Hon. Rose-Marie Losier-Cool:

Honourable senators, on the weekend I read an article in Le Devoir that said Environment Canada has loaned out a senior official for one year without pay to Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, an alliance that works for that Alberta industry. I know that public servants sometimes leave their jobs to go work in the private sector, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, this is the first time I have heard of a public servant being temporarily loaned to the private sector. What is more, this public servant, in his work for the federal public service, is being paid to monitor the oil sands industry.

Can the Leader of the Government tell us whether assigning public servants — who are supposed to be neutral and who are paid by taxpayers — to contentious private industries is one of her government's new policies?

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