PM, PUBLIC SERVANTS AT ODDS OVER POLICY
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
Jun 25, 2007 04:30 AM
OTTAWA-Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he is being undermined
by public servants who are uncomfortable with the Conservative
government’s aggressive approach to foreign policy matters.
The Star has obtained recordings of a June 15 closed-door roundtable
with Toronto-based ethnic media in which Harper complains at length
about reluctant bureaucrats and diplomats responsible for drafting
and defending Canadian policies abroad.
"What is not acceptable, and it does happen on occasion, is for a
public servant to say, `That may be the position of the elected guys,
but that’s not the position of the government,’" Harper said in the
meeting, held at a hotel near the Toronto airport.
The comments, coming 17 months after the Tories were elected, suggest
Harper continues to find resistance from bureaucrats to his policy
agenda.
"Every government in every country – all the leaders I’ve talked to
– complain to me that their foreign service wants to do what (it)
believes is foreign policy, not what the government-of-the-day’s
foreign policy is. It’s a universal problem."
The head of the union representing Canada’s foreign service said he
was "shocked" after hearing the Prime Minister’s complaint, but said
there have been no formal complaints filed against its members.
"If this is true we’d like to know more about it," said Ron Cochrane,
executive director of the Professional Association of Foreign Service
Officers.
A spokesperson for Kevin Lynch, the clerk of the Privy Council and
head of the public service, declined to comment, without asking about
the substance of Harper’s comments.
The Prime Minister’s comments were a response to questions about his
2006 decision to recognize the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million
Armenians in Turkey in 1915 as genocide. The move was a significant
departure from the position of successive Canadian governments and so
angered the Turkish government that it briefly recalled its ambassador.
The row made international headlines, with Turkey pulling out of a May
2006 joint military exercise in protest and an adviser to the Turkish
prime minister complaining to Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay
in an Ottawa meeting. And this April, the Turkish foreign ministry
warned Harper against Canada’s continued recognition of the genocide.
"Repeating these claims annually will not help in normalizing
Turkey-Armenia relations and will harm Turkish-Canadian bilateral
relations as well," Ankara advised Ottawa in a message sent through
official diplomatic channels, according to the Turkish Daily News.
The row provides one of the best examples of the waves that originate
in the Prime Minister’s Office and ripple through government. Other
flare-ups include:
A decision by bureaucrats to sponsor a November 2006 conference on
Turkey, featuring a lecture by a University of Massachusetts-Amherst
professor, Guenter Lewy, who has referred to the Armenian slaughter
as a "disputed genocide."
An Oct. 23, 2006 letter from the Armenian National Committee of Canada
to MacKay asks if the Department of Foreign Affairs would even consider
doing the same if the conference was for Holocaust deniers.
Just days before the conference was to go ahead, the government pulled
its sponsorship of the event and senior Tories backed out of promises
to attend.
Comments by Canada’s ambassador to Turkey from April weighing in on the
dispute between Ottawa and Ankara. In comments to Turkish daily Zaman,
Yves Brodeur suggested Turkey has a simple public relations problem.
"It’s about influence, it is about making sure that they have enough
knowledge to make a decision that makes sense, and it is about talking
to them and telling them (Turkey’s) side of the story. In this case
I believe that Turkey started much too late," Brodeur said.
On April 20, 2007, the Prime Minister’s office was preparing to issue
a statement recognizing the 92nd anniversary of the genocide. A draft
statement from bureaucrats, which the Armenian National Committee
later described as watered down, landed in the hands of the committee
at 9 p.m.
The statement referred to the 1915 slaughter as an event that "has
been called the first genocide of the 20th century," and suggested
the deaths may have been linked to World War I fighting.
Upon appeal to the Prime Minister’s Office, the wording of bureaucrats
was changed and a more forceful statement was released to the public.
At the June 15 roundtable, Harper likened the difficulty he has had
shifting Canada’s foreign policy to turning a massive ship, saying
it takes great force and requires time.
"Canada’s recognition of the Armenian genocide, frankly, was a major
change in policy for the foreign service of Canada, not an easy one
to understand," he confided. "It has been difficult for some people."
Harper added that it is difficult for bureaucrats to defend one
party’s policies for more than a decade and then immediately adapt
to a new party’s policies.
"That’s difficult for them because they tend to believe in what
they’ve been doing," he said.
"All I can say is this: The way we overcome this is to provide very
strong direction."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
