General versus Economist

[Edward Campbell]

John Knubley did his MA at Oxford in PP&E (Philosophy, Politics (Political Science) and Economics), the courses designed for the political/public service classes.

 

[Edward Campbell]

According to a report in the Globe and Mail, "Yaprak Baltacioğlu, currently DM of Transport Canada, becomes Secretary of the Treasury Board," so that leaves three of those named by the rumour mill in the running for Clerk: Charette, Knubley and Rosenberg.

 

[Infanteer]

That's got to be one of the most difficult names to pronounce that I've ever seen.

 

[Edward Campbell]

That's got to be one of the most difficult names to pronounce that I've ever seen.

Do you suppose we could call her Mrs Fonberg?  :

 

[dapaterson]

Do you suppose we could call her Mrs Fonberg?  :

No.  She's now Secretary of the TB.  If we know what's good for us, we''ll call the DND DM Mr. Baltacioğlu.

 

[Edward Campbell]

No.  She's now Secretary of the TB.  If we know what's good for us, we''ll call the DND DM Mr. Baltacioğlu.

:goodpost:  &  :rofl:

 

[The Bread Guy]

No.  She's now Secretary of the TB.  If we know what's good for us, we''ll call the DND DM Mr. Baltacioğlu.

Milpoints inbound!

 

[Retired AF Guy]

That's got to be one of the most difficult names to pronounce that I've ever seen.

I would take a WAG and say its Turkish.

 

[a_majoor]

This may not be the correct thread, but it seems appropriate in terms of who is actually in charge here:

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/10/15/john-ivison-stepehn-harper-yes-minister/

John Ivison: Harper’s civil service shuffle an attempt to make ‘Yes, Minister’ actually mean something

John Ivison | Oct 15, 2012 6:50 PM ET | Last Updated: Oct 15, 2012 6:51 PM ET
More from John Ivison

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul ChiassonPrime Minister Stephen Harper at the Francophonie Summit in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sunday, October 14, 2012. Harper initiated a major civil service shuffle on Monday.

Ottawa positively hummed with speculation about a major shuffle in the upper reaches of the public service Monday — a story I suggested on Twitter was important because “these are the people who really run the country.”

Not so, responded Ian Brodie, Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff : “I’m pretty sure the guy who moves them is the one who really runs the country.”

Related
John Ivison: Conservative backbench has lost its fear of Stephen Harper
John Ivison: Conservatives fear Justin Trudeau’s drawing power could create Obama-like surge
John Ivison: Kenney defies PM over abortion motion as leadership jockeying begins
The tension between bureaucrats and their political bosses is legendary, inspiring some comedy gold. “The Opposition aren’t really the opposition.

They are only the government in exile. The civil service are the opposition in residence,” said Jim Hacker, in the fictional, yet eerily authentic, Yes Minister.

Life imitated art in the U.K. this week when Francis Maude, the Conservative Cabinet Office minister, condemned the behaviour of some public service mandarins as “unacceptable,” for covertly refusing to carry out the orders of their ministers.

Relations have not broken down as openly in this country but senior political aides complain bitterly that the system in Canada, as in the U.K., is too dependent on unelected officials. “While we needn’t become the U.S. system, there is definitely room for more political ownership of government operations,” he said.

The Prime Minister appears to agree, given the nature of the shuffle that duly followed late Monday. It saw eight government departments get new bosses, the most significant of which was the move to replace Michelle d’Auray with Yaprak Baltacioglu as Secretary of the Treasury Board. Ms. d’Auray becomes the new deputy minister of Public Works.

In his typically blunt style, Mr. Harper was telling the bureaucracy that he is taking back government and they had best not get in his way.

In her previous portfolio at Transport, Ms. Baltacioglu’s built a reputation for getting things done, by shovelling billions of dollars in stimulus spending out of the door with minimal fuss, beyond one minister being accused of spreading $50-million of pork around his riding.

Now she will be asked to steer through reforms geared to ending age-old entitlements marbled throughout the system.

There is an element of Yes Minister to the fact she is being asked to do so at the behest of Tony Clement, the “Muskoka minister” at the centre of pork-barreling allegations.

The Treasury Board minister is now re-applying for admission to the league of conservative gentlemen by prosecuting, with some vigour, a campaign to weed out Spanish practices and waste in government operations.

He has been named head of a Cabinet sub-committee looking at further efficiencies across all departments, described as “a strategic review on steroids” by one senior Conservative.

