the Conservative Party of Canada and the Government of Canada,” said Ravignat. “They should be governing in the public interest, not in the partisan interest of their own political party.”
Ravignat suggested the Conservatives may be trying to gauge the impact of the government’s spending cuts and 19,200 job reductions on the support of public servants at the ballot box.
Clement’s office said the minister has yet to receive Ravignat’s letter and referred all questions to the Conservative party, which had previously failed to respond to the Citizen’s request for comment.
The email messages are from Dan Hilton, executive director of the Conservative Party of Canada and ask the recipient to participate in an online survey. The survey web link brings the reader to a site with images of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a series of questions, which in turn promote the government’s economic action plan. One of the questions asks the reader which party he or she would vote for if an election was held today.
The Public Service Commission, whose job is to ensure a non-partisan public service, doesn’t seem to be looking into the issue.
“The PSC oversees political activities of public service employees. The PSC has authority to investigate allegations of improper political activities by public service employees,” said the commission in a statement.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: OTTAWA CITIZEN
Mathieu Ravignant, the Treasury Board critic, appealed to Clement in a letter Monday that he should get to the bottom of the partisan emails sent to public servants, which flout the government’s own guidelines and the code of conduct governing a non-partisan bureaucracy.
“I believe this incident undermines the non-partisanship of the civil service,” Ravignat said in the letter. After all, how can non-partisanship be maintained if the governing party is submitting political surveys to public servants?
“I ask that you take immediate steps to investigate and put a stop to what I believe is a clear cut violation of Treasury Board guidelines.”
The Union of National Defence Employees complained about the practice after one of its members received the political solicitation on their public service email account, while another received it at their home email account. The union is trying to determine if more promotional messages may have been sent to departmental emails.
Ravignat said he recognizes that only one public servant received a solicitation at work but it’s up the Treasury Board, as employer, to make sure this isn’t part of a broader campaign aimed at public servants and that departments are not releasing the personal emails of their employees. He filed a similar complaint with the Privacy Commissioner to investigate whether the privacy rights of bureaucrats were breached.
He said he worried the practice may be more widespread than an incident at National Defence.
“Canadians are sick of the Conservatives being unable to tell the difference between the Conservative Party of Canada and the Government of Canada,” said Ravignat. “They should be governing in the public interest, not in the partisan interest of their own political party.”
Ravignat suggested the Conservatives may be trying to gauge the impact of the government’s spending cuts and 19,200 job reductions on the support of public servants at the ballot box.
Clement’s office said the minister has yet to receive Ravignat’s letter and referred all questions to the Conservative party, which had previously failed to respond to the Citizen’s request for comment.
The email messages are from Dan Hilton, executive director of the Conservative Party of Canada and ask the recipient to participate in an online survey. The survey web link brings the reader to a site with images of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a series of questions, which in turn promote the government’s economic action plan. One of the questions asks the reader which party he or she would vote for if an election was held today.
The Public Service Commission, whose job is to ensure a non-partisan public service, doesn’t seem to be looking into the issue.
“The PSC oversees political activities of public service employees. The PSC has authority to investigate allegations of improper political activities by public service employees,” said the commission in a statement.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: OTTAWA CITIZEN
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