Jason Kenney heads to enemy territory and touts plans to wed job creation programs to the private sector

2014/10/04 Leave a comment

Minister Kenney doing what he does best, articulating the rationale for his policy choices, and not just preaching to the converted:

“I stand up in front of business audiences and say: you guys have been, to some extent, freeloading on the public training system,” Mr. Kenney told reporters after his talk.

But given that the crowd actually appeared to join in Mr. Kenney’s enthusiasm, it’s not clear that they’ve come to that realization yet.

It’s all part of the broader Conservative plan to downsize the federal government by eliminating its ability to run a surplus, and thus start up big flashy new programs, and to outsource its programs at every possible turn.

In that vein, Mr. Kenney once again reiterated that his government would be sticking to the low-tax commitments made in its platform. Chiefly, the commitment to, when the budget is balanced — as it very nearly is — to implement income splitting for families.

Asked whether these types of commitments — between lessening government revenue and devolving job training authority away from the federal government — would hobble future government’s ability to launch their own initiatives, the minister laughed, then coyly agreed.

“I would ask the question a different way, which is: If you massively increase spending, how can you give Canadians a tax break?” Mr. Kenney said.“The answer is, you can’t. That’s going to be the choice in the next election.”

Jason Kenney heads to enemy territory and touts plans to wed job creation programs to the private sector | National Post.

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Federal government has spent more than $20M on monitoring massive log of keywords

2014/09/25 Leave a comment

One of the things I miss most about my time in government is having this media monitoring service (media scans). Helpful for officials as well as the political level.

And the expanded monitoring of ethnic and social media made our jobs easier (hard to replicate this completely through services like Feedly):

“News monitoring is conducted to track key public policy issues that impact the government of Canada agenda and to assess the effectiveness of government of Canada communications,” Raymond Rivet, director of corporate and media affairs for the Privy Council Office, said in an email.

“To identify reporting that is relevant to the government of Canada, suppliers use search terms as an aid to identifying reporting that may be of interest.”

Opposition party critics for various portfolios are also part of the media monitoring search terms from several departments, as are the names of dozens of journalists.

And don’t ask the Canadian Security Intelligence Service CSIS about its media monitoring activities. The agency has refused to release details of any contracts, ostensibly for security reasons.

About 300 of the roughly 1,100 pages of media monitoring search terms are from Citizenship and Immigration, and the massive department of Employment and Social Development, whose minister Jason Kenney, is also the minister for multiculturalism.

Of the government’s more than $20-million in media monitoring contracts since December 2012, one of the largest individual contracts was for ethnic media monitoring.

Federal government has spent more than $20M on monitoring massive log of keywords

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Jean Chrétien gave U.K. government advice ahead of Scotland referendum – Politics – CBC News

2014/09/22 Leave a comment

Interesting commentary by former PM Chrétien on the Scottish referendum and the consultations the UK government had with him (and likely others) regarding the Canadian 1995 referendum (the cliffhanger with about 1 percent margin for the no side):

“It’s always more complicated to manage the No side than the Yes side, because the Yes side is appealing to the heart and the nostalgia of the past and so on. And when you deal with the No, you deal with the reality of life.”

“Diving into the dark might be exciting, but you have to find out if there’s water in the swimming pool before diving,” Chrétien said.

Jean Chrétien gave U.K. government advice ahead of Scotland referendum – Politics – CBC News.

For those who have not seen it, the film No, on the Chilean 1988 referendum on whether Pinochet could extend his rule for a further 8 years, recounts a successful positive campaign on the inherent negative of a “no.”

It is a very funny yet serious film and the tension between the activists, who wanted to be serious, and the young advertising executive, who employed marketing methods “we need a jingle” and “allegria” (happiness) to seek the no.

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George Orwell on Writing, How to Counter the Mindless Momentum of Language, and the Four Questions a Great Writer Must Ask Herself | Brain Pickings

2014/09/20 Leave a comment

Always worthwhile reading Orwell on writing now and then, and realize just how much of our discourse suffers from the flaws he so cuttingly points out. Good excerpts from Brain Pickings:

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

But you are not obliged to go to all this trouble. You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you — even think your thoughts for you, to certain extent — and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even yourself.

Shirking is easy, asking these questions and applying them, is not.

“Constant vigilance!”

George Orwell on Writing, How to Counter the Mindless Momentum of Language, and the Four Questions a Great Writer Must Ask Herself | Brain Pickings.

