Now’s the hard part, sir

The federal cabinet’s strategic “retreat” in New Brunswick threatens, revealingly, to be overwhelmed by events. But since Liberal ministers are hearing from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s “delivery guru,” I offer my own lecture on the subject for the benefit of the Trudeau administration and interested, or baffled, citizens.

Good day. Perhaps some of you wonder what a “delivery guru” even is, and why the Prime Minister hired one. Allow me to explain. They’re experts in making sure the nice stuff you promise actually happens. OK. Fine. But why are they necessary in modern governments?

Point one: As Thomas Sowell says, “Reality is tricky.”

It’s all fine and good to talk about political will on the campaign trail. But remember British Prime Min- ister Harold Wilson’s immortal words when asked the hardest thing about politics: “Events, my dear boy, events.” Draining a swamp is invariably complicated by the need to fend off alligators. Especially if you didn’t know there were alligators.

Point two: Government is very tricky.

Waaaaaaay back in 1952, before Facebook, Harry Truman imagined Eisenhower succeeding him as President. “He’ll sit here, and he’ll say, ‘Do this! Do that!’ And nothing will happen. Poor Ike — it won’t be a bit like the Army. He’ll find it very frustrating.” Later, Richard Nixon would write, “I learned early in my administration that a President must keep a constant check not just on the way his orders are being followed, but on whether they are being followed at all.” And radical British Labour MP Tony Benn once recounted the thrill of becoming a minister and grasping the famous “levers of power” only to find they didn’t seem to be connected to anything.

In fairness, public servants often raise legitimate questions about policy details that get lost in the rush to complete the weekly cabinet meeting agenda or, dare I say it, write a winning platform. Don’t treat everything they say as obstruction or pettifogging. But they are also risk-averse, in their procedures and policy preferences. And while you might think ensuring delivery is your job as cabinet ministers, at least within your ministries, the PMO will give you “help” whether you want it or not. And you will need it because modern governments are vast and hugely unwieldy.

Most of you, as Liberals, believe expanding the state’s ambitions and machinery since the 1950s greatly improved Canadians’ quality of life. But remember your policy guru Tom Axworthy’s blunt 2006 convention warning: “Liberalism’s dirty secret is that government doesn’t seem to work well much of the time.”

You have big dreams. But you also have big problems. Government is at least as sluggish, unresponsive and inflexible as its critics allege.

Point three: Beware of sticking to what worked so far. The Prime Minister draws giddy crowds and journalists fawn wherever he goes. But the election is over. Frankly, he should not have flown to Davos to charm bankers into thinking the Canadian economy is already a winner and utter banal platitudes about changely changehoodship and forward-thinking innovative optimistic innovation al forward thinkingness. It’s time to design and implement policy, not glad- hand, shmooz and bloviate.

Point four: Nuts and bolts matter. So do incentives.

Start with the budget. The skeptics are right that you cannot keep your promise to stimulate the economy and hold deficits to $10 billion, especially as deteriorating conditions require more “stimulus” and bring less revenue. You must decide, rather than drift, on whether to run larger deficits, before Rona Ambrose succeeds in cornering you on an issue she should be ashamed to raise. But do not deceive yourselves that you can settle it by a show of hands, or the PM “making the tough call.”

With respect, budgets do not balance themselves. But they do tend to write themselves, because existing programs, institutional structures, and incentives and penalties written into tax law, regulations and elsewhere develop enormous policy and political momentum over time. If you don’t believe me, find a moment to Google “public choice theory.” Ugh. I know. But it’s the sort of stuff you can’t ignore in office.

If you do not delve into the details with hard-headed courtesy, listening carefully to public servants then making firm decisions and following them through the bureaucratic labyrinth to ensure they emerge alive, you will be reduced to accepting the result of a process you did not control and pretending you did it on purpose. It happened to Harper and Flaherty. It can happen to you.

You needed an attractive program to get elected, and you had one. But implementation is not an afterthought. Political will got you this far. Now bureaucratic do is essential.

If you have further questions, call your “delivery guru.” Make sure his number is on your speed dial.

Oh, and good luck. Yer gonna need it.

PRIME MINISTER, ‘POLITICAL WILL’ GOT YOU THIS FAR. NOW YOU’LL NEED ‘BUREAUCRATIC DO.’

‘POLICE FORCES ARE NOT ACCOUNTABLE ENOUGH.’ — GURNEY