ICYMI: Trudeau must clarify ‘unwritten’ PS rules: expert panel

2016/01/05 Leave a comment

Always interesting, the views of Kevin Lynch and others on the panel. Personally, not sure about the proposed solutions but report is raising  the right questions:

For the public service, the first thing to do is clarify the “conventions” or unwritten rules underpinning its role on policy advice, as well as carrying out programs and delivering services, says the panel.

Lynch said that clarity should come in a statement from the prime minister. He said the statement should be made in Parliament, with all-party support, and would be the benchmark for future behaviour.

After the sponsorship scandal of the Chrétien era, the Conservative government under Stephen Harper passed legislation that beefed up the role and responsibilities of deputy ministers, making them “accounting officers” responsible for the management of their departments.

The panel wants deputy ministers to also annually attest to measures that ensure regular meetings between the minister and deputy ministers, as well as working relationships between the minister, minister’s office and departmental officials.

Deputies would also have to attest to the “highest levels of integrity and impartiality” in the department on policy advice, program delivery, regulatory administration and departmental communications. They would have to confirm departments have the policy capacity to deliver the government’s agenda and handle the study of long-term issues.

The department would also be expected to consult Canadians and use digital technology to stay abreast of the public’s views when developing policies and programs.

Many argue the existing legislation for “accounting officers” covers much of this territory because deputy ministers are responsible for following all Treasury Board policies and the code of conduct.

Lynch said the panel was intent that its report, published by the Public Policy Forum, not be shelved without debate so it is taking the discussion on the road. He and other members are touring the public policy and management schools at universities across the country to discuss the proposals.

Academics and public management experts have sounded the alarm for years on the deterioration of Canada’s democratic institutions as more power was centralized in the Prime Minister’s Office. Many argue the problems got worse under the Conservative government.

Lynch said the panel is proposing “practical” fixes that could be done quickly without changing the constitution and new legislation.

A big problem for the public service is the mushrooming army of political staffers led by the PMO, the “political service” that has taken over some of the work of the public service.

Politicians began to rely on staffers for ideas and advice, sidelining the public service. As a result, the public service didn’t use, and thus lost, some of its policy capacity, and deputy ministers ended up more connected to the PMO than their ministers.

The panel recommended a new code of conduct for political staff that would clearly spell out the roles and duties of public servants and what political staff can do. It also urged more training and an oversight body for political staff.

Trudeau introduced a new code of conduct for staffers in his updated Guide to Ministers.

But Lynch said “short-termism” and political parties being in “permanent campaign” mode have changed the nature of the work of the public service and its relationship with politicians.

“This is not about going back to the good old days,” said Lynch. “These broad trends are happening regardless and what we have to do is figure out — given that reality — the checks and balances that will ensure (our institutions) work they way they are intended.”

Politicians are racing to keep up with today’s rapid, “technology-driven round-the-clock news cycle.” Parties are seen to be always in campaign mode and focus on short-term issues for political gain rather than long-term policies and strategies. Public servants, however, are supposed to be neutral and have no role in campaigns.

“We have drifted into a period of permanent campaigning, which is an American phenomenon …. which is not a good thing for the role of the public service because it doesn’t have a role in a campaign, said Lynch.

“Political parties operate less as a government and more as a party for re-election so the more we get into permanent campaign modes, it changes the relationships and not necessarily in good ways.”

Lynch argued that once the governance issue is fixed, the next challenge for the public service will be changing the way it does policy in a world driven by big data and analytics. Public servants must learn to manage risk; they will have to become innovative and use more open communications and using social media.

Source: Trudeau must clarify ‘unwritten’ PS rules: expert panel | Ottawa Citizen

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ICYMI: French proposal to strip terror convicts’ #citizenship faces fire

2016/01/05 Leave a comment

More on some of the debates within France regarding citizenship revocation:

Patrick Weil, a political scientist who met Hollande and advised him against the decision, said France would become “the first democracy in the world” to enshrine in its constitution the principle of unequal treatment of dual nationals.

“It introduces the idea of a different penalty for the same act, just because of the random chance of their birth,” said Weil, who teaches at Yale University in the United States.

“That people — who sometimes don’t even know they have a second nationality — can be banned is like the return of banishment as a penalty.”

For many in Hollande’s Socialist party, and others on the left of French politics, the move is little short of ideological treason.

