Roundup: A baffling public service pledge

Posted on by

In a bid to win over the public service vote in the Ottawa region, the NDP have pledged a “code of conduct” for ministers and their staff, as well as an end to cuts to the public service, a Public Appointments Commission to end patronage appointments, a restoration of collective bargaining rights, and putting an end to contract staff. Oh, and an end to muzzling “scientists and other public service employees.” And that sends off my alarm bells because it’s a massive reorientation of the role of the public service. While the NDP thinks that they’re trying to remove the politicization around the public service that has been developing, empowering public servants to speak against the governments that they are supposed to serve is mind-boggling. The issue of just what we’re muzzling in terms of scientists was thoroughly hashed out a few months ago when Andrew Leach went against the countervailing wisdom and challenged the “white coat” privilege that these kinds of pronouncements assume, that it’s all a bunch of benevolent climate scientists who can’t speak about their work. What it ignores is that there are other kinds of scientists – like economists in the Department of Finance – for whom this is not even a consideration. Just because it’s politically convenient to think that we want these white coats to denounce the government’s environmental policies, does that mean it should be okay for government economists to denounce fiscal policy? Or government lawyers to denounce the government’s justice policies? (It’s also why their candidate, Emilie Taman was denied a leave to run – the Public Prosecution Service was created to remove the perception of political bias from Crown prosecutions, and having one of your prosecutors running for office defeats that purpose). Public Servants serve the Queen and carry out their duties in a neutral fashion. Making it easier for them to start denouncing the government is a mystifying promise. Also, the promise to bar temps is short-sighted and makes it harder for young people to get civil service jobs. Those temp jobs are often the best way to get one’s foot in the door in the public service and get some experience that can translate into a job, considering how byzantine and nigh-impossible the outside competition process is if one wasn’t lucky enough to get bridged in through a school programme. Conversely, getting new staff in a timely manner or for a specific project is also a ridiculous process for managers. Banning temps makes no actual sense.

On the campaign:

  • Stephen Harper announced aspirational targets for home ownership rates.
  • Thomas Mulcair promised a Canadians with Disabilities Act, and more help for Nutrition North.
  • Justin Trudeau promised investments in innovation and productivity-enhancing infrastructure, as well as a reconciliation process for Métis.
  • Here’s the Tuesday campaign trail roundup.

Good reads:

  • More Munk Debate reaction from Jen Gerson, Paul Wells, Michael Petrou, and Adam Radwanski.
  • A number of NDP candidates, including several incumbents – are coming out against the party’s position on niqabs (and against niqabs in general). Incidentally, only two women have refused to remove their niqabs since 2011 for citizenship ceremonies.
  • Government officials are advising the government to re-engage with the UN and change their tone in order to be a more effective player.
  • StatsCan says that senior citizens now outnumber children 14 and under in Canada.
  • Here’s an excellent long read about the government’s failure when it comes to anti-radicalization programmes.
  • Stephen Gordon writes more about the significance of that study on Quebec childcare.
  • Wesley Wark pours cold water on the wisdom of removing the citizenship of convicted terrorist dual-nationals.
  • Jonathan Kay writes about his experience working as Trudeau’s biographer, and how he regards him now as a potential prime minister.

Odds and ends:

Laura Stone has lunch with former Toronto police chief-turned Liberal candidate Bill Blair.

Bill Casey said he was barred from a campaign stop at an armoury on orders of the Privy Council Office, which they deny.

Farmers protested on Parliament Hill against the possibility that the TPP would weaken Supply Management – which Harper denies.