Prentice PC intimidation nothing new, according to Wildrose

In yet another case of gross politicization and bullying of the public sector, a new investigative report has exposed an ongoing witch hunt for non-PC political volunteers inside the Government of Alberta.

According to the report, the Prentice PCs are ordering all government employees to disclose any political affiliations and volunteer work they do in their free time away from work. This, despite the public sector code of conduct being clear that there is “no restriction upon participation in political activity for employees” apart from taking a leave to run as a candidate or solicit donations.

Jim Prentice says he’s “offended,” but really he’s just annoyed he got caught.

Deputy Ministers do not issue hyper-political directives to their departments like this without marching orders from their political masters. This is just the latest example in a long line of instances where the PCs have been caught pushing around public servants.

Here are some others:

In health:
· Alberta doctors report “widespread instances of physicians experiencing intimidation and muzzling when advocating for patients,” for making the PC government look bad.

In Justice:
· Crown prosecutors receive a memo from Minister Jonathan Denis, Deputy Minister Tim Grant and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Kim Armstrong dictating to them that convictions are the “ultimate goal,” despite the ethical issues in that approach.

In FOIP offices:
· Government FOIP officers are ordered by Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk to vet freedom of information requests through political offices to protect the PCs against “reputational issues for government.”