Tories solicit defence workers via email

Union concerned political parties accessing department’s address system

The Conservative party is sending email to some public servants at work promoting the government’s economic action plan and linking them to a website that asks which party they intend to vote for in the next election.

The Union of National Defence Employees has complained about the practice after one of its members received the political solicitation on his public service email account, while another received it at their home email account.

The union is still trying to determine how many more such promotional messages have been sent to government email addresses.

Union president John MacLennan said he’s concerned that political parties are accessing the department’s email address system.

“If the situation had been reversed and this was a public servant accessing the government’s email addresses to contact other employees on behalf of a political party, then there would be severe consequences, up to and including dismissal,” he said.

MacLennan filed a complaint with Cynthia Binnington, the Defence Department’s assistant deputy minister for human resources on the civilian side.

He wants the issue to be investigated to determine how widespread this type of communication is within the department, as well as how staff from the Conservative party were able to access the employee’s email address in the first place.

The messages are from Dan Hilton, executive director of the Conservative Party of Canada.

They are specifically addressed to the individuals and note that, “The Conservative Party of Canada depends on the support and advice of Canadians like you — that’s why we’re reaching out this year with a series of online surveys.”

“We’ve accomplished a lot together in the past seven years since taking office — but our work isn’t finished yet,” the email adds.

A click on 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 Defence Department issued a statement that it is looking at the issue “in an effort to determine what action(s) would be most appropriate.”

Jay Paxton, a spokesmen for Defence Minister Peter MacKay, also said that as soon as the minister’s office was made aware of the problem it contacted Conservative party headquarters to ensure the name of the individual was removed from mailing lists.

“We earlier requested the party take a look at forces.gc.ca accounts,” he added, referring to DND email accounts.

The Conservative party did not respond to the Citizen’s request for comment.

The Conservatives have spent more than $100 million of tax dollars promoting their “economic action plan.”

That has prompted complaints from opposition MPs and others that the Conservatives are using public money to fund political propaganda.

Government ads, funded by tax dollars, are supposed to tell Canadians about programs and services that are available to them, according to guidelines issued by Treasury Board.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has attacked the ad campaign, noting in the Commons that “it is becoming obvious that rather than helping Canadians, the government would rather continue to spin Canadians.”

But Harper has dismissed concerns about his government using public funds, pointing out that the $113-million being spent on the ads actually instils confidence in the economy among Canadians.

The government has spent $548 million on advertising so far while in power.

But four years after the Conservative government launched its first Economic Action Plan advertising, a poll released in March suggested that Canadians have become jaded to the continuing barrage of radio and TV commercials.

More than half of those surveyed reacted negatively to the ads, calling them either political advertising (30 per cent of respondents), a waste of taxpayers’ money (24 per cent) or “more commercial junk” (12 per cent).

The interactive voice-response poll by Forum Research found that only about one respondent in 10 thought the widely-broadcast ads were just part of normal government communications.

The Conservative government has been blanketing the Internet, newspapers and radio and television airways with the ads since 2009, along with the distinctive blue and green signs posted next to governmentfunded infrastructure projects.

Forum Research’s findings are consistent with Finance Canada’s own tracking polls, which found that increasing numbers of respondents considered the ads “propaganda” and a “waste of money,” according to a Canadian Press story in February.

Past federal governments have also faced allegations they used tax dollars to promote their political objectives, most famously the Liberals under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien over the scandal-ridden sponsorship program in Quebec.

The Conservatives highlighted the sponsorship scandal during the 2006 election which brought them to power, noting that their government would conduct business differently.

The poll sampled the opinions of 1,755 Canadians over the age of 18. It is considered accurate within two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.