To Bar Reds From Positions In Civil Service

“Screening” of applicants for Civil Service positions with a view to barring from the Service Communists, persons of doubtful loyalty and fellow-travellers, is proceeding with renewed stringency, The Journal learned today.

A “purge” of the Canadian public service parallel to that now ordered in the United States by President Truman was actually in effect last year by special RCMP investigators at the time of the espionage arrests. Scrutiny of candidates for jobs is still being aggressively carried out.

Commissioner S.T. Wood, RCMP, told The Journal that the screening process of applicants for Civil Service posts is being carried out “for certain positions”. Any of suspected loyalty are checked over, he said, for criminal records, and their antecedents investigated. In cases of those of doubtful loyalty, reports are made and their applications quietly dropped by the Civil Service Commission.

Setting up of a Parliamentary Committee parallel to the Congressional Committee in the United States to investigate subversive activities of persons either within or outside the Civil Service, has not yet been discussed.

One result of the report of the Royal Commission on Official Secrets, The Journal is informed, is that a number of persons in the Service with Communist leanings or associations, quietly resigned their posts, thus facilitating a widespread “weeding out” process.

Surest check on the loyalty or subversive activities of persons in the Civil Service, officials admitted, is the constant vigilance of their office associates. Any attempt on the part of disloyal civil servants to spread doctrine of Communism or anarchy in the Service during business hours would be speedily reported by fellow-employees to the proper authorities.