Another Decree from King Stephen I

I've been wondering what it would take to rouse me from my municipal campaign-induced indifference to federal politics. This did the trick:

Ottawa bars ministers’ staff from appearing before committees
New Conservative policy says ministers, not their staff, should be held accountable

The Conservative government is launching another showdown with the opposition over the powers of Parliament, this time issuing an edict that only cabinet ministers – and not their political staff – can appear as witnesses before committees.

The new cabinet position, to be outlined in detail Tuesday morning, comes just days after the opposition and government resolved a heated dispute over Parliament’s power to see documents related to Afghan detainees.

This latest line in the sand will play out later Tuesday at the House of Commons access to information, privacy and ethics committee, where the Prime Minister’s director of communications, Dimitri Soudas, is scheduled to appear as a witness.

Mr. Soudas let it be known Sunday that he’s not coming.

Well, what could be wrong with that, you ask? Shouldn't a minister be the one to answer such questions and not their minions?

You would think so, except there's one little catch: a staffer, aide, or any other sort of ordinary citizen can be directly compelled to testify before a parliamentary committee. A minister cannot.

How convenient.

When I read all this, the first thing I thought was, "He can't do that! Can he do that?!" Well, no, he can't really. But he can try. And by trying, he can throw yet another wrench into the works of our parliamentary committees.

This option is starting to look better and better.

Retiring Information Commissioner Takes a Parting Shot

Oh, man - I'd pay good money to see this:

Info watchdog takes aim at Harper’s stone wall

Bruce Campion-Smith
Ottawa bureau chief

OTTAWA–Canada's outgoing information watchdog is threatening to seize documents after complaints that the bureaucratic wing of the Prime Minister's Office is stonewalling some access-to-information requests.

The information commissioner served formal notice on the Privy Council Office this week, warning that commission staff would use their legal powers to seize the documents themselves if the paperwork wasn't provided by today.

"I'm about to walk into PCO next week ... for files they didn't give us. We're going to take them and they can't stop us," Robert Marleau told the Star.

"I cannot be denied access. I can walk into any federal government premise without notice and take what I need."

Marleau says that he's threatened to do this before and it usually resulted in the documents being handed over. But part of me hopes he will be forced to march in there and start pulling files. Maybe then people would finally understand that every single promise Harper made that originally brought him to power - accountability, transparency, responsibility - was a goddamned lie.

UPDATE: This guy could teach Ignatieff a thing or two about ultimatums.

Privy Council officials have ended months of stonewalling and handed over documents requested by the federal information watchdog.

Yesterday's disclosure of files came only after Information Commissioner Robert Marleau threatened to have his staff enter the Privy Council offices and seize the paperwork themselves.

Privy Council staff delivered some documents yesterday, the deadline set by Marleau, and promised to deliver the rest soon.

Save Kevin Page! on Facebook

I just started my very first Facebook group, devoted to everyone's favourite indestructible, incorruptible civil servant:

Save Kevin Page and the PBO!

Kevin Page was appointed as Canada's first Parliamentary Budget Officer in 2006, and was given the task of providing independent analysis "directly to Parliament" about the "state of ... finances and trends in the national economy." The office was set up with a bare-bones budget and staff, with the promise that funding would be substantially increased.

That promise is being broken, and the PBO's independence and effectiveness are being threatened.

Kevin Page has proved time and again that he is a skilled and devoted public servant. He and his office perform a vital function by cutting through the spin and providing Canadians and our elected representatives with Truth in Budgeting.

Show your support for Kevin Page and the PBO by emailing your MP, and by inviting your friends to Save Kevin Page!

Kevin Page: Man of Steel

Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page released his accounting of the true costs of the Afghanistan War today, which to nobody's surprise turned out to be somewhat higher than Stephen Harper's guestimate.

I love this guy. I really do. He's a devoted civil servant who clearly loves his work, despite the fact that his work is, well, accounting. Honestly, I've never seen anyone so excited about Australia's accrual method of estimating transitional costs before. He looks like a typical accountant, but watching him today, I think I got a glimpse of what sort of moxy one needs to survive as a bureaucrat in Stephen Harper's Ottawa these days.

Page was appointed to his newly created position back in March amid some controversy, partly because the Prime Minister had once again appointed a senior bureaucrat without having put him through the Public Appointments Commission that he had promised but never quite got around to creating. But from the get go it was understood that the office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer was there just to make a show of adhering to the Federal Accountability Act. With a meagre budget of $2.5 million, a staff of two (now eight, including 2 interns), and a rented office in some insurance building off the Hill, it was pretty clear that nobody was taking the position seriously.

Except, apparently, Mr. Page.

For me, one of the more telling moments in Page's presentation came about 17 minutes into the Q&A portion. He had mentioned, and several reporters had asked about, the difficulties he had in getting information from various government departments. Finally, one reporter pressed him on it, leading to this humorous exchange:

Margot McDiarmid, CBC Television: You've been very diplomatic when we're asking about your frustration...

Page: I'm hoping for a future job.

McDiarmid: (laughs) But you know, in the briefing before this press conference, some of your officials reflected this frustration...

Page: I'll work on 'em. Do you have names?

McDiarmid: (laughs) I'm not giving them.

Page: I think I know who it is, actually.

He went on to talk about how important it is, six months into the job, for him to be diplomatic and to build relationships with DND and the other departments. Leading to this not so humorous exchange:

McDiarmid: Just a follow up, are you afraid of some sort of reprisal from them?

Page: No, no. Do I look afraid? I'm not afraid, I promise you I'm not afraid.

From the resolute look on his face, I believed him. I also believed that this wasn't the first time such a notion had crossed his mind.

Still, if observing the neo-conservative revolution in the U.S. for the past few decades has taught us anything, it's that competent, productive, enthusiastic civil servants like Mr. Page are a liability when the object is to prove that government is by nature incompetent and inefficient, thus justifying the transfer of its duties to private enterprise.

I give him a year. Tops.