The “Harperman” protest song is interesting for a number of reasons:
- the person who wrote and sang it is a federal civil servant and is now suspended from his job for an investigation about whether he violated the Federal Government’s employee ethics agreement
At issue is whether Turner violated the code of ethics that all public servants must adhere to — one that mandates they be impartial and non-partisan.
At the same time, the courts have upheld public servants’ right to engage in political activity.
- Part of the question is whether an individual’s Charter right to freedom of expression trumps any employment agreements which is something the Supreme Court has upheld.
- That last point is especially relevant as the songwriter does perform in his personal life, completed this project on his personal time and it has no direct bearing on the type of work he does on a day-to-day basis.
- The song has created a “Streisand Effect” where, by trying to hide/remove/censor something that someone doesn’t like, they actually give it more attention (in fact, this video is heading towards half a million views as I type this)