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Vaughn Palmer: Eby wipes out oversight of public service firings introduced by his NDP predecessor

John Horgan said independent oversight of firings was needed after wrongful dismissals led to a suicide

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VICTORIA — Premier David Eby’s abolition of the merit commissioner will also wipe out a reform introduced by Premier John Horgan to rectify a major injustice in the public service.

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The Horgan NDP government gave the commissioner independent oversight of firings in response to the previous B.C. Liberal government’s wrongful dismissal of a half dozen health care researchers — one of whom killed himself.

Vaughn Palmer: Eby wipes out oversight of public service firings introduced by his NDP predecessor Back to video

The ombudsperson branded the health firings as a “wrong and unjust decision with far-reaching consequences” in a report issued on the eve of the 2017 provincial election.

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The Horgan-led New Democrats dramatized the case in the campaign. The firings — particularly the suicide of Rod MacIsaac — helped cost premier Christy Clark her majority.

When Horgan formed a government with the support of the Greens, he set about implementing the ombudsperson recommendations, including an expanded role for the merit commissioner.

The commissioner already had oversight over hirings and promotions in the public sector. Dismissal practices were added through a change in the Public Service Act, introduced by NDP finance minister Carole James in April 2018.

“The legislation will give the merit commissioner the responsibility to ensure that the public service’s practices for just cause terminations are consistent with government processes and standards,” said James.

The finance minister put the measure in context, when she reminded the legislature of the appalling train of events that gave rise to it.

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“Now, 2012, when the Health Ministry fired the employees, may seem like a long time ago to people listening,” she said during debate. “But the individuals that were impacted by the dismissals, including their colleagues, including their families, suffered significantly.

“As we all know, Rod MacIsaac lost his life. It is important that we remember the other researchers whose lives were changed and whose reputations were attacked through this entire process.

“We should be doing everything we can to make sure that a situation like this never occurs again.”

An all-party committee reached a similar conclusion five years later in the first review of the legislation.

“Reviews by the merit commissioner provide important independent oversight of government practices to ensure just cause dismissals are handled appropriately,” said the Nov. 30, 2023, report.

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“The majority of input received during the committee’s consultation indicated that the provisions in the Act related to dismissal process reviews are working as intended, and that the merit commissioner’s work has contributed to improved dismissal practices.”

The only discouraging words during those committee hearings came from the government’s in-house Public Service Agency. It complained that outside scrutiny from the merit commissioner “does create real and substantive resource challenges.”

The agency pleaded for “a lighter approach” on oversight.

Instead, the NDP, B.C. Liberal and Green members recommended the existing “dismissal process reviews should be maintained.” They added nine recommendations “for government to improve investigations of dismissals.”

There matters stood until budget day last week, when the government introduced legislation to abolish the office of the merit commissioner and with it the independent oversight of hirings, promotions and dismissals in the public service.

Finance Minister Brenda Bailey said the oversight will be assumed by the Public Service Agency, the in-house branch of government that two years ago pleaded for relief from the merit commissioner always looking over its shoulder.

“Never mind a lighter touch,” one imagines the New Democrats saying to the agency. “How would it suit you if there were no independent touch whatsoever?”

For as Bailey tells it, the public service agency has adopted the merit principles to such a degree that it needs no outside scrutiny of any kind.

“The PSA is a professional organization that is non-partisan and they’re delivering on these pieces every day, so we’re continuing to do this work within the PSA,” she told the legislature.

In other words “trust us.”

Ombudsperson Jay Chalke made a better case for continued oversight in a presentation to the legislature committee two years ago.

“Unfortunately memories fade over time, policies and personnel change, and good practices can inadvertently erode,” he said. “By establishing a legislative foundation for oversight, the legislative assembly has created an important bulwark against that tendency to forget the lessons of the past.”

He harked back to what James said eight years ago this spring, when addressing whether the legislation would ensure that all future dismissals were done properly.

“No one can say for certain,” said James. “But my hope is that this will give some comfort to the families, to the researchers, to recognize that we have moved ahead, that we are doing everything we can when it comes to systemic reviews, to ensure that this kind of tragedy, this kind of dark mark on the public service, does not occur again and that the checks and balances are in place.”

Today, her successor as finance minister, Brenda Bailey, tells reporters that the health firings were “quite some time ago” and the services of the merit commissioner are no longer needed.

With Bailey and David Eby at the helm, independent oversight of public service hirings and firings has gone the way of balanced budgets and sound fiscal management.

vpalmer@postmedia.com 

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