Government trying to 'bully' public servants: accused leaker

Last Updated: Thursday, May 10, 2007 | 10:27 PM ET

CBC News

A federal bureaucrat who was arrested amid accusations that he leaked a draft of the Tories' climate change plan says the threat of prosecution is "vengeful" and part of the government's bid to intimidate public servants.

Jeff Monaghan, at the news conference Thursday, called the proposed charges an 'extension of a government-wide communication strategy pinned on secrecy intimidation and centralization.'
(CBC)

Jeff Monaghan, an employee at Environment Canada, was arrested and led away in handcuffs from his office early Wednesday as co-workers looked on. At a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday, Monaghan called it a "politically engineered raid of my workplace."

"The spectacle of my arrest, the subsequent RCMP press release and the prepared statements from Environment Canada, including [Environment Minister John] Baird, have been crafted to bully public servants," he said.

Monaghan, 27, also called the proposed charges "vengeful" and an "extension of a government-wide communication strategy pinned on secrecy, intimidation and centralization."

The RCMP said they arrested Monaghan for allegations of breach of trust under the Criminal Code. He is accused of leaking details from a draft version of the government's regulatory framework for climate change. No charges have been laid and the investigation is continuing, police said.

"An employee who violates the terms of their workplace security clearance, including the release of secret documents, may be subjected to legal consequences, including criminal charges," RCMP Supt. Stan Burke — the officer in charge of financial integrity — said in a news release Wednesday.

Police said they received a complaint on April 17 that a secret draft copy of the climate change section of the government's Eco-Action Plan had been leaked to the media and environmentalists.

Baird said the arrest was a signal to other government employees that leaks of information wouldn't be tolerated.

But Monaghan, whose job was to monitor news reports about the government, said Thursday the proposed charges are "without precedent" in the extent to which they are disproportionate to the alleged offence.

Government the one breaking laws: Monaghan

Monaghan accused the government of using phrases such as "responsible process" and "obedience for the law" as justification for what he called a "witchhunt against the lowest-ranking temp employee in the department and possibly the entire government."

He said it was the government — in particular, the Environment Department — that was undermining due process and legal commitments by breaking the country's obligations under the international Kyoto treaty.

Under the government's newest plan, Canada would reduce its current greenhouse-gas emissions by 150 million tonnes by 2020, and most industries would be required to become 18 per cent more energy efficient by 2010.

The new plan means Canada will be at least a decade behind meeting the obligations it agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol.

Monaghan refused to answer questions from reporters after he read a prepared statement at his news conference.

But he did say he got his short-term contract at the media monitoring section of Environment Canada through a human resources firm in order to sidestep government employment procedures.

Drummer with punk band

Monaghan is a member of a collective that recently opened an anarchist bookstore in downtown Ottawa. He's also a drummer with the punk band The Suicide Pilots, which has an album called Rock Against Harper.

The band webpage on MySpace depicts a plane flying into the Peace Tower on Ottawa's Parliament Hill.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said the treatment of Monaghan seems heavy-handed.

"It looks like indeed an attempt of intimidation and this is going very very far, very very far although I have no sympathy at all for leaks," he said.

NDP environment critic Nathan Cullen said whoever leaked the information could be seen as a whistleblower.

"If the government has come forward and decided to break its own international commitments and an employee of the government says the government is about to break the international law — one can construe that as whistleblowing."

The government leaks documents all the time, Cullen said. But when it comes to the environment, he said, the government has a double standard.

With files from the Canadian Press