“In wanting to steal the thunder of the far right, we risk implementing their programme,” said Cecile Duflot, a former minister in Hollande’s government.

Economist Thomas Piketty, author of the blockbuster book on inequality “Capital in the 21st Century”, wrote on his blog: “To its economic incompetence, the government has now added infamy.”

As well as breaking a legal principle, the measure also touches a raw nerve from France’s history, say critics.

The Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazis in the 1940s, stripped thousands of Jews and foreigners of French citizenship during World War II.

Dissenters say Hollande has borrowed from the playbook of the right wing, not least since the treatment of immigrants was one of the few areas where there was clear daylight between the two mainstream parties.

When right-wing leader Nicolas Sarkozy raised the idea of removing the “droit du sol” from some types of violent criminals in 2011, he was blasted by the Socialists.

Worse still in the eyes of the left, it was an idea first mooted by the far-right, anti-immigrant National Front (FN).

FN leader Marine le Pen happily took credit when the new reforms were outlined last week, saying it was a direct result of her party’s record tally in recent polls.

“Removal of nationality: the first effect of the 6.8 million votes for the National Front in regional elections,” Le Pen wrote on Twitter.

Source: French proposal to strip terror convicts’ citizenship faces fire | The Times of Israel

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Order of Canada Appointments 2015 – Diversity lens

2016/01/04 Leave a comment

Media commentary largely focused on gender and regional diversity as can be expected. The lengthy process involved (about a year) means that this largely took place under the previous government (although the process and decisions are under the GG).

Looking at regional diversity, as some have noted, Ontario and Atlantic Canada are over-represented in relation to their share of the population:

Order of Canada 2015.001

Looking at gender, indigenous and visible minority representation, both women and indigenous representation are relatively close to their share of the population.

However, visible minorities, whether measured against the overall number (19.1 percent) or the number who are Canadian citizens (15 percent), are under-represented at 5.8 percent. (Note: this analysis was based on names and descriptions and not correlated against photos and thus may understate representation).

Order of Canada 2015.002

This is not surprising, given that visible minorities have a shorter history in Canada than other ethnic groups and thus less time to make the kind of contributions that the Order recognizes. But, like other open nomination processes, it may also reflect fewer nominations, in turn reflecting less awareness among visible minorities regarding the Order.

Hard to say without more data but suggests that more outreach to get more nominations may be warranted.

Order of Canada Appointments

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#WelcomeRefugees: Milestones and key figures

2016/01/04 Leave a comment

_WelcomeRefugees__Key_figures_1To the government’s credit, it is providing regular updates on the number of Syrian refugees, even if these show that the degree to which it has failed to meet its revised commitments.

_WelcomeRefugees__Key_figures_2Contrast this with the previous government’s repeated refusal to provide specific numbers until forced to.

On the less positive side, the regular CIC operational statistics for citizenship and immigration have not been updated since March 2015.

These should be released as automatically, and without political interference, as regular Statistics Canada data releases.

Source: #WelcomeRefugees: Milestones and key figures

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Will Japan’s apology to ‘comfort women’ bring closure?

2016/01/04 Leave a comment

While leave to others the foreign policy and geopolitical dimensions, long overdue apology:

Now, in a landmark agreement this week, Japan has apologized anew for the practice and pledged $8.3-million (U.S.) to a fund set up for survivors in what both sides said was a “final and irreversible resolution.” Does this new agreement have the power to change the course of Asian geopolitics at a time when the U.S. needs a united front against China, or will it join all the other war-time apologies that are issued, criticized, forgotten and buried beneath the remarkably long-lasting, ever-lingering hatreds of East Asia?

The surprise deal was immediately hailed in Japan as a coup for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who seemed to have finally settled Japan’s grim historical record in Korea, after previously attempting to downplay Japan’s past abuses. This apology was as unambiguous as Mr. Abe was likely to give, offered remorse and considered the immeasurable suffering of the women – rather than trying to justify or fudge the history, as many on Japan’s right still do. The money being pledged also came straight from the Japanese government, which was meant to add an air of formality and officialdom.

