Our federal civil service has turned to mush

The one key question to ask about Justin Trudeau — or any government leader, Keenan, April 13

Edward Keenan highlights the most important failure of our governments and, in particular, of our federal government. Our federal civil service has turned to mush. It is incapable of managing most of our current programs in an effective manner and cabinet should not authorize any new programs until all existing ones are either running properly or have been eliminated.

This mushiness in the civil service was evident in the Phoenix payroll system inherited by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from former prime minister Stephen Harper.

The pathetic mess at 24 Sussex Drive, the prime minister’s official residence in Ottawa, speaks loudly of clerks of the privy council unable to guide their bosses to common sense.

The failure to properly vet Julie Payette for the post of governor general seems to have mimicked the failure to appoint enough judges. The backlog of 80,000 claims for redress from airlines, most involving domestic airlines, is another example of managerial incompetence. Why is it that most businesses deal with customer complaints without government intervention, but our coddled airlines cannot? Why is it that the Canadian Armed Forces has more than 15,000 job vacancies? How can it possibly be that Canada Revenue Agency has made such a dreadful mess with bare trusts?

Former Liberal MP John McCallum managed to bring 30,000 Syrian refugees to Canada in record time. Jane Philpott and Jody Wilson-Raybould, also former Liberal MPs, managed to deliver legislation on assisted suicide in a reasonably competent manner. But those three competent managers have been booted out of government by a prime minister who has no concept of or appreciation for administrative competence.

Why do we still conduct elections by first-past-the-post? It is because Trudeau assigned the task of securing cross-party support for this change to a rookie MP and rookie cabinet minister Maryam Monsef, whose experience in navigating the halls of power was limited to finding her way to the nearest loo. This is not her fault. Trudeau’s prospects for re-election today would be much brighter if Michael Wernick had spent his time and skill coaching Monsef instead of hounding Wilson-Raybould.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre faces a long, uphill slog fixing all of this so he can then start introducing new policies.

Patrick Cowan, North York

Our federal civil service is incapable of managing most of our current programs in an effective manner.

PATRICK COWAN