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And it remains an area of heightened scrutiny in the run up to the May 9 election.

“It makes me catch my breath because it’s very transparent what’s happening here,” said veteran political scientist Norman Ruff. “It shows just how fine the line has become between political communications and government communications.

“The thing that leaves me flabbergasted is the notion you can take a day off and what you do on your day off doesn’t affect your new job.”

Government’s standards of conduct allow non-partisan civil servants to do political work for a party on their own time, but forbid the mixing of public and party work.

“Like in any large organization, there are often employees that are active in various causes outside of their profession, including politics,” said Matt Gordon, the assistant deputy minister of government communications.

“As is standard practice, government communications and public engagement staff members can only participate in these activities outside business hours, unless they take an official leave of absence without pay to do so.”

All parties exploit this grey area, including staff in the legislature who are paid using public funds to work for cabinet ministers, the Opposition NDP caucus or B.C. Green MLA Andrew Weaver. They can work directly for political parties on evenings and weekends, and many also take leaves of absence to help on election campaigns or even run as candidates.

The NDP had no comment for this story.