Please see a new post with updated information on this story
Yesterday, a Liberal senator, Mac Harb, tried to table a private members' bill that would have effectively ended Canada's seal hunt.
A Conservative senator, Newfoundland's Fabian Manning, objected to this idea but rather than issue a press release from his own office or through the Conservative Party's press centre, Manning unleashed a partisan attack under the imprint of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Government departments need to communicate with Canadians from time to time on non-partisan issues and that's what the taxpayer-funded departmental communications staff is there to do. Departmental staff are not to be used to attack other federal politicians.
Manning, though, was just following the lead of the minister, Gail Shea, who, a few days earlier, had tried to use the cover of a news release titled “Government of Canada Defends the Right of Hard Working Canadian Sealers to Earn a Livelihood” to get in a shot at Harb in the last paragraph of that release: “It is my hope that Senator Mac Harb can appreciate the hardship his proposal will cause and stand with us in support of Canadian sealers.”
The press release from Shea would have been perfectly fine without that last paragraph as it set out some government policy and explained some steps the government was taking to defend that policy.
In any event, Harb's bill quickly died as it failed to get even one senator from his own party to second it. My colleague Janice Tibbetts wrote about this issue for today's papers.
Nonetheless, at 7:36 p.m., well after Harb's bill had died and well after Liberal MP Gerry Byrne had issued a press release denouncing Harb's ideas, Shea's office issued a press release denouncing a Liberal “hidden agenda”.
It contained this paragraph:
“While Liberals try and please special interest groups our Conservative government will seriously defend our sealers and we will continue to fight for the rights of hard-working Canadian sealers, on the international stage and here in Canada, so they may provide a livelihood for their families through our lawful, sustainable and humane hunt.”
Again, that's unusually partisan language for official departmental press releases paid for by all taxpayers.
Press releases with that kind of language are precisely the reason the Conservative Party of Canada employs Ryan Sparrow.
Calls are in to Treasury Board for the guidelines on this issue.
UPDATE:
While we're waiting to see if Treasury Board President Vic Toews or his designate has anything to say on this matter, my attention has been directed to the Treasury Board's Communications Policy of the Government of Canada.
Here is the section, from that policy, on values and ethics in official government communications, such as those released by Shea's department:
Values and Ethics
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informing the public about policies, programs, services and initiatives in an accountable, non-partisan fashion consistent with the principles of Canadian parliamentary democracy and ministerial responsibility;
- communicating in a manner that affirms Canadian values of freedom, openness, security, caring and respect;
- ensuring that public trust and confidence in the impartiality and integrity of the Public Service of Canada are upheld;
- honouring the value and reputation of the government and public institutions in all communication activities;
- working collaboratively with institutions to serve the public interest;
- providing useful, timely, accurate, clear, objective and complete information to the public in both official languages;
- respecting privacy rights, security needs and matters before the courts;
- avoiding conflicts of interest and the appearance or public perception of endorsing, or providing a marketing subsidy or an unfair competitive advantage to, any person, organization or entity outside of government.
