Neil Fraser (civil servant)
Template:Short description Neil Fraser (born Template:Circa) is a Canadian former civil servant who came to prominence for his crusade against the Metric system of weights and measures in the early 1980s, which resulted in him being fired from his post in the Department of National Revenue on February 23, 1982.<ref name="CBCarchives">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="LP" /><ref>"Metric foe can appeal dismissal top court says", Montreal Gazette, February 9, 1983, p. A-8, retrieved 2010-11-25</ref>
Legal battle
Fraser fought his dismissal with the Public Service Staff Relations Board in April 1982, but the board ruled that his dismissal was justified.<ref name="CBCarchives"/> He appealed the board's decision to the Federal Court of Appeal, who dismissed his appeal in November 1982.<ref name="CBCarchives"/> Fraser then appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.<ref name="CBCarchives"/> The Court dismissed Fraser's appeal, agreeing that while public servants are allowed to express some degree of government criticism, it is possible to go so far as to impair the ability to do the job properly.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Court stated that Fraser's criticisms took on a "vitriolic tone, even to the point of being vicious" and he refused to stop.<ref name="CBCarchives"/>
Candidate for 1983 Progressive Conservative leadership
To promote his campaign against the Metric system, he ran as a candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada at the 1983 leadership convention.<ref name="LP">"Anti-metric man, Neil Fraser, joins race for Tory leadership", Leader-Post, April 6, 1983, p. A13, retrieved 2010-11-25</ref>
Fraser's campaign had no visible followers.Template:Sfn Granted the same nationally televised 25 minutes as the other candidates for his convention address, Fraser engaged in a bizarre speech that likened Confederation to a blood transfusion to Quebec.Template:Sfn Lise Bissonnette commented that if the speech had been heard on Radio-Canada, it would have set the Tories' Quebec efforts back 10 years.Template:Sfn He finished last, with five votes.