bout de papier, Vol. 4, No. 4 (1986) — Winter 1986 // Hiver 1986, pp. 16–17
Bruce Rankin loved the Foreign Service. He used to say that its members were a breed apart — able to adjust quickly to new cultures and to deal imaginatively and flexibly with a huge range of issues and problems. Bruce cared very much about nurturing the spirit and motivation that made people find fulfillment in a Foreign Service career.
Earlier this year Bruce recounted for bout de papier some of the high points of his extraordinary career. Over 36 years he and Mona served in Sydney, Shanghai, Bombay, Berne, New York, Caracas and Tokyo. Bruce and Mona were a model of mutual support and affection. Bruce met Mona, a Canadian who grew up in Australia, on his first posting and her active participation in all his endeavours combined intelligence and humour in a manner which made it obvious how close they were.
During his career Bruce had only one assignment in Canada, at the National Defence College. Yet his contacts and friends in Canada were legion and he had extraordinary sensitivity to Canadian political currents and economic concerns.
One can measure Bruce Rankin’s successes in so many ways – his unparalleled ties with the Canadian business community, his straightforwardness and decisiveness under pressure, his generosity and kindness to his colleagues, his leadership and the inspiration he gave to a generation of Foreign Service people. Having Bruce and Mona at a post abroad virtually ensured that morale among staff members and their families was extremely high.
Bruce was direct and even blunt and this was one of his greatest strengths. He was able to go directly to the point on difficult issues because of his understanding of Canadian interests
BRUCE RANKIN — I have always supported the proposition that the Public Service of Canada should be politically neutral, but never neutered. Those in positions of responsibility should be vigorous in the expression of their opinions — even to Ministers —before decisions are reached, and diligent in carrying out the decisions when finally made by the government. In saying this, I must have had Bruce Rankin in mind. Since he spent most of his career abroad, I did not meet with him frequently either when I was deputy minister or later when I became a Minister. But I received regular reports on his activities and I never forgot the occasions when we did meet. Bruce generated energy. It came pouring out. Not that he talked at length. It was the bluntness and directness of his language that was so impressive. I remember one particular meeting in New York when I was SSEA and leading the Canadian Delegation to the General Assembly. I sat at one end of the table, Bruce, who was Chairman of one of the Committees of the General Assembly, sat at the other. After one of his vigorous interventions, which was very much to the point, I reminded the Delegation that Bruce was a public servant, I was the politician. It did not slow him down, I am glad to say. Bruce responded to challenges and inspired in those who worked with and for him an extraordinary degree of personal loyalty. Consequently, he was given challenging posts. I saw him at work in Tokyo on several occasions both while I was Minister and later. Although then the Ambassador, he was still the trade commissioner at heart employing, along with his wife Mona, the niceties of diplomacy, hospitality and personal charm not only to promote friendly relations between Japan and Canada but to produce orders and contracts for Canadian business.
I have had the privilege of knowing personally all of the group of talented men that was recruited at the end of the Second World War by the Department of Trade and Commerce to serve abroad. Bruce Rankin was among the best: a superb public servant. The people of Canada are indebted to him for his energetic devotion to their interests.
The Hon. Mitchell Sharp.
and his deep self-confidence. His humour was a great source of joy to his friends and colleagues. Bruce was famous at the United Nations for his chairmanship of the Economic Committee of the General Assembly. What is most remembered, and this is referred to in the bout de papier interview earlier this year, was his punctuality in starting meetings. This was important in setting a businesslike tone for the meetings and getting some productive work done. But even more impressive was his ability to deflate the self-important egos that all too often reduced the UN’s proceedings to the meanderings of an inward-looking debating society. He was able to bring meetings to focus on the decisions that had to be taken.
I recall one incident in which a particularly pompous delegate was decrying the lack of progress on some subject clearly dear to his heart. He ended a lengthy speech by quoting Macbeth:
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and
tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to
day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted
fools
The way to a dusty death. Out, out,
brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor
player
That struts and frets his hour upon
the stage,
And then is heard no more; …
Bruce, presiding at the meeting and not skipping a beat, said that quotation was one of his favourites from Shakespeare, but that the delegate had unfortunately left out the rest of what Macbeth had had to say:
.. it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and
fury,
Signifying nothing.”
The effect was devastating. It took several minutes for the laughter to subside and the distinguished delegate was not heard from again for weeks.
Bruce accomplished an enormous amount for Canada during his career. His successful efforts with respect to oil issues with Venezuela, economic development through the United Nations system, Canada’s financial standing on Wall Street, and Canada’s trade with Japan, are all representative of the important contribution he made.
After he retired in 1981 Bruce pursued an extremely active life in the private sector. He kept his close ties with the department and was always generous in sharing the benefits of his experience and wisdom. Bruce was honoured by his country and his university. He was an outstanding member of the Foreign Service and his example will always be an inspiration to those who were fortunate enough to have him as a colleague and a friend.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 4, No. 4 (1986) — Winter 1986 // Hiver 1986, pp. 16–17. Read the rest of this issue →
