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The suspended federal scientist whose political protest song Harperman has taken the Internet by storm is becoming a folk hero and might unwittingly make the role of Canada’s impartial public service into an election issue.

The suspension of Tony Turner, an Environment Canada scientist in habitat planning, for writing and performing the song has opened a Pandora’s box of colliding views over public servants’ political rights, freedom of expression, government control, and the very tradition of a non-partisan public service.

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Turner was sent home several weeks ago on leave with pay pending the department’s investigation into the making of Harperman. The song trended on Twitter and gained tens of thousands of plays on YouTube after revelations of Turner’ suspensions. From about 50,000 views by last Friday, the song had racked up more than 416,000 by Monday.

Turner is being investigated for a breach of the public service’s ethics code. The issue is whether Turner breached the code’s conflict of interest provisions, with his private interests as a songwriter conflicting with his work as a public servant.