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Could Alberta pass Quebec to become the second-largest province? – Macleans.ca

2014/09/19 Leave a comment

From the latest Statistics Canada population projections for the next 25 years:

The Atlantic provinces aren’t likely to fare well. The population in Newfoundland is likely to drop over the next 25 years. P.E.I. should continue to grow, but most of the growth scenarios StatsCan ran on New Brunswick and Nova Scotia showed the provinces shrinking by 2038.

Under every growth scenario, Ontario will remain the country’s largest province, driven largely by immigration.

Quebec’s population would grow over the next 25 years under all the scenarios, with most of the gains coming from immigration, but because its rate of growth is almost certain to come in lower than the Canadian average, its demographic weight, or share of the total Canadian population, will slide.

Under most scenarios, Alberta’s population will surpass that of British Columbia by 2038. It’ll be the youngest population, too, with the lowest proportion of seniors in the country.

Jason Kirby’s unscientific projections show Alberta’s population possibly becoming larger than Quebec’s some time in the early 2050s.

Economically, this shift will happen sooner:

But population growth is one thing. When people talk about provincial rankings, there’s a good chance they’re referring to the size of their economies, as opposed to how many folks live where. It’s certainly the metric any politician boasts about first, come election time. So, to take our Quebec-Alberta match to the next level, here’s another look into the future, this time using 10-year GDP growth rates. Will Alberta’s economy overtake that of Quebec? Barring some pretty massive changes in provincial fates, that could happen as early as 2016, some three decades before Alberta’s population ever catches up to Quebec’s—which pretty much says everything you need to know about how grim the economy is in la belle province.

Could Alberta pass Quebec to become the second-largest province? – Macleans.ca.

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Ignorance is cheap – but parliamentary knowledge costs – Globe Editorial

2014/09/19 Leave a comment

Globe editorial on ignorance and the Government’s (or at least of some of its MPs) wish to be less open and transparent:

Mr. Wallace posed his own written question asking for the estimated cost to the government of answering Order Paper questions. The answer he got, based on a formula that is dubious at best, was $1.2-million for 253 questions. “Are we sure we’re getting value for the dollar?” Mr. Wallace asked.

Well, let’s think about that. What value do Canadians place on knowing: the percentage of Employment Canada benefits applications that are rejected and how many people have to wait longer than 28 days for a response; which government department is responsible for monitoring the transporation of fissile radioactive material inside our borders; how much money Ottawa has spent developing software since 2011 and what the software actually does; and the amount the government spent on travel expenses while negotiating the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union.

These are just some of the opposition questions currently on the Order Paper, and all of them deserve an answer. Mr. Wallace’s suggestion that MPs should ask fewer questions, because ignorance is cheap, is pretty much one of the dumbest things a parliamentarian has come up with in recent memory.

And as most of us know from personal and professional experience, ignorance is expensive given the implications of bad and faulty decisions.

Ignorance is cheap – but parliamentary knowledge costs – The Globe and Mail.

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Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias one year later: What I heard

2014/09/16 4 Comments

My reflections on my book one year later, and what I heard from others:

In promoting my book, I spoke with a variety of groups, including former deputies, policy analysts, students, academics and journalists.

The limited feedback I received from the political level indicated that I had achieved my goal of balancing government and public servant perspectives.

From these discussions, particularly with more senior officials, it was clear that there was a relationship issue, for which both sides shared responsibility. But it was striking that the theme of mutual distrust and suspicion permeated most levels with direct experience in working with the political level.

Equally striking to some was that the relationship, and the overall approach did not change once the government obtained a majority in 2011.

Some pointed out that I over-simplified the ideological divide, as public servants in economic departments have more conservative views than those in social departments. Others questioned whether it was values, rather than ideology, but did not disagree on the divide.

Others acknowledged that the public service had not adequately prepared for the transition by not understanding the ideological and values roots of the government.

Some expressed frustration at providing advice that was routinely discounted or viewed as disloyal, and questioned how it was possible to provide advice when the government’s world view was so at odds with their best, professional advice, even acknowledging their implicit biases.

Most were pessimistic that a change of government would necessarily change things for the better, as the success of the Harper government in implementing its agenda and controlling the message was not lost on the other parties.

Those with longer memories warned against nostalgia for “the good old days,” noting that they were not as good as portrayed.

