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Anarchy for the BC Public Service in Regard to Conflict of Interest Law: “There are no laws per se”.



By Sasha Izard
Dec 12, 2024


On December 12, 2024, I sent the following email to the Public Sector Employers’ Council Secretariat (PSEC) of the Province of British Columbia:


Hello PSEC,

I found this webpage and found it to be a helpful guide.

While I understand that it is a guide, what are the actual laws regarding conflict of interest for Public Service employees?

Standards of Conduct for BC Public Service employees – Province of British Columbia

Thank you,
Sasha Izard

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PSEC responded several hours later:

Hello Sasha

Thank you for your query on the specific policies in the BC Public Service on conflict of interest.  There are no laws per se but rather policies that employees of the BC Public Service are subject to under the Standards of Conduct.

Here is a link to where this is more fully outlined:  What is a conflict of interest in the BC Public Service? – Province of British Columbia

We hope this information helps.

Thanks again for your question.

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I responded,

Hi PSEC,

Thank you for your response. 

It is both helpful and enlightening,

My only question is, are there any repercussions listed, or outlined for conflict of interest by BC Public Services employees, in the BC Public Service’s Standards of Conduct, and in any policy of the BC Public Service?

Thank you again,
Sasha

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While this dialogue will likely continue, the basic fact that I suspected from the beginning, hence why I asked the initial question has been confirmed: “There are no laws per se” regarding conflict of interest for employees of the BC Public Service, at least not from the Provincial government. It is possible that some federal regulations in this regard might apply for BC Public Service employees, although if they do PSEC made no mention of any.

In other words, to take both my findings from BC, and PSEC’s claim that that there are no laws per se in this regard for employees of the BC Public Service, I think it is only fair, to say that from the Province at the very least, a complete lack of regulation regarding its own public service employees, indicates that it has left the door wide open for anarchy in terms of conflict of interest to thrive without legal checks against abuse in this regard, from its own public service.

Even if the BC Public Service has its own policies in place to fill the vacuum coming from the Province, as a result of not having any actual binding laws in regard to conflict of interest by Public Service employees; the fact that the Public Service was left to its own devices by the Province in this regard is alarming enough.

Without actual laws in place to protect against conflict of interest from public service employees; policy at a lower level is hardly more than a guide, perhaps left to HR or senior management to mull over in such instances regarding employees, perhaps to move them around to a different position, if a conflict in their current role becomes apparent.

Under the link provided by PSEC titled: What is a conflict of interest in the BC Public Service? (Accessed: Dec 12, 2024) the only link for reporting such issues is by the Public Service employees themselves, if they consider that they may be in a position of conflict in their roles. In other words, self-reporting.

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Conclusion:

As is so often the case with the Province of BC, a facade of a regulated institution there to protect the public interest in the practice of democracy, rapidly evaporates with only a question or two; in this case, only a single question:

What are the actual laws regarding conflict of interest for Public Service employees

Apparently, in B.C., there are none.

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Addendum: The Dialogue Continued.

After I wrote this article, PSEC continued the dialogue, albeit with a common and much documented bureaucratic response, by answering a question that I didn’t ask:

“Hello – The BC Ombudsperson’s Office investigates complaints from members of the public who feel they have been treated unfairly by a broad range of public bodies. We believe this would be the appropriate place to provide your information.”


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Hello PSEC,


Thank you for your response.


My question wasn’t about people being treated unfairly.

It is whether or not a member of the public can report conflict of interest, or potential conflict of interest by an employee of the BC Public Service.

Is this possible, or not?

Thank you,
Sasha 


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As an aside (not a part of the dialogue):

This might as well be a time to mention another phony government watchdog, the Ombudsperson’s Office, aka the biggest joke in the BC government.

The Ombudsperson’s Office appears only interested in one’s personal pronouns and whether or not one feels that they have been treated unfairly.

Anything else they do not want to hear about it seems.

Why?, because the Ombudsperson’s Office appears to be merely there to fulfill the Official Apology Act of BC. As long as someone is given an apology (which could take years with the speed of the Ombudspersons Office), they can hopefully forget about it by then, let bygones be bygones, pack their bags and nothing more to see here folks, move along:

For anything else the Ombudspersons Office will do everything it can to not deal with an issue, claim, it’s not under their jurisdiction, or it will point someone to the LG’s Office, which in turn will point back at the Ombudspersons’ Office and back and forth, on and on etc. It’s a bad joke and the joke is on the BC Public, who have no real avenues of addressing valid complaints against government processes and abuses, except in the court room and that will cost the public dearly, which makes it more of a looming penalty/discouragement for the public most of the time. In a case of conflict of interest involving an employee of the public service, it would be a complete waste of money and time, because apparently there are no laws against conflict of interest for the Public Service..

By focusing only on a person’s feelings, rather than on the content of serious complaints that can include abuses of power and conflict of interest in the government, the Ombudsperson’s office also has the effect of essentially gaslighting the complainant, e.g. by making it seem that it is just their feelings being hurt, not an important issue, and I would suggest with a subtle implication that the complainant is simply too thin-skinned. They just need to toughen up and accept whatever the government may be doing, however unethical.


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With that in mind, I responded to PSEC:

Hello PSEC,

Thank you for your response.

My question wasn’t about people being treated unfairly.

It is whether or not a member of the public can report conflict of interest, or potential conflict of interest by an employee of the BC Public Service.

Is this possible, or not?

Thank you,
Sasha 

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PSEC responded:

Yes, I think you can use the office of the Ombudsperson for that kind of matter. 

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Hi PSEC,

Myself and others have observed that the office of the Ombudsperson, which only seems to be interested as you noted in whether or not a person’s feelings have been hurt, could take well over a year before doing anything.

If there is a conflict of interest, it would be imperative to end the conflict of interest immediately rather than wait for well into the future for that possibility.

Would it not be possible to contact one of the ethics advisors that you mentioned?

Thank you again,
Sasha

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PSEC responded:

Hello,

People how are not B.C. Public Service employees and wish to advise about a possible conflict of BCPSA employees can reach the PSA by phone:
Select option 2 on the keypad

Monday to Friday
Toll free 1-877-277-0772

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Thank you,

That is helpful, 

Is there an email that the PSA can be reached at?

Thank you again,
Sasha

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PSEC has so far not responded to this last question.

The reason I asked it, is because there it is one thing to tell someone something on the phone, it is another to have a record of the communication.

So far, I have seen no avenues for communication on the record to government for reporting by the public conflict of interest, or potential conflict of interest in the BC Public Service.

In addition, according to PSEC as mentioned previously, there are no actual laws against conflict of interest for the BC Public Service. (I’m still not sure if federal laws wouldn’t cover such issues). While there are guidelines for the Public Service, including a Standards of Conduct, guidelines tend to be vague and open to interpretation, not only by the nature of being guidelines, but a guideline is not a law, so there is no solid recourse in BC Law against conflict of interest in the Public Service before the courts.