Les Leyne: Change of power means pink slips for dozens of government staff members

The new cabinet is the obvious new face of the new government, but beneath that level there is a big churn of personnel that further reflects the change of power.

Under the heading of “order in council” appointments — people hired directly by cabinet who are in a separate category from the public service — there is a broad band of staff whose careers get shaken up when there is a change of government. They include deputy ministers, assistant deputies, ministerial support staff and a big complement of communications people.

After weeks of uncertainty and speculation, the termination notices started flowing fast and furious on Monday, the day before the changeover. It falls to the outgoing cabinet to drop the axe on many of the staff they hired over the years.

Sixteen years ago, former premier Ujjal Dosanjh spent his last day in office signing orders that fired dozens of NDP appointees. Following custom, the last four cabinet orders signed by Christy Clark as premier terminated a total of 142 people, working from a list supplied by the NDP.

The first batch included 75 advisers, directors and communications staff from across government. It included 21 people from the premier’s office, notably former finance minister Carole Taylor, who acted as a $1-a-year adviser to Clark for the past year.

A few of the others will transition to Clark’s new role as leader of the opposition. The order-in-council also rescinded the jobs (“at the end of the day”) of a broad range of executive assistants and chiefs of staff of the different ministers.

The next batch added a further 16 names to the toll — directors and administrative co-ordinators from the ministers’ offices.

The third round axed three assistant deputies and 38 more communications people. The titles of the departed illustrate the range of jobs within the government communications and public engagement office: corporate communications planning officer, public-affairs officer, communication manager, event co-ordinator, media-relations officer, strategic communications adviser.

The final list was deputy ministers. Incoming deputy to the premier Don Wright interviewed most of the deputies over the weekend and the list represents those he decided weren’t going to fit with the NDP. It was 10, all told.

That’s just under half the complement of line-ministry deputies, although there are more senior officials who hold that status, if not the title. Four of them had obvious long-standing B.C. Liberal ties. Their fates were sealed the moment the government fell. Speculation abounds about the rest.

Tuesday’s round of cabinet orders had a different tone and a different signature. The first 12 orders signed by Premier John Horgan formalized the new cabinet and appointed about 60 new staff members, with likely more to come.

The most critical grouping is the 35 deputy ministers appointed or reappointed. The vast majority of the new ones are elevated from the ranks of the public service. One notable new hire is Evan Lloyd, deputy of government communications and public engagement, a communications official through the NDP governments of the 1990s, who is returning after years with a Canada-U.S.-Mexico environmental commission.

Other orders started filling the administrative-assistant complement, added 17 new communications people in various capacities and named three new assistant deputies in finance.

The severance bill for the last change of government in 2001 was about $9 million. This one depends on the final count, but will be far higher.

All the newcomers have to take an oath under a regulation devised three years ago by the Liberals.

They swear or affirm to serve loyally, act with integrity and “put the interest of the public and the public service above my own personal interest.”

Just So You Know: The premier’s office started filling up with 12 political appointees, most of them well into the six-figure salary range. As a marker of generational change, there’s a new $100,000-a-year liaison and co-ordination director by the name of Layne Clark, a former NDP and B.C. Federation of Labour employee. She’ll be well-briefed on how the joint works — her dad, Glen, worked there as premier in the 1990s. (As a further marker of change, she’s making $8,000 a year more than the salary he started at back then.)