In recent months, Treasury Board has introduced new rules that will see ministers required to approve spending for all departmental events that cost more than $25,000; eliminated overtime for ministerial drivers; ended parking subsidies for federal executives; brought thousands more public servants under the authority of the Lobbying Act; banned March Madness, when departments rush to spend their operating budgets before the fiscal year end; and, required public servants to get ministerial approval before sub-contracting to former bureaucrats.

Every one of these welcome initiatives is said to have been resisted in some form by senior public servants. When it came to including more bureaucrats under the Lobbying Act, a move aimed at making sure there is fairness in the awarding of lucrative government contracts, it is understood the Prime

Minister had to step in to push through the reform.

There is some surprise in Ottawa that Wayne Wouters, Ottawa’s most senior public servant, has decided to hang around, given the prospect for further cuts in the bureaucracy. He has been Clerk of the Privy Council for three years, which is about the average tenure for the position. One suggestion is that he is staying to oversee the beauty pageant, as his potential successors vie for the job. Ms. Baltacioglu, his current deputy Janice Charette, Foreign Affairs deputy minister Morris Rosenberg and Industry deputy John Knubley are all considered possible future clerks.

But whoever gets the job, they seem destined to inherit a very different, and likely much reduced, public service. The Conservatives now have a three year window before the next election to make significant cuts in the size and style of government.

The old Yes Minister joke was that civil servants had to fight for the budgets of their departments or they could become so small even politicians could run them. That seems to be exactly Mr. Harper’s intent.

National Post
jivison@nationalpost.com

 

[Edward Campbell]

John Ivison, in today's National Post suggests that tere will soon be a change in Clerk of the Privy Council.

He names two top candidates:

          Yaprak Baltacıoğlu, currently DM of Transport Canada

          Janice Charette, currently Associate Secretary to the Cabinet and Deputy Minister (Intergovernmental Affairs), Privy Council Office

Either will be interested in the management of DND and its budget.

Well, the change that was rumoured nearly two years ago has finally happened. The Ottawa Citizen reports that Janice Charette, Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council and Associate Secretary to the Cabinet, will be the new Clerk in about six weeks time.

Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Ottawa Citizen is her bio, as released by the PMO:

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/background-janice-charette-canadas-next-clerk-of-the-privy-council

Who is Janice Charette? Meet Canada's next Clerk of the Privy Council

OTTAWA CITIZEN

Published on: August 20, 2014

Janice Charette                                                                                                                                                                                      Caroline Phillips / Ottawa Citizen

Janice Charette has been named the new Clerk of the Privy Council, replacing Wayne Wouters, who announced his retirement on Wednesday. Here’s her background:

Education

Carleton University— Bachelor of Commerce (Honours)

Professional Experience

Since November 2010 — Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council and Associate Secretary to the Cabinet
2006 – 2010— Deputy Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development
2004 – 2006— Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
2003 – 2004— Associate Deputy Minister, Health
2002 – 2003— Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Plans and Consultation), Privy Council Office
2000 – 2002— Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Priorities and Planning, Privy Council Office
1999 – 2000— Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy Sector, Justice
1998 – 1999— Director, Transition Team, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
1997 – 1998–  Chief of Staff, Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party
1996 – 1997— Principal, Public Sector/Strategy Practice, Ernst and Young Management Consultants
1994 – 1996— Co-ordinator, Base Closures Task Force, then Director of Operations, Program Review Secretariat, and Executive Director, Strategic Projects Unit, Privy Council Office
1992 – 1993— Senior Departmental Assistant, Office of the Minister of Finance, then Executive Assistant to the Chief of Staff, Office of the Prime Minister
1991 – 1992— Senior Policy Adviser, Federal-Provincial Relations Office
1989 – 1991— Senior Departmental Assistant, Office of the Minister of Finance
1988 – 1989— Policy Analyst, Office of Privatization and Regulatory Affairs
1984 – 1988— Officer, Department of Finance

– Source: Prime Minister’s Office, Citizen files.

 

[Edward Campbell]

There is, for me, anyway, some reassuring news in this report which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/globe-politics-insider/senior-civil-servants-have-the-new-pms-ear-so-far/article27446912/

Senior civil servants have the new PM’s ear – so far

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

Bill Curry
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail

Published Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015

Janice Charette is carrying a heavy load as the new Liberal government finds its feet.