But the agreement received a more muted response in Korea, where President Park Geun-hye, who is broadly unpopular, has squeezed anti-Japanese feelings for all they are worth. Former sex slaves and opposition politicians immediately criticized the deal for coming about without the participation of the “comfort women” themselves, for failing to acknowledge legal culpability and for not offering formal financial reparations. Former sex slaves said they were also angry Seoul agreed to discuss with them the possible removal of a statue – placed directly outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul – of a former sex slave sitting next to an empty chair, a symbol of the “comfort women” who died waiting for a full apology from Japan. One group of survivors called the deal “shocking” and said it was an act of “humiliating diplomacy” from Seoul.

Unlike in Europe, which has largely moved on from the scars of the Second World War, memories of Japan’s vicious imperial sweep across much of East and Southeast Asia are still vivid – and influence regional geopolitics to this day. South Korea and Japan still do not share sensitive military information, preferring to rout it through the United States, despite the obviously shared security concerns over China’s growing assertiveness in the region and the perennial problem of North Korea.

The U.S. has constantly urged Tokyo and Seoul over the years to reconcile historical disagreements and move forward in a more united fashion on matters of regional importance such as the Six-Party Talks involving North Korea. In a media briefing, a senior State Department official said the deal could be as transformative to regional relations as the monumental Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal between the U.S., Canada, Japan and other Pacific nations.

Some, of course, argue that apologies in international politics are too often counterproductive. The academic Jennifer Lind has noted that reconciliation between nations does not necessarily require a formal apology – let alone many formal apologies, as in Japan’s case – because the apology provides a platform for nationalist elements in both countries to again debate and disagree over the facts.

But laying aside the criticisms of civil-society groups and opposition politicians in both countries, who have an obvious stake in milking the issue forever, the deal marks an enormously positive step in Japanese-Korean relations. Better military co-operation between Japan and South Korea might dampen China’s appetite for territorial disputes over islands in the East and South China seas, and will certainly help the U.S. execute its ongoing pivot to Asia. It will also prevent North Korea from using historical grievances as a convenient wedge to distract and divide the coalition of countries concerned about Pyongyang, and might dissuade the dictatorship from its destabilizing antics.

Japan has already indicated that it is ready to discuss the “comfort women” with Taiwan, though conversations on the issue with Beijing are likely far off. Still, Mr. Abe and Ms. Park – both arch-conservatives who thrive on the support of nationalist elements in their respective countries – will not be in power forever, and leadership transitions might generate additional warmth to thawing relations.

Though imperfect, the deal does represent an attempt to move forward peacefully, without forever nursing the sting of historic abuses. That sort of closure is something northeast Asia desperately needs.

Source: Will Japan’s apology to ‘comfort women’ bring closure? – The Globe and Mail

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ICYMI: How does Canada compare when it comes to resettling refugees? Ibbitson

2016/01/04 Leave a comment

Good survey article, and noting correctly the advantages of relative geographic isolation:

So Canada’s contribution stacks up well in comparison to some of our closest allies. But our effort pales in comparison with that of Germany, which has taken an estimated one million Middle Eastern refugees this year. “We can do this,” Chancellor Angela Merkel repeats over and over, and she appears to be right.

Sweden has also been exceptionally generous. The nation of 9.6 million people took in 150,000 Syrian refugees in the past year, although authorities have started to crack down in the wake of increasing public resistance.

The absence of any similar backlash here to high intakes of refugees and immigrants – not only during this crisis, but year after year – is Canada’s special blessing. Part of the reason is that most of us are either immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. Our settler culture welcomes settlers.

But the real secret to Canada’s generosity may be its oceans. It is very difficult for a refugee to reach Canada uninvited, making it easier to screen applicants for criminal, security or health risks, and to choose refugees who have a good chance of integrating successfully into Canadian society.

European nations pushing back against the daily tide of desperate humanity flooding north out of the Middle East have no such luxury. Authorities must either admit people about whom they know little or seal their borders.

Mr. McCallum is right. History will not record what targets were missed by how many weeks. It will, instead, note Canada’s impressive humanitarian achievement in rescuing Middle Eastern refugees, even as it looks upon what Germany accomplished with awe.

Source: How does Canada compare when it comes to resettling refugees? – The Globe and Mail

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2015 in review – My WordPress blog stats

2016/01/04 Leave a comment

For those interested, and in the spirit of openness and transparency, please find the WordPress 2015 annual report for my Multicultural Meanderings blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 27,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

The top posts:

Your_2015_year_in_blogging

Click here to see the complete report.

