Is the arrest in Canada of the worker who released the envirnomental policy a witch hunt?

From what I've read is he was a contract employee (ie not an official public employee) who took it upon himself to release impending legislation for his own reasons (from the note he put on the fax) although he signed a confidentiality agreement. The leak did not involve any illegal or unethical government actions, and was not of information the government was trying to hide (they were going to release it themselves). From what I see, this is not a whistleblower but rather someone with an agenda violating their contractual obligations. Can someone please explain how this is considered a 'witch hunt' by the media, unions and civil rights groups?