NDP MLA calls complaint by premier’s adviser intimidation

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This article was published 02/12/2020 (1485 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A top-ranking civil servant in Premier Brian Pallister’s government has filed an unprecedented workplace harassment complaint against an NDP MLA, claiming that comments he made in the legislature amount to bullying and harassment.

The complaint was filed by Treasury Board secretary Paul Beauregard, one of the most senior bureaucrats and a close adviser to the premier. In September, NDP MLA Adrien Sala alleged that Beauregard had improperly directed Manitoba Hydro on a number of business issues, including its decision to award Bell MTS, a company that Beauregard worked for prior to his government job, a $37-million contract extension to manage networking services at government offices across the province.

Eventually, the NDP filed a complaint asking Manitoba’s auditor general to investigate Beauregard’s role in ensuring Bell MTS won the contract extension and whether it constituted a conflict of interest.

In a point of privilege tabled late Wednesday, Sala revealed he is now the subject of a formal investigation under the provincial government’s respectful workplace policy, which was created to give civil servants protection from, and an avenue to complain about, all forms of workplace harassment and abuse.

“(Beauregard) alleged I failed to display respectful behaviour toward him, that I harassed him and bullied him, that I offended and embarrassed him and acted in a way that reflects negatively on this legislature by asking questions of the government and the premier in the legislature,” Sala said in his point of privilege.

Sala called the complaint a thinly veiled attempt to intimidate the NDP, to stop it from digging further into the relationship between Beauregard, Hydro and Bell MTS. The lawyer retained to handle the investigation has so far attempted to ferret out the identify of whistle-blowers that provided information to the NDP.

The use of the workplace harassment complaint process to contest an allegation made in a legislature could be unprecedented in Canadian politics.

Typically, elected officials enjoy legal protection — referred to as privilege — to raise issues in the legislature without fear of legal consequences. If an MLA makes an unfair or inaccurate allegation, another member of the legislature can table a point of privilege. If there is merit to the point of privilege, the Speaker can sanction the MLA in question.

Although it’s a serious matter, it carries no fines or penalties other than a requirement to apologize and withdraw the original comment.

Sala said in his point of privilege that he believes Beauregard’s complaint is an attempt to stop the NDP from raising more questions in the legislature, and to identify whistle-blowers the NDP used to produce evidence of Beauregard’s improper involvement in Manitoba Hydro business.

Beauregard’s motivations were also suspect, Sala said, when the lawyer who is conducting the investigation attempted to get him and other NDP officials to sign non-disclosure agreements, which is unusual within the context of the respectful workplace process.

Beauregard could not be reached for comment.

A spokeswoman for the premier declined to comment directly on the workplace harassment complaint but did note that Pallister has tabled his own point of privilege in protest against the NDP allegations against Beauregard.

When he tabled his point of privilege in late October, Pallister used nearly identical language as Beauregard in his respectful workplace complaint, accusing the NDP of bullying and harassment.

“We understand this is a matter between a civil servant, the Opposition, and the Speaker, so I would suggest you contact the Civil Service Commission or the Speaker’s office for any comment they may have,” the spokeswoman said. “Additionally, this is a matter of privilege that has been taken under advisement by the Speaker, so we are unable to provide any comment until she gives a ruling.”

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca