Giddiness is not ever what one expects to witness inside Ottawa’s Lester B. Pearson Building, whose early 1970s Brutalist design evokes heavier emotions. The more than 3,000 federal public servants who work in the hulking Sussex Drive office complex, home to Global Affairs Canada, are a generally stern lot known for seriousness and straight faces.in the Pearson Building after being sworn in as Prime Minister in 2015, there was much giddiness, indeed.
More than eight years later, those words ring hollow. Mr. Trudeau has centralized power and control in the PMO to an extent his father could never have dreamed of. Ottawa’s newest programs appear to have been designed to generate favourable headlines for an unpopular government. They are eerily reminiscent of policy flops such as the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive or the Canada Digital Adoption Program, announced to great fanfare, only to be quietly scrapped this year.
“The notion that the public service has no constitutional personality distinct from the government of the day, and which has underpinned our parliamentary system, just does not work any more,” says Donald Savoie, the Canada Research Chair in public administration and governance at the University of Moncton, and expert on the federal public service.
The relationship between the Mulroney PMO and the public service did not turn out to be nearly as toxic as expected. After naming Paul Tellier as PCO clerk in 1985, Mr. Mulroney came to respect and rely on his policy advice and that of his deputy ministers. This was evident in the decision to implement a politically unpopular value-added tax on goods and services to replace an existing levy on manufacturers that had penalized Canadian exports.
“delivery officers” responsible for tracking progress on the realization of Liberal campaign promises. Making ministerial mandate letters public was touted as an example of the Liberal commitment to running a more “” government. But the Liberal mandate letters amounted to an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink list of priorities rather than a focused or realistic agenda.
“Some participants noted that serving the government of the day can feel like censorship or a loss of one’s own voice … This includes having to have a social media presence that is aligned with values and ethics principles – including the need to respect non-partisanship as part of demonstrating respect for democracy,” theThe picture that emerges from the report is that of a stifling work environment, with many public servants unclear about where to draw the line between their own political...
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