The job of Clerk of the Privy Council is the most senior position in the federal public service. Acting as the deputy minister to the Prime Minister, the Clerk advises the PM on everything he needs to know, from policy problems to looming appointments. The communication goes the other way as well: The Clerk takes note of the Prime Minister’s wishes and gets the public service to deliver.

In an unusual move, Ms. Charette joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his first foreign trip to the G20 summit in Turkey and the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in the Philippines.

The Clerk of the Privy Council doesn’t usually travel abroad with the Prime Minister. However, with so many hours of travel time, the trip presented an opportunity to squeeze in the many briefings Mr. Trudeau required as he met major world leaders for the first time. Domestic issues would likely have been discussed as well. Her deep experience in government surely would have been appreciated by a Prime Minister who has none.

Mr. Trudeau and his small team are leaning heavily on senior PCO staff in the early days.

Since as far back as prime minister Pierre Trudeau in the 1970s, there has been growing concern about the power and influence of political aides working in the Prime Minister’s Office. These are the so-called “boys in short pants” that regularly drew the ire of Conservative MPs and senators under Stephen Harper’s government.

Mr. Trudeau’s Liberals have promised to scale back the influence of PMO staffers. But for the moment, that’s not really an issue. Few senior political aides have actually been hired as the new government pores through résumés in an effort to fill key positions.

Stepping in to fill the void is the PCO, which is the central agency of the public service that serves the Prime Minister and cabinet.

“The question the PMO staff will ask themselves is what is the right balance to be struck and how much can we use the PCO?” said David Zussman, a former senior PCO official who now teaches public sector management at the University of Ottawa. “And frankly the PCO will have to get used to being used in a way that they haven’t been for a long, long time.”

Ms. Charette has experience in both worlds. She was a senior political aide to several cabinet ministers during the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney and was chief of staff to PC Leader Jean Charest when he was in opposition. Links to the since-disbanded Tory party aren’t necessarily a problem for Mr. Trudeau. His Treasury Board President, Scott Brison, was once a member of Mr. Charest’s federal caucus. Mr. Trudeau also called on former deputy minister Peter Harder to lead his transition team and Mr. Harder worked for a time as a Progressive Conservative aide. Further, Ms. Charette’s rise in the public service occurred under both Liberal and Conservative governments.

Mr. Trudeau’s inner circle on his first foreign trip is surprisingly small.

Whether meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama or attending meetings on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, leaders are often allowed to bring only a handful of advisers inside the room. Often, only one other person is allowed.

Those who rotated through these roles last week included Katie Telford, Mr. Trudeau’s chief of staff; Roland Paris, his political adviser on foreign policy who is on leave from the University of Ottawa, and two senior officials from the PCO: Ms. Charette, the Clerk, and John Hannaford, the PCO foreign and defence policy adviser to the Prime Minister.

Senior ministers also sat in on some meetings with Mr. Trudeau. Finance Minister Bill Morneau attended the G20 summit, while Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion and Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland were at the APEC summit.

For the upcoming trip to the Commonwealth summit in Malta and the climate change conference in Paris, Ms. Charette will stay in Ottawa. However, Mr. Hannaford will continue travelling with the Prime Minister as will Dr. Paris. Ms. Telford will be replaced by senior Trudeau adviser Gerald Butts. Mr. Dion will be with the Prime Minister throughout the trip, while Environment Minister Catherine McKenna will join the Prime Minister in Paris.

For Mr. Trudeau, all that time with his new Clerk also gives him a chance to see whether the relationship will last long term.

When Mr. Harper became prime minister, he replaced then-clerk Alex Himelfarb a few weeks after the new government’s swearing in. After a stint as ambassador to Italy, Mr. Himelfarb would go on to be a vocal critic of the Conservatives outside of government, accusing it of “crushing” the progressive state. In 2013 he co-authored a book called Tax Is Not a Four-Letter Word, making it clear that he was not on the same ideological page as Mr. Harper.

Ms. Charette was named Clerk in August, 2014, and started in the position on Oct. 6, 2014. Dr. Zussman said that timeline is among the factors that would make a similarly quick change at the top unlikely.

“Generally speaking, new prime ministers sometimes – I wouldn’t say always, but certainly sometimes – change their clerks,” he said. “This is a bit unusual because Janice has only been in the job for a relatively short time.”

University of Moncton governance professor Donald Savoie agrees that Ms. Charette is likely to stay on with the new government.

“I know enough about the public service to know that she’s had a good reputation over the past 20 years or so,” he said.

