OTTAWA • Bureaucrats tried to stymie a report by Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie that calls for deep cuts to civilian ranks at National Defence Headquarters, interfering in his study months before the still secret document was finished.
“The team was directed to stop further work on the civilian structures in late November,” says the report, parts of which were shared with Postmedia News on Friday.
Lt.-Gen. Leslie was named chief of transformation in June 2010 after finishing his term as chief of land staff. Assisted by a team of military and civilian staff, he spent the last year preparing a report on how to make the Canadian Forces a leaner, meaner and more cost-effective organization.
But he began encountering resistance some six months before the tough report was finished.
Lt.-Gen. Leslie writes that his team had only examined the top two layers of the civilian bureaucracy — the deputy minister and assistant deputy ministers — before the order to halt was given in November. The report does not specify who gave the order to stop examining the civilian side of the department.
“At that point we had only examined the senior levels — levels 1 and 2 — and had not yet had time to drill down below the level 2 (assistant deputy ministers),” the report says.
His team reported only to Deputy Minister Robert Fonberg and Chief of Defence Staff General Walter Natynczyk. In his report, Lt.-Gen. Leslie writes that his superior said NDHQ’s civilian staff was none of his concern.
His report has been circulating within the military for more than a month. Despite repeated requests, bureaucrats and political staff have refused to release the report to the public.
One of Lt.-Gen. Leslie’s 43 recommendations was to cut 3,500 civil-service jobs from the department, as well as 3,500 regular force positions at headquarters that “serve little purpose.”
John MacLennan, the national president of the Union of National Defence Employees, said Mr. Fonberg briefed union chiefs and told them staffing cuts were coming, but did not say how many positions would be eliminated.
Mr. MacLennan said the unions have not been consulted on the upcoming staffing cuts.
Even before the report was released, Lt.-Gen. Leslie writes, internal resistance to his recommendations was already crystallizing.
“[At] a large meeting in December 2010 involving the generals, admirals and senior DND civil servants … it became apparent the tendency was to argue for the preservation of the status quo,” the report says.
“Though grimly amusing, these interactions proved that consensus has not and probably never will be achieved on any significant change.”
Of the 28,000 civilians working for the department, union president Mr. MacLennan said, many — such as technicians and cooks — are essential. He said he expects cuts to focus on the mass of about 4,000 managers and desk jockeys at NDHQ.
“The bloating of the organization is the bureaucrats,” he said.
David Bercuson, director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary, said cutting military bureaucracies is never easy.
“Militaries are inherently conservative bureaucracies and they don’t like change,” he said.
Mr. Bercuson said such cuts will need a strong minister, who isn’t afraid to “stand on the necks” of officials and force staffing cuts through.
He said he does not see Defence Minister Peter MacKay — who has not commented on the report — as taking the leadership required.
NDP defence critic Jack Harris called the revelations of bureaucratic growth in the report “shocking,” particularly given “massive failings” in areas such as procurement.
“It does echo some other complaints about the headquarters and the bureaucracy being bloated, and at the same time the people on the front line are being underserviced,” he said.
Mr. Harris said he has not received the report, and called on Mr. MacKay to release it “right away.”
He said it is wrong that services provided by the military — such as maritime search and rescue — are being downgraded while more and more bureaucrats are hired in Ottawa.
“That’s a bit of a shock when you see the bureaucracy itself increasing substantially when there is work that needs to be done is not being done,” he said.
