Harper refused to turn off cell on flight

[Hux]

Interesting article by Lawrence Martin, re: Deputy Ministers (civil servants) and Harper's Ottawa, in which the big guy is so in control he doesn't even want to turn off his cell for a few minutes.

By way of illustration, on a recent trip, the Prime Minister was asked

by a flight attendant to turn off his cellphone and BlackBerry. Mr.

Harper declined. The pilot then made a request, saying it was for safety

purposes. The PM relented. But, at the end of the journey, one of his

staffers gave the pilot some news: His services would no longer be

required on prime ministerial trips.

The unwritten bylaw of Bytown: Fall in line or fall out of favour

LAWRENCE MARTIN

Globe and Mail

OTTAWA -- Maryantonett Flumian got the news last week. The deputy

minister of Service Canada was told -- it hasn't been made public yet --

that she was being moved out. She had no idea it was coming. It's the

latest in a sweeping overhaul of Ottawa's deputy ministers, the

government's subcabinet so to speak, that some regard as the largest in

decades.

The Conservative remake, which has gone on quietly, well out of the

media spotlight, has had an unnerving effect on the mandarins. They were

dispirited under the last helter-skelter Liberal government. Now they

are perplexed by all the changes, left to wonder how relevant they are

to Stephen Harper's world.

The degree of certitude with which the Prime Minister's Office acted in

the current Middle East crisis typifies what is going on, said one

deputy minister.

"When you live in a world where options aren't necessary, I suppose you

don't need much of a bureaucracy."

Of the rash of changes, one senior lobbyist said: "Hey, it's only a

minority [government] and they're toasting or shifting people left,

right and centre. It used to be that elections made politicians

expendable. Now it's the bureaucracy as well."

Senior players who have been shuffled, moved out or eased into

retirement include the deputy ministers at the departments of Finance,

Environment, International Trade, Industry, Human Resources,

Immigration, Natural Resources, Indian Affairs and Public Safety. Among

the more prominent names on the list are veterans such as Ian Bennett,

Alan Nymark, Samy Watson, Rob Fonberg and Ms. Flumian. Most of them were

known as having an independent streak.

More departures are anticipated. Ward Elcock, the deputy minister at

Defence, is expected to be moved out, and some say the writing is on the

wall for Peter Harder at Foreign Affairs.

Some regard the overhaul as wise, some as a witch hunt. Some say it's

Mr. Harper putting in place pawns who will be amenable to his agenda.

Others argue that the shakeup was needed and is based on reasons of

efficiency only.

Traditionally, there has been a good deal of continuity in the ranks of

deputy ministers when new governments take office. There are some

changes, although rarely this many. It was expected, for example, that

top bureaucrat Alex Himelfarb, Clerk of the Privy Council, would be

moved out. He was replaced by Kevin Lynch, who is more conservative and

who, everyone agrees, is a good fit for Mr. Harper. Mr. Lynch, who

served as deputy finance minister under Paul Martin, is highly regarded.

Mr. Martin had wanted the super-bright workaholic as his own clerk, but

advisers convinced him that Mr. Lynch would be too divisive. Under Mr.

Harper and Mr. Lynch, social files are not getting the hearing that they

did under Mr. Martin and Mr. Himelfarb. Mr. Lynch's priorities are more

economically focused.

Ms. Flumian, who was also serving as associate deputy minister at Human

Resources, was seen as tough-minded and competent. But having to deal

under the Liberals with the controversial gun-registry program probably

didn't help her standing. Though her relations with Mr. Lynch were

reasonable enough, the new Clerk, not surprisingly, has wanted to move

in some personal favourites. He did not get along well, for instance,

with Mr. Bennett, the former deputy at Finance. But replacing him with

the amiable Rob Wright has fed into the theory that the new government

does not want high-level bureaucrats who exercise the challenge function.

This, not any ideological motive, may be at the root of the big sweep.

In fact, strangely, several of the mandarins who have been knocked down

a peg are viewed as somewhat right-of-centre.

Under Mr. Harper and Mr. Lynch, there is a sense that there is a big

plan for the public service. But the apparatchiks are not sure what it

is. In contrast to the shapelessness of the previous government, the one

thing they -- and most everyone in this town, from the deputy ministers

to the PM's pilots -- are feeling is a firm hand.

By way of illustration, on a recent trip, the Prime Minister was asked

by a flight attendant to turn off his cellphone and BlackBerry. Mr.

Harper declined. The pilot then made a request, saying it was for safety

purposes. The PM relented. But, at the end of the journey, one of his

staffers gave the pilot some news: His services would no longer be

required on prime ministerial trips.

The aviator should have known that this is the new Ottawa. In

Harpertown, you fall in line or fall from favour.

[Birdy]

haha.. that last line is hilarious.. how sensationalistic can these journalists be?

cue the drum finale!

[ollie]

Steve is a dweeb.

[Hux]

"you fall in line or fall from favour"

"fall from favour" seems like the tamest least sensational(istic?) way to say it, ie. it could've been "you fall in line or are fired" or "you fall in line and get the axe" or "you fall in line and prepare to fall"....

Not sure how we could have said it any less sensational?

[ollie]

Not sure how we could have said it any less sensational?

[color:purple]Say it about Paul Martin?

[Hux]

[color:purple]Whatever you say Cybil

[Birdy]

I'm sure the aviator didn't get fired because Steve was asked to turn his bloody blackberry off. If I believed everything the media told me i'd live in the middle of a bush and have a list 20 names strong of who i want to bomb. The sensationalism comes from the journalist trying to paint a picture of a police state. He "should have known", "new ottawa", "fall in