Donald Savoie, The Globe and Mail
May 17, 2008
Officers of Parliament have come under increasing scrutiny in the media, and none too soon. They have been in fashion for some time, and their number and mandate have expanded considerably. Establishing new officers of this kind, however, can never get at the root cause of what ails our institutions. The issue is much broader and needs the urgent attention of Canadians and our elected representatives. In brief, the unwritten part of our Constitution and our national political and administrative institutions simply no longer correspond to present-day requirements.
The chain of accountability, from voters to MP, from MP to prime minister and cabinet ministers, from ministers to the heads of government departments and agencies, and from senior civil servants to front-line managers to their employees, has broken down. No officer or officers of Parliament can repair it. They have neither the mandate nor the legitimacy to play more than a supporting role.
The relationship among Parliament, the prime minister, ministers and public servants is in need of repair, and we are ill served by pretending that all is well. We should no longer tolerate court government, by which a political leader with the help of a handful of courtiers shapes and reshapes instruments of power at will. Those with the power to introduce change for the better are reluctant to do so because they enjoy being able to wield tremendous power.
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Inside government, prime ministers and their courtiers, perhaps to get things done, have concentrated effective power in their own hands. By “court government,” I mean that effective power now rests with the prime minister and a small group of carefully selected courtiers. I also mean that there has been a shift from formal decision-making processes in cabinet and in the civil service, to informal processes involving only a handful of key actors. The government of Canada now makes policy by announcement rather than by a policy process.
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