Reference no: EM133683832

Alistair has worked as a front desk clerk at a government driver's licence office in Burnaby for about five years. He is known to be very pleasant and polite; he always goes out of his way to be helpful to people. He has always received excellent performance evaluations at work.

One day Alistair is called into his supervisor's office. His supervisor begins by explaining that the BC government has just passed a statute entitled the Excellence in Public Service Act. According to Alistair's supervisor, this means that all government offices are now expected to review how they provide public services with a view to always trying to create "the most excellent customer service experience in the world" (never put it past governments to slip into hyperbole at times ... remember the licence places a few years ago that referred to BC as "The Best Place on Earth"?).

To this point in the meeting Alistair is quite encouraged - after all, he has always been polite and helpful with people, and he figures that he has been called in for this meeting to discuss his ideas for increasing the level of excellence in public service at the office. However, Alistair is in for a shock.

Alistair's supervisor explains that, under the Excellence in Public Service Act, excellence in customer service means ensuring customers have the best possible experience in government offices and this means ensuring all government offices are the most beautiful environments possible. To this end, it has been determined that people really prefer to be around attractive people more than unattractive people. Consequently, as his supervisor puts it, "We've decided to change things around here and employ only the most beautiful people we can."

Alistair's supervisor then informs him that he is being fired. She says "I really believe in being very honest, so I'm going to tell you exactly why you are being fired. It's because you're ugly. You have an oddly-shaped head, and your facial features are not symmetrical. You are bald. Your eyes are too far apart, you have no chin ... I could go on, but I don't want to hurt your feelings."

Understandably, Alistair is devastated.

Question:

If this goes to court and the government loses (meaning a court concludes the government has violated one of Alistair's Charter rights, and it is not a reasonable limit under section 1) is there anything the government can do to ensure the Excellence in Public Service Act (and the "beautification" plan) is law (or becomes valid law)?