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Consider democratic processes needed when changing ministerial responsibilities: experts

OTTAWA –

One of the longest-running House committee investigations in the past 10 years has been the Liberal Party’s recent protracted attempt to prevent the prime minister’s chief of staff from testifying about foreign interference.

Throughout February and March, government members of the procedures and home affairs committee argued that Katie Telford should answer questions because of ministerial responsibility: the idea that ministers – including including the prime minister – must speak on behalf of their records, staff and departments.

Lori Turnbull, director of Dalhousie University’s school of public administration, said: “This is basically how the moderators should be held accountable.

Telford finally agreed to testify around this week, following growing pressure from the Conservatives, who have support from the New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois.

That ended about 24 hours of Liberal stagnation that stretched through several committee meetings. According to data from the Library of Congress and Legislative Services Committees and Directors, it is the fourth-longest feature film of the past decade by House committees.

Both Liberal and Conservative governments use ministerial accountability to prevent their employees from testifying before committees.

This idea is predicated on the view that ministers run the program. But Alex Marland, a professor of political science at Memorial University in Newfoundland, said staffers have absorbed new powers and, in some cases, even cut ministers out of the jobs they do. .

“The system is not designed to have people who are not elected, appointed, engaged in politics and deeply embedded in government, sometimes using it,” said Marland, who studies political communication. power of the cabinet”.

He believes change requires a rethinking of Canada’s democratic processes.

“Public service has evolved a lot, and a lot has changed in society,” he said.

“We really need to be able to better process recommendations to make the public service and government system as robust as possible.”

Employees often use social media to amplify government messages, Marland said, becoming public figures in their own right, sometimes engaging in political conflict.

Marland said, “I think a lot of times they’re the government setters, or so are they supposed to be. And that’s a matter of politics, a lot of times the idea that perception is reality, ” Marland said.

“If we all think these officers have all this power, then it’s only natural that we should expect some measure of accountability somewhere. And the minister isn’t always the fancier. united to do that.”

It has become quite common for government employees to testify at committees, although it is a departure from the typical Westminster system of Parliament. Telford himself has appeared before, as have chiefs of staff to former Conservative prime ministers Stephen Harper and Brian Mulroney.

Like Telford, employees are often invited to government caucuses, a practice once forbidden for unelected chiefs of staff.

“There’s a group of them now,” says Marland, keeping track of what MPs are saying and who has a problem with the leader.

“The political staff wasn’t there before. This is a perfect example of how things have changed.”

Ministers have also remained in their roles despite inappropriate behaviour, Turnbull said, another way in which ministers’ responsibilities have changed.

She pointed to International Trade Secretary Mary Ng, who last year violated federal codes of ethics after failing to withdraw her decision to award her friend a government contract.

“There’s a tendency these days to say, ‘Let’s see if we can get through this. Let’s just ignore this and maybe it will go away’ as opposed to sending that signal and taking that step of a the minister left the cabinet because the minister made a decision, a mistake,” Turnbull said.

“If the prime minister wants the minister to work, the minister will keep working.”

Turnbull said there is a need for a full public inquiry into the integrity and health of Canadian democracy.

“I think as the days go by, we need a more important dialogue about how democracy works,” she said. “And foreign interference is only part of it.”


This report by The Canadian Press was first published on April 9, 2023.



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