Nonpartisanship of Agents of Parliament: Bill C-520's Redundant and Likely Unconstitutional Approach

Abstract

Bill C-520 was introduced to ensure the non-partisanship of agents of Parliament and their staff. Partisan activities, however, are already regulated by the Public Service Employment Act and the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector. The bill would require public servants to disclose partisan history even though such history cannot be taken into account in their hiring or retention, to disclose any intentions to engage in partisan activities even though such activities are already prohibited if it would impair their real or apparent impartiality, and to solemnly affirm an oddly narrow version of the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Sector they sign when accepting employment. Furthermore, Bill C-520 runs roughshod over employees’ Charter rights and freedoms by attempting to compel expression, seemingly encouraging discrimination in hiring, and discouraging political association, without adequate regard to the constitutional requirements set out by the SCC in Osborne that individual circumstances be taken into account when restricting public servant’s political freedoms. In sum, significant portions of the bill are duplicative of existing regulation, introduce ambiguity into the regime for the regulation of public servants, and are of dubious constitutionality.

Keywords: independent officer of parliament, agent of parliament, officer of parliament, independent oversight, public administration, accountability, transparency, legislative oversight

JEL Classification: K00, H11, H50, H60, K23