Of Interest |
Agenda – Public Service Commission Information Session on Political Activities Political Activities and You - A brochure which explains your right as a federal public servant to engage in political activities. |
The Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) provides a new regime for governing the political activities of public servants, recognizing the need to balance the rights of employees to engage in political activities with the principle of an impartial public service. The Public Service Commission (PSC) oversees the political impartiality of the public service.
The legislation is explicit about the rules related to political activities in the public service and applies to involvement in federal, provincial, territorial and municipal politics. Public servants are permitted to engage in any political activity as long as it does not impair, or is not perceived as impairing, their ability to perform their duties in a politically impartial manner. The political involvement of deputy heads is limited to voting.
The PSC is responsible for the oversight of public servants' involvement in political activities, including:
The PSEA defines a political activity as:
The PSEA applies to political activity at the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal levels. More definitions are available in Part 7 of the Act on the Department of Justice web site.