bout de papier, Vol. 24, No. 1 (2008) — Fall/Winter 2008 // Automne/Hiver 2008, p. 20
Jim McCardle was one of the generation of officers whose lives and careers spanned many of the momentous years of the 20th century.
James Joachim McCardle was born in Stratford, Ontario, in 1922 where he grew up and went to school through the Depression. He headed to the University of Toronto and earned a BA during the first years of the Second World War; he then joined the Canadian Army where he learned Japanese.
Following the War, upon discharge from the Army in 1946, he joined the Department of External Affairs; he was assigned to the Canadian Mission to Tokyo where, in addition to using his Japanese language skills, he met and married Lannie Harrison of the US Embassy in 1948. He returned to Ottawa in 1949 and worked in the Far Eastern Division and then went to San Francisco as Secretary of the Canadian Delegation to the Peace Conference with Japan.
Jim McCardle then held a series of positions in Ottawa and abroad including postings to Washington, Paris (NATO), Dublin (as Ambassador), the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, Canberra (as High Commissioner to Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea), and finally San Francisco (as Consul General of Canada). He retired from External Affairs in 1986.
Jim McCardle was a very wise and sage officer. During his first years as Consul General in San Francisco, I was able to learn from his wisdom and canniness while I served as head of the Public Affairs program.
In the early 1980s, while he was in San Francisco, the trade program at headquarters launched a corporate liaison program which included missions reporting back to headquarters on the number of calls made by heads of posts on the heads of major corporations with interests in Canada.
Mr. McCardle pushed the trade section of the Consulate to produce more and more briefing material for him, to do more research on the companies he would be calling on and their current and prospective interests in Canada as well as around the world. During one staff meeting, where he asked more and more questions, he explained: “As Canadian Consul General in San Francisco, I can walk into any corporate office in this city once. I want to be able to walk in the second and third times, when there is a need.” He recognized that his stature as the Canadian representative would open doors for him, but he also knew that he had to bring something of value to the discussion with these top business leaders to establish his own credibility and ensure continuing access. The achievement of long-term goals was important to him, not just the meeting of short-term bureaucratic set objectives.
Jim McCardle possessed a keen analytical mind and listened carefully to proposals. When presented with a brain-stormed idea, one not fully hatched, he would ask for it to be put down on paper — a half or full page would do. If further thought had not gone into the idea, the discussion of the paper would soon lay bare the flaws of any immature idea or proposal.
Jim McCardle sought out knowledge and information from many sources, noting that on his posts he had found that the Papal Nuncio often had the best sources and the best idea of what was happening locally; he would share his insights, analysis and advice with his staff freely, and always with a smile and a laugh.
Entering his office was always a mix of pleasure and apprehension. He always greeted one with a smile and twinkle in his eye — as well as an almost ever-present cigarette with a long ash dangling from the end. He was genuinely concerned about the staff of the Consulate; he would ask you how you were, listen carefully to your reply, and then, if you and your family were fine, would apply himself to the task at hand. His quick eye and mind looked through the latest draft and inevitably, within 30 seconds of beginning to read a document, he would find the typo in the middle of page two.
Jim McCardle was a man who cared for and loved his family. He often spoke in loving and proud terms of his wife Lannie and his daughter Bennett. It was clear that however important work and the tasks at hand were, family, his and yours, was equally as important.
Canada lost a dedicated and wise public servant when James Joachim McCardle passed away at the Ottawa Civic Hospital on August 29, 2008.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 24, No. 1 (2008) — Fall/Winter 2008 // Automne/Hiver 2008, p. 20. Read the rest of this issue →
