An Alberta Agriculture employee who sent an offensive e-mail to a website supporting the Canadian Wheat Board has reportedly been suspended without pay for two months.
Alberta government officials refused to identify the employee or provide any details as to punishment, citing privacy rules.
However, they didn’t deny a published report that the employee was suspended for two months without pay.
“We followed due process and took appropriate action,” said spokesperson Donna Babchishin. “The issue has been dealt with.”
Opposition agriculture critic Hugh MacDonald said that’s not good enough.
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“I think the person responsible for sending this e-mail should be fired,” he said in an interview last week.
“This has been a poor reflection on this province and on the rest of the civil service.”
The e-mail was sent to the website www.savemycwb.ca on the afternoon of March 14. The internet address at the bottom of the message identified it as coming from an Alberta Agriculture computer.
The one paragraph message calls single desk supporters “communists,” tells them to go back to school and get a job, accuses them of living off taxpayers and makes crude references to breast-feeding.
It concludes by saying: “The day the CWB crumbles … I will seriously laugh my head off at you guys (because) then you’re really screwed.”
The e-mail was signed by “Amber.” While it originated from a government computer, it was sent via a personal e-mail account.
Babchishin said the government’s main concern in dealing with the controversy was the improper use of a government computer.
“It’s not so much a question of what went out in the e-mail, it’s the practice that’s at issue,” she said.
When news of the e-mail first surfaced, provincial agriculture minister George Groeneveld disavowed the message, saying it in no way reflected Alberta government views on the CWB’s single desk or its supporters.
However, some critics said that the disparaging remarks are an almost inevitable product of the Alberta government’s constant criticism of the CWB and single desk selling over the years.
NDP agriculture critic Dave Eggen said the individual was reflecting the attitude that has existed in the agriculture department and Tory caucus for a long time and was probably surprised to be disciplined.
MacDonald wants Groeneveld to send a formal letter of apology to be posted on savemycwb.ca.
“I’ve asked and received no response,” he said. “It’s probably not going to happen.”
He also wants the provincial human rights commission to investigate the matter.