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Multiculturalism in Canada: Evidence and Anecdote eBook – 5 Percent off

2015/12/30 Leave a comment

Lulu ebook sale 30 Dec

A small saving, one of the rare ones Lulu offers for eBooks. Direct link for eBook: Multiculturalism In Canada: Evidence and Anecdote

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Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year

2015/12/24 Leave a comment

The Marsh In Winter

The Marsh in Winter, Julius Griffith

Whatever your tradition or faith, best wishes for the holiday season and the new year.

My blog will resume in early January.

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Implementing diversity and inclusion in Parliament: A more complete picture | My piece in the hilltimes.com

2015/12/23 1 Comment

With the appointment of parliamentary secretaries and opposition critics, we now have a more comprehensive picture of gender and visible minority diversity in Parliament’s leadership positions. How well has the Liberal government implemented its overall diversity and inclusion commitments, and how have the other parties responded to the “because it’s 2015” challenge?

Although Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed a Cabinet with gender parity (15 each of men and women) and almost 17 per cent visible minority ministers (four Sikh and one Afghan Canadian), gender parity was not attained for parliamentary secretaries (12 positions out of 35 or 34 per cent). Visible minority parliamentary secretaries are over-represented (nine positions or 24 per cent) in relation to their share of the voting population (15 per cent).

Moreover, the government addressed some of the criticism regarding Cabinet over-representation of Sikhs by appointing three African Canadians, one Chinese, one Arab, one Latin American and three South Asians (two Sikhs, one Ismaili Muslim). Three of the nine visible minority parliamentary secretaries are women, including Celina Caesar-Chavannes, a parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister.

In total, of the 68 leadership positions (ministers, parliamentary secretaries, whips, and House leaders), 59 per cent are men, and 21 per cent are visible minority men or women. The detailed breakdown is shown in the chart below:

In terms of percentage of caucus, there are 27 women in leadership positions out of 50 elected, or 54 per cent. For visible minorities, there are 14 out of 39 elected, or 36 per cent. In contrast, 30 non-visible minority men are in leadership positions out of 134 elected, or 20 per cent.

No matter how one looks at the data, this marks a major shift in government parliamentary leadership appointments, towards more women and visible minorities.

The Conservative official opposition compensated for their relatively low number of women MPs (17 per cent of caucus), making 35 per cent of critics women (the Harper government’s last Cabinet similarly appointed more women to Cabinet—31 per cent—compared to the 17 per cent in caucus).

However, with a small number of visible minority MPs (six or six per cent of caucus), critic visible minority representation is only slightly compensated at nine per cent, although visible minority MPs form 13 per cent of the smaller number of deputy critics. But in relation to caucus membership, 50 per cent of visible minority Conservative MPs are critics, reflecting again the same drive to present a more inclusive face to Canadians.

The NDP opposition has the largest proportionate female caucus representation: 41 per cent. It is no surprise that women MPs form 45 per cent of critics. With only two visible minority MPs to choose from, only one (three per cent) is a critic (but again, this is 50 per cent of those elected).

So what does all this mean in terms of diversity and inclusion?

The Liberal government, given the large number of women (50) and visible minority (39) MPs elected had little difficulty in meeting its stated goals of Cabinet gender parity (but slipped in other leadership positions). It also was able to significantly exceed visible minority representation in relation to the number of visible minority voters.

This ‘over-representation’ reflects a conscious decision to demonstrate diversity and inclusion, one that started with having the highest percentage of visible minority candidates (17 per cent) compared to the other major parties (13 per cent).

For both opposition parties, the weakness in visible minority representation reflects the small number of visible minority MPs elected. With respect to women, the Conservatives responded to the ‘because its 2015’ challenge, compensating for their small number of women MPs, and applying the same approach to visible minorities. The NDP made the most effort in recruiting female candidates, many of whom were successful, and thus close to gender parity was not a challenge.

All in all, taken together, the Liberal leadership positions reflect a significant implementation of the diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism agenda, one that, given the horizontal ministerial comment for parity and diversity in all government appointments, holds significant promise in ensuring greater representation in government.

Moreover, to the extent that the opposition parties could, their choices recognize the need to respond to this agenda and ensure that their leadership reflects Canadian diversity.

Source: Implementing diversity and inclusion in Parliament: A more complete picture | hilltimes.com

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