I have fairly low expectations for this new, Liberal government. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a couple of excellent ministers and a few good, solid ones, too, but he also has a lot of untried rookies and few "flakes" to go with them. Fortunately we, Canadians, have an excellent public service that offers the prime minister and the cabinet first class advice.

I will not be surprised if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decides he wants a Clerk who is more closely aligned to him but, equally, I will not be surprised if he exercises good judgment and keeps Mme Charette in her office.

There are better voices, in Ottawa, just down the hall from the PMO, than either former Prime Minister Chrétien or Ontario Premier Wynne.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Well, after only 18 months there is, the Ottawa Citizen reports, another new Clerk: Michael Wernick

The article says:

    "Wernick spent eight years as deputy minister at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, considered one of the toughest portfolios in government with its many statutory obligations, historical grievances, endless legal challenges
      and personal relationships to be managed. It also has province-like responsibilities, providing social, health and education services for indigenous people.

      As deputy, Wernick stickhandled the federal government’s attempts to reform First Nations education, which the Conservatives abandoned after the country’s aboriginal chiefs disagreed on the necessary reforms.

      Wernick joined the public service in 1981 as a social policy analyst at Finance and began climbing the ranks."

 

[Old Sweat]

Why does the last sentence of the story not fill me with a rush of confidence in the government's approach to national security?

 

[Journeyman]

Why does the last sentence of the story not fill me with a rush of confidence in the government's approach to national security?

Most Canadians have absolutely no clue how important the Clerk of the Privy Council is.  There's absolutely nothing in that vacuous article or Mr Wernick's background that sparks confidence in this government.

        :not-again:

 

[Edward Campbell]

Most Canadians have absolutely no clue how important the Clerk of the Privy Council is.  There's absolutely nothing in that vacuous article or Mr Wernick's background that sparks confidence in this government.

        :not-again:

My views, from almost 10 years ago, on the first page of this thread are unchanged. Mr Wernick has more influence over defence policy and procurement than Minister Harjit Sajjan and Gen Jon Vance combined, and that, in our tradition, is how it should be.

A lot of people don't like that situation but that only betrays an abysmally shallow knowledge of English political history and theory.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Why does the last sentence of the story not fill me with a rush of confidence in the government's approach to national security?

He's been at PCO since July 2014, and has been Deputy Clerk since fall 2014 (just after the outgoing clerk was appointed - she appears to have done similar tours of duty @ PCO as Wernick before becoming Clerk), so I'm going to guess he's picked up something about national security issues, no? 

 

[Edward Campbell]

He's been at PCO since July 2014, and has been Deputy Clerk since fall 2014 (just after the outgoing clerk was appointed - she appears to have done similar tours of duty @ PCO as Wernick before becoming Clerk), so I'm going to guess he's picked up something about national security issues, no?

Of course he does. It's important to remember than in our tradition of parliamentary democracy, an apoltical and powerful civil service is a key "check" on government. In a majority situation, such as we have now, the civil service is the real opposition. (There is a "Yes, Minister"* quote about that, I'm sure); the civil service has its own, coherent, coordinated strategy; it does not (cannot) always "push" its own positions but it can and does "check" the government. Anyone reaching the deputy minister level understands finance and national security and immigration and health care policy and, and, and ... and, above all, politics.

_____
* Always remember than "Yes, Minister" was a documentary, not a sitcom.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Why does the last sentence of the story not fill me with a rush of confidence in the government's approach to national security?

You're not alone ...

An article in the Globe and Mail headlined: "Liberals should shrink defence spending, analysts urge," says that "Retired colonel George Petrolekas, a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, and senior analyst David Perry are offering the defence minister tips to achieve the “leaner, more agile, better-equipped military” the Trudeau government promised in its December Speech from the Throne."

The article adds that: "The way forward could include a smaller military. “You also inherited a military funded for 68,000 regular troops and 27,000 reservists. Shrinking the military to liberate funds for capital spending should be investigated, so long as key personnel skills are retained and any capability reductions carefully considered.”

The biggest problem ahead is the massive shipbuilding effort to renew the Royal Canadian Navy."

:

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

Why does the last sentence of the story not fill me with a rush of confidence in the government's approach to national security?

There is a reason I sometimes have a hard time getting excited about going to work in the morning.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Most Canadians have absolutely no clue how important the Clerk of the Privy Council is.  There's absolutely nothing in that vacuous article or Mr Wernick's background that sparks confidence in this government.

        :not-again:

Lucky he's only helping pick the next one, then  >