bout de papier, Vol. 3, No. 2 (1985) — Summer 1985 // Été 1985, p. 4
Rumours of changes involving ministers, deputies, indeed the structure of both department and the foreign service, may prove little more than midsummer madness. We hope so. What the department does not need at a time when it is wrestling with such fundamental foreign policy issues as SDI and free trade is the upheaval and disruption of another reorganization.
It has been just over three and a half years since the creation of the multipurpose and multi-minister department. Few would want to undo what has been done. Mr. Clark told PAFSO members last October that the Prime Minister ’in his letter outlining the responsibilities Ministers were to assume, made it very clear that he was unhappy about the speculation that had been occurring over further disorganization of the department. He said that it was his plan to keep the structure of this department as it is, to keep it intact, to keep trade here and that what he wanted Ministers to do, and required the public service to do, is to stop talking about where the trade responsibility will be. We should accept that it is here in External and get on with (it)”. So let’s get on with it!
The Prime Minister has a choice. During the election campaign Brian Mulroney made much political capital out of the public revulsion to the death-bed dispersal of patronage by Messrs. Trudeau and Turner. His government subsequently “rescinded” the diplomatic appointments of Messrs. Dupras, Mackasey and Whelan. Last October, Mr. Mulroney promised PAFSO that “the standard of professionalism so characteristic of our foreign service will be maintained by my Government and reflected in the diplomatic appointments we will be making”. Alas the words in his May 31 letter, (see opposite page) in response to PAFSO’s concern over the appointment of the president of the Westmount Progressive Conservative Party as Consul General to Los Angeles, are not so reassuring. “Je m’empresse de vous affirmer mon engagement continu a respecter dans la mesure du possible les traditions établies au sien du ministère des Affaires extérieures. Soyez assure que toute nomination diplomatique faite par notre gouvernement aura pour objectif de rehausser la crédibilité des représentants du gouvernement canadien a l’étranger.. .” Patronage, by any other name, is still patronage.
Long promised, the grey paper on foreign policy review has been tabled and a joint parliamentary committee has been appointed to consider its contents. The Professional Committee, which previously held a very good and well attended evening in March on the future of the Foreign Service, hosted a session a few weeks ago on the Review. Discussion was lively and debate was to the point. Let’s hope this same spirit is reflected in the External Relations Committee and in the public debate over the document.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 3, No. 2 (1985) — Summer 1985 // Été 1985, p. 4. Read the rest of this issue →
