Saskatchewan's Public Service Commission has issued a scathing indictment of the government's decision to fire professional civil servants when it took over after the last election.

Commissioners with the province's human resources agency say such firings destroy trust and create an environment of intimidation that's not good for the government, the civil service or the people of Saskatchewan.

The recently released ruling comes in response to an appeal filed by former assistant deputy minister of labour Allan Walker, who was fired on Jan. 24. Dozens of other civil servants were also fired about the same time.

In a 19-page decision, the commission said the government did not have sufficient cause to fire Walker. It said he should be put on a list to be rehired as a senior manager and should receive the equivalent of his salary from the time he was fired to the end of July. It's also recommended Walker be paid while he's on the rehire list until August 2009.

'To arbitrarily end the careers of competent public leaders without cause based on political direction sends a message to the remaining and prospective employees that a public service career is at best a matter of who you know rather than what you know or what you are capable of accomplishing.' —Public Service Commission

However, the commissioners' comments go beyond the single case, criticizing the general practice of firing classified civil servants — that is, professional civil servants who compete for their jobs and aren't political appointees — whenever there's a change in government.

"To arbitrarily end the careers of competent public leaders without cause based on political direction sends a message to the remaining and prospective employees that a public service career is at best a matter of who you know rather than what you know or what you are capable of accomplishing," the commission said.

Deputy Premier Ken Krawetz, who was the politician in charge of the firings after the Saskatchewan Party took over from the New Democrats last fall, said the government will respect the decision, but it doesn't like it.

"It places some constraints on our government as well as future governments to be able to move forward with the people that they feel are needed to move the direction of a new government," he said.

Krawetz has said that civil servants need to share the philosophy of the premier, but the commission says that's wrong. Professional civil servants must be able to "speak truth to power" and should give their honest opinion about public policy, even if it's unpopular, the decision said.

"If a public service employee fears jobs loss, then advising the government of the day that what they are considering is not the best plan or approach, for whatever reason, is very unlikely," the commission said.

The commission also said that when governments change, there's no need for dismissals in the classified service.

NDP MLA Pat Atkinson said she agreed with that approach and added the public will end up paying for the government's mistakes in these kinds of cases.

"If you go through a competitive process and you get your job through a competitive process, there should be absolutely no political interference," she said.

Ken Rasmussen, the Regina-based director of Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, has been critical of the Saskatchewan Party civil service firings, but also says the NDP is not innocent here, either.

What the commission said in its decision is less an indictment of the Saskatchewan Party than it is of the history of Saskatchewan politics, he said.

The practice of firing civil servants, then hiring new bureaucrats, has been done by all parties since the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, including Liberal and Conservative governments, he said.

"There is justifiable suspicion on the part of any new party that comes into power that the previous party salted away too many of its supporters and they need to ensure that the bureacracy is not going to subvert their agenda or provide confidential information to the opposition or things like that," he said.

"So I think it does take a certain amount of trust at some point to overcome those fears and certainly stronger and more forceful legislation."

The way to break the cycle of firings and hirings is a bipartisan agreement to stop and perhaps tougher laws to ensure that, Rasmussen said.