It was unclear the degree of which the relationship issue was being discussed within and among departments, or whether the Destination 2020 initiative, a more comfortable process discussion, overshadowed a more fundamental re-examination.

Policy arrogance and innocent bias | hilltimes.com. (pay wall)

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Among the Harper governments list of secrets: Soldiers on Viagra

2014/09/16 Leave a comment

Not exactly in keeping with the spirit of the Accountability Act:

There were 61 complaints last year to Suzanne Legault, the country’s information commissioner, about the cabinet confidence clause, almost twice the number in 2012. Figures from the commissioner’s office show it used the exclusion 2,117 times in 2012-13, a 20 per cent increase over the year before.

More recent data won’t be available until end of 2014, Legault told The Canadian Press in an interview.

She is concerned, however, about how wide-ranging the definition of a cabinet secret has become, especially since once the exclusion is declared, not even she can see the documents in question.

“When you look at the scope of the exclusion, it is extremely broad,” Legault said.

“It’s very, very broad. It basically catches anything that mentions a record that’s a cabinet confidence. In my view, the actual scope of this does not respect fundamental tenets of freedom of information.”

Media outlets aren’t the only ones for whom the flow of information in Ottawa has slowed to a trickle. Watchdog agencies like the auditor general, the military ombudsman and the parliamentary budget officer are also complaining.

Auditor general Michael Ferguson said last spring that his attempts to audit the long-term health of public pension plans had been stymied by bureaucrats at Finance and Treasury Board.

Ferguson said he was “surprised” at the scope of information officials refused to disclose.

Kevin Page, who took the Harper government to federal court when he was parliamentary budget officer, said the law needs a major overhaul.

“Under my time as the budget officer we were told on numerous occasions — from crime bills to elements of the government’s economic forecast to departmental spending restraint plans post budget 2012 — that Parliament and the PBO could not get access to information because it was a cabinet confidence,” Page said.

“The stakes were high. The government was asking Parliament to vote on bills without relevant financial information and were hiding behind the veil of cabinet confidence. This undermined accountability for Parliament and the accountability of the public service.”

Among the Harper governments list of secrets: Soldiers on Viagra.

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Jason Kenney and a guy at the Fraser Institute trade blows in Twitter cat fight | Press Progress

2014/09/15 Leave a comment

A great example of how to use Twitter to debate, and another demonstration of why Jason Kenney is such a strong minister (his series of tweets with Bob Rae is another example Jason Kenney Blasts Bob Rae’s ‘Obscene’ Temporary Foreign Workers Tweet).

Kenney  engages equally with those on the right as with those on the centre and left:

Jason Kenney and a guy at the Fraser Institute trade blows in Twitter cat fight | Press Progress.

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Blatchford: Kim-like takeover bid a terrifying twist in the Rob Ford drama

2014/09/15 Leave a comment

Best piece on the Ford family reality show I have read:

Rob Ford, hospitalized with a tumour this week and facing what he admits “could be a battle of my lifetime,” was withdrawing from the mayor’s race. He’s sick and scared, you see; he didn’t say that directly, but that’s what his decision to drop out meant, and fair enough.

But as it turns out, neither he nor anyone else in the family is so sick or so scared that they didn’t didn’t also set in motion the old bait-and-switch, with Rob simultaneously announcing his candidacy for councillor in Ward 2, his home ward, and that he’d asked brother Doug to “finish what we started together,” and that Doug would now carry on in the mayoral race.

Oh, and as well, even as Doug was being registered at the clerk’s office downtown, so was their nephew, Michael Ford, withdrawing as a candidate for the Ward 2 seat to make room for the mayor, and instead throwing his hat into the ring for school trustee in neighbouring Ward 1.

It was as though it was inconceivable that Toronto, like Pyongyang, should manage without a Ford for every citizen. As Kim Jong-un took over as Supreme Leader upon the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, the Eternal General, in 2011, who himself took over the reins of power from his old man, Kim Il-sung, the Great Leader, when he died in 1994, so were the Fords digging deep into their gene pool.

On the tube, no kidding, reporters were soon referring to the press conference Doug Ford would be holding that evening at “Mamma Ford’s house.” They might as well have called Diane Ford “Dear Mother,” you know?

To use a PM Harper word, it would be good for Toronto and the country if this “trifecta” of Fords would be given a time-out by the electorate, although Rob will likely win back his counsellor seat.

Blatchford: Kim-like takeover bid a terrifying twist in the Rob Ford drama.

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