The Foreign Service and Political Patronage
Political patronage in the foreign service was one of the big issues for members of the Canadian foreign service during the recent federal elections. The number of political appointees both as the Head of Post and below had increased dramatically in the…
PAFSO and Political Patronage
The President of PAFSO wrote to the four major political parties before the October 25 elections setting out the views of the PAFSO membership on the appointment of persons outside the foreign service at both the Head of Mission level and below.…
Sydney David Pierce, O.B.E.
Syd trained at McGill in economics and was a runner on the Canadian team on the 1925 Olympics. After a career as a journalist and businessman, he served with the Department of Munitions and Supply in Washington from 1940-44. He then joined…
What Goes Around, Comes Around
My father often quoted the saying, “What goes around, comes around.” At the time I thought it meant that, if your friend had chicken pox, sooner or later you were bound to get it too. As the years went by, I realized…
Presentation to the Special Joint Committee on a Renewed Canada / Mémoire au Comité spécial mixte sur le renouvellement du Canada
We, the undersigned, are making this presentation to the Special Joint Committee out of a deep concern for the future of our country and in the hope that we may contribute a special point of view to the constitutional debate. We are…
Good Deeds and Absurdities
Good deeds and absurdities. These four words just about sum up the life of an ambassador’s spouse. Manifested as a barrage of fanfare and folderol, caviar and cold cuts they constitute a pitfall for the unwary who come to believe the folderol…
Marler: Four Generations of a Quebec Family
Sir Herbert Marler is chiefly remembered in the foreign service community for certain foibles of personality and as the inspiration and financial backer of the remarkable property that still serves as the Canadian Embassy residence and chancery in Tokyo. Insights into both…
Spoils of Power: The Politics of Patronage
Canadian journalists are unquestionably better on the average today than used to be the case: better educated, better trained, and less likely to be party-lining hacks. But it is a rare journalist in Canada now or ever who has a genuine scholarly…
Preparing for the Worst: Post Evacuation à la Victor Odlum
One of the most colourful appointees as a Canadian Head of Post was General Victor Odlum. He was originally appointed in 1940 as our first High Commissioner to Australia (in order to relieve the Prime Minister of the political embarrassment of having…
Representation: One Offsider’s View
Accuse a diplomat of being primarily a social gadfly and only secondarily a working public servant and the fires of righteous indignation will be well and truly lit.
