Globe and Mail, Sept 6 2012: An Ottawa-area Conservative MP says Canada’s largest union of federal public servants shouldn’t have endorsed separatist parties during the Quebec election and is calling for new rules allowing members to opt out of paying dues.

The proposal from MP Pierre Poilievre is similar to “right-to-work” legislation that has been adopted by more than 20 U.S. states, provoking heated debate and resistance from unions.

“I cannot imagine how it could possibly be in the interests of a Canadian public servant for the union to back a separatist party,” Mr. Poilievre said in an interview. “And yet that is precisely what PSAC has done.”

A day before Tuesday’s Quebec election, the National Capital Region branch of the Public Service Alliance of Canada announced the results of its assessment of the Quebec parties “on the basis of their positions on workers’ and citizens’ rights, public services and unions.”

Based on that criteria, it ranked the Parti Québécois first, Québec Solidaire (which also supports a sovereign Quebec) second, followed by the Liberal Party and the Coalition Avenir Québec. Keep reading