A Conservative communications official who was suspended during the election campaign for accusing a dead soldier's father of partisanship is back on the job.

Ryan Sparrow has returned to his post as the federal party's spokesman. News organizations received notice Tuesday of next month's Conservative party national convention in Winnipeg under Sparrow's name.

Despite offering a number for followup media inquiries, Sparrow did not return calls from the Canadian Press.

The Conservatives suspended Sparrow on Sept. 11 after he sent CTV an e-mail that suggested Jim Davis — the father of Cpl. Paul Davis who was killed in Afghanistan in 2006 — was driven by partisan considerations when he criticized Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Davis was upset that Harper had announced during the campaign that the Canadian military would leave Afghanistan in 2011, regardless of whether the military job is finished.

Sparrow's e-mail to CTV noted that Davis was a supporter of Liberal Michael Ignatieff. The Conservatives suspended him as soon as the story became public.

Harper called the e-mail "inappropriate" and said it called into question "the motivation of a father of a deceased Canadian soldier."

The story appeared to touch a nerve, as Sparrow drew criticism from opposition politicians and the public alike. Online news accounts of the sacking of the obscure, 20-something backroom operative garnered literally hundreds of comments.

Davis said his criticism of Harper had nothing to do with politics.

"I would never ever politicize my son's death or any soldier's death. I'm speaking as a father," he said at the time.

But Davis also accepted a personal apology from Sparrow and said he was unhappy to see the party spokesman suspended from his job.

"I accepted his apology and I hope there are no consequences against him. It was just the heat of the moment. I forgive him," Davis told the Canadian Press in a September interview.

"Suspend him? That's politics. That's being ridiculous."