Ottawa Citizen, Canada
February 26, 2008 Tuesday
Final Edition

Bureaucratic relationships

Relations between the Harper government and the public service have
been rocky in the past, but reports suggest they have hit a new low.

Paul Tellier, who as Canada’s top bureaucrat under Brian Mulroney
knows the territory well, issued a warning last week in his current
role as co-chair of the federal government’s advisory committee on
public service renewal. The committee is so worried about the level
of hostility and mistrust between the federal government and public
servants that it intends to release a separate report on the issue.

Why should anyone outside official Ottawa care? To begin, a
dysfunctional relationship between politicos and bureaucrats produces
inefficiencies and waste. The dysfunction erodes the credibility of
both parties, and feeds into public cynicism. The work of public
servants is important and ought not to be delegitimized by cynicism.

The Harper government is suspicious of a public service that has
served Liberal governments for decades, and in some cases that
suspicion is understandable. Last year, Mr. Harper was rightly
frustrated with attempts by officials in Foreign Affairs to undermine
his government’s policy of recognizing the Armenian genocide.
Bureaucrats are not elected representatives. The idea that elites at
the Department of Foreign Affairs are the only ones who can make
sensitive foreign policy decisions undermines the democratic system.

But it goes both ways. Neither should politicians undermine
bureaucrats by muzzling or intimidating them, as apparently has
happened to some government scientists. During a time of minority
governments, which are always susceptible to instability, a
respectful relationship between politicians and the bureaucracy is
more important than ever.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress