The NDP and Liberal candidates in Ottawa Centre were out courting the public service vote Friday — a necessity in a city with roughly 300,000 public servants.

Paul Dewar, incumbent NDP candidate for Ottawa Centre, says the public service has been muzzled under the Conservatives. (Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press)NDP candidate Paul Dewar and Liberal candidate Scott Bradley held separate news conferences outside Tunney's Pasture, where many federal ministries and agencies are located.

Bradley said he would give the public service a stronger voice by creating a subcommittee of Parliament.

"There's such an environment of fear," he said. "A culture of fear in the government right now that they can't speak out. They're worried about their jobs. It's not healthy."

Critics point to the resignation of Canada's head statistician, Munir Sheikh, over the cancellation of the mandatory long-form census.

Dewar, the incumbent, said the public service is a muzzled institution.

If re-elected, he says he'll improve legislation to protect whistleblowers like Richard Colvin, the diplomat who spoke out about allegations that Afghan authorities were torturing detainees after they were handed over to them by Canadian soldiers.

Dewar says he's against the proposal in this year's federal budget to cut billions from the public service over the next five years.

Ottawa Centre Liberal candidate Scott Bradley says he will create a subcommittee of Parliament to better deal with the concerns of public servants. (CBC)

"We think there are savings that can be made in capping some of the costs for contracting out and for temporary help agencies," he said. "[But] the $4 billion the government says is going to be through just attrition, well, attrition is code for 'We're not going to hire people.' "

The Conservative candidate for Ottawa Centre, Damian Konstantinakos, did not make himself available for an interview.