With the 2015 fast approaching, our members are curious to what extent they can engage in political activity. We want to encourage all our members to exercise their democratic rights, while respecting the limitations imposed by the employer. Unfortunately, the guidelines vary from position to position. This document will help you best determine to what extent you can participate in political activity.
Get Involved but Be Informed
Your right to freedom of thought, belief and expression is protected under the Canadian Charter of Human Rights, as are your other civil and political rights. As a public service employee, however, you must be cognizant of how the Public Service Employment Act may restrict your ability to engage in political activities. The Treasury Board’s Values and Ethics Code and its Policy on Conflict of Interest and Post Employment also touch on political activity, as do some departmental codes of conduct.
What the PSEA has to say about political activity
The PSEA aims to strike a balance between employees’ right to engage in political activities while maintaining political impartiality in the public service. Section 113 of the Act clearly states that:
“An employee may engage in any political activity so long as it does not impair, or is not perceived as impairing, the employee’s ability to perform his or her duties in a politically impartial manner.”
In so doing, the Act enshrines your right to participate in political activities while respecting the policy of an impartial public service. It’s important to us that this balance is not unjustifiably tipped in such a way that would undermine our members’ political rights.
What constitutes political activity?
The PSEA does not identify a clear list of activities considered to be political activity. Rather, it broadly defines political activities in the following manner:
(a) carrying on any activity in support of, within or in opposition to a political party;
(b) carrying on any activity in support of or in opposition to a candidate before or during an election period; or
(c) seeking nomination as or being a candidate in an election before or during the election period.
Since the Act doesn’t give clear directions as to which activities a public service employee can participate without contravening the Act, a case-by-case basis assessment is required. Depending on the scope of your responsibilities, different restrictions may apply to your political activity.
The Public Service Commission, which oversees public service employees’ involvement in political activities, has created a brief guidance document for participating in non-candidacy political activity. The document provides the following examples of non-candidacy political activities:
- Volunteering or fundraising for a candidate or a political party;
- Supporting or opposing a candidate or a political party by displaying political material such as a picture, sticker, badge or button, or placing a sign on the lawn;
- Attending events, meetings, conventions, rallies, or other political gatherings in support of, or in opposition to, a candidate or a political party;
- Developing promotional material such as writing campaign speeches, slogans and pamphlets for a candidate or a political party;
- Using blogs, social networking sites, a personal Web site or video sharing to express personal views in support of, or in opposition to, a candidate or a political party.
This is obviously not an exhaustive list. Presumably, political activity could also include activities such as:
- signing a candidate’s nomination papers
- contributing funds to a party or candidate
- attending fund-raising functions
- attending, organizing or speaking at political events
- performing administrative functions for a party or candidate, such as answering and placing calls, preparing mail-outs or polling the public on specific issues on behalf of a party or candidate
- being a member of an official group promoting a party or candidate
- joining a political party
Of course, while this list may be somewhat helpful in identifying an activity as being political in nature, it does not provide a definitive answer to the question of whether a particular federal public servant can engage in that activity without contravening the PSEA (or Values and Ethics Code, etc.).
A case-by-case assessment is necessary
Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of whether it would be permissible for a federal public servant to participate in a particular political activity.
The PSC guidance document referenced above purports to provide some direction to employees on what factors they should consider when deciding whether or not to engage in a particular political activity. These factors are the following:
- The nature of the political activity;
- The nature of the employees’ public service duties;
- The level and visibility of the employees’ current public service position; and
- Personal visibility.
To put it simply: there’s a greater likelihood of the political activity being perceived as impairing your ability to perform your duties impartially the more frequent and frequent and visible the activity and the higher your position’s level and visibility.
A word on the Public Service Commission’s self-assessment tool
Since clear legislation or regulation is lacking, the Public Service Commission has created an online self-assessment tool. From our experience, the tool seems designed to deter employees from participating in any political activity. It is extremely conservative and raises red flags about low-level activities, even when the employee doesn’t work with the public, doesn’t have supervisory/managerial duties, doesn’t work in policy-making and doesn’t have any contact with ministers and their staff. If you choose to use this tool, you should expect it to tell you that the political activity in question involves some risk of contravening the PSEA.
Additional constraints
In addition to the PSEA, there are a slew of other policies that touch on political activity: the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service and those of Departments and Agencies that have been inspired by it, the Policy on Conflicts of Interest and Post Employment and similar values and ethics codes for organizations where Treasury Board isn’t the employer. The Public Service Commission hints that activities sanctioned by the PSEA could otherwise be problematic under these other codes or policies. That said, the code cannot unduly restrict political activity; it cannot be inconsistent with the PSEA.
