On institution-building

James Travers' criticism of the Harper government for shutting down communications within the federal civil service hasn't gone unnoticed. But it's worth highlighting the fact that the Cons' penchant for secrecy also figures to cause them serious trouble in actually getting much done as long as they stay in office - while the NDP is far better equipped to navigate the government apparatus in the public interest.

Here's Travers on how the relationship between the Con government and the civil service has been poisoned beyond any realistic hope of improvement:

(Richard) Colvin is not a whistleblower; he's a coal mine canary. More revealing even than Peter MacKay's shoot-the-messenger assault on a bureaucrat is Colvin's detailed rebuttal of testimony from those above him in the federal food chain. It signals that the long-standing bargain between civil servants and the government of the day is broken. On-the-run politicians who abandon the principle of ministerial responsibility, who toss mandarins and their truth-to-power advice to the pursuing wolves, should no longer expect blind loyalty or suicidal silence.

That change pushes the relationship into uncharted territory where trouble waits. By essentially going it alone without Parliament or confidential public service counsel, Conservatives are placing their full bet on the sole-sourced party line. They are trading accountable democracy for a direct hard sell to Canadians systematically denied the information they need to decide the value of what they are being urged to buy.
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Largely missed by Canadians, that new situational democracy, that what-matters-is-what-works culture, has been spotted by civil servants who now know they'll wear the goat horns when things inevitably go wrong.

Abandoned by Liberals to shoulder blame for the Quebec sponsorship scheme, bureaucrats are hurriedly adapting to a new era by discreetly distancing themselves from Conservative stimulus projects likely to fail the critical sniff test.

Until now, there's been precious little indication that the Cons' hostility toward the civil service has been answered in kind. But from Travers' account, it sounds like public servants have realized that under the Cons, they're better off playing Harper's game of pointing fingers and spreading blame elsewhere rather than actually dedicating their attention to getting much done. And the problem only figures to get worse as the Cons insist on attacking federal government operations as their lone means of dealing with Deficit Jim Flaherty's sea of red ink - setting up significant incentives for public servants to work on protecting turf rather than working on policy ideas to be implemented by the Cons or by any future government.

Of course, those of us who generally disagree with Harper's preferred direction for the country may prefer if the Cons get slowed up by their own treatment of the civil service. But it's hard to see how anybody is ultimately better off in the long run if Canada continues to be governed by a party whose ability to respond to events as they arise is limited by a complete disconnect from Canada's public servants.

But then, there isn't much reason to expect a lot better from the Libs. Travers notes that the problems within the public service actually started under the Paul Martin regime, but the more significant problem is that the Libs haven't been able to keep even their own internal party apparatus in anything better than a state of mistrust and confusion for the better part of a decade - making it highly doubtful that they'll do any better anytime soon in working with others who aren't united by party interests.

Fortunately, there is one obvious alternative to ineffective federal government. After all, the NDP's strengths in planning and negotiating which I've pointed out before would figure to be no less important in dealing with the public service than in other aspects of governing the country.

In stark contrast to the Cons' complete insularity and the Libs' lack of even internal coherence, the NDP has shown a consistent strength in developing plans which other groups are willing and able to work with. Which means that for those who see a need to change the culture of self-preservation which successive Lib and Con governments have fostered in Canada's public institutions, there's reason to want to see the NDP get the chance to make its more collaborative philosophy work for the country.