Generally speaking, public service employees who wish to engage in political activity not covered by the PSEA that could constitute a conflict of interest are required to report the proposed activity to a designated authority. Similarly, public service employees who are not subject to the PSEA and who wish to engage in any political activity that constitutes a conflict of interest are also required to report the proposed activity to a designated authority.
Some codes of conduct require higher levels of political impartiality. The Elections Canada Code of Conduct, for example, emphasizes that “the principle of political impartiality and neutrality, along with the appearance thereof, is fundamental in the administration of the [Canada Elections Act] and [Chief Electoral Officer]’s mandate. This is in addition to the principles set out in Part 7 of the PSEA…” This Code of Conduct also explicitly states that “it is essential that [Elections Canada] employees observe strict political impartiality and neutrality in the exercise of the functions and duties but as well in their activities outside of the work environment, including in the context of their use of social media, as their behaviour may influence the confidence of electors and political stakeholders in the electoral process.”
There are also additional restrictions that apply to our members at the Library of Parliament.
These codes and policies are very clear in stating that a failure to comply with the requirements may result in disciplinary measures, up to and including termination of employment.
Practical Considerations for exercising your political rights
When doing the assessment of whether to participate in particular political activity, use a common sense approach. Consider the nature of the political activity in which you want to engage, the nature of your duties, the level and visibility of your position and your personal visibility. CAPE encourages participation in the political process and is of the view that, in the vast majority of cases, the following activities are low risk:
- Signing a candidate’s nomination papers;
- Wearing a party or candidate button or displaying an election sign on your lawn;
- Working as a canvasser for a political party or candidate or in a campaign office or soliciting funds for a campaign or party;
- Attending rallies and demonstrations on political topics or attending political conventions; and
- Taking part in election-day activities on behalf of a party or candidate.
In CAPE’s view, the situations in which a member’s ability to engage in a particular political activity might reasonably be restricted should be limited to cases in which the member is obviously responsible for supervisory/managerial duties or has high-level decision-making authority or influence, but only when the member’s profile and the particular political activity is sufficiently visible that legitimate concerns of impartiality could be raised. CAPE believes these situations will be relatively rare.
In addition to the foregoing, consider the following practical tips to guide you in the exercise of your political rights:
- If you are going to engage in political activity of any nature, only do so during your non-working hours;
- Remove any name tag or identification card worn in the course of your employment prior to participating in the political activity; and
- Do not identify yourself as a federal public servant when participating in the political activity.
Social Media
In light of the increased use and prevalence of social media, it warrants some additional attention in the discussion of this matter. It is fair to say that political activity in the current context may involve more than just the traditional types of activity such as attending rallies and so forth. Communication by way of social media – Facebook, Twitter, blogs, commenting on news media stories online, etc. – are all ways in which political activity can now be carried out. Communications through these means could all be construed by an employer to be political activity or activity that is in contravention of the PSEA, Values and Ethics Code, similar departmental codes, as well as the Policy on Acceptable Network and Device Use (if the employer’s electronic network or work devices are used to engage in the activity in question) depending upon the nature of the on-line activity and/or content of the messaging.
In short, the following common sense practical tips should be considered with respect to online political activity:
- Do not use the employer’s electronic network or devices to engage in online political activity and do not engage in online political activity during working hours;
- Do not identify yourself as a federal public servant when communicating online about political issues, parties, and politicians through Facebook, Twitter, personal blogs, or other social media;
- Avoid posting or sharing comments on social media that target individuals or specific government departments or organizations, particularly if it is your own department or organization;
- Be aware that comments made on Facebook will not be immune from employer scrutiny simply because there are privacy filters in place; and
- If re-posting or re-tweeting links to posts of a political nature, doing so without adding additional personal commentary is less likely to attract employer scrutiny.
Concluding Comments
CAPE encourages its members to exercise their rights to participate in our country’s democratic processes. At the same time, members must be mindful of the provisions of the PSEA and the various employer codes and policies that address political activities, impartiality and conflict of interest.
The PSC has been advising employees to contact their manager or their organization’s Designated Political Activities Representative before taking part in a political activity. It is not clear, however, what, if any, confidentiality is in place to protect what an employee discusses with a designated political activities advisor.
Given that employees can be subject to discipline for participation in political activity that is not permitted, CAPE has concerns about its members going to their managers or Designated Political Activities Advisors. Instead, if you have questions about participation in a political activity, if you perceive that your political rights have been restricted by your employer, or if you have been disciplined for participation in a political activity, contact your CAPE representative or labour relations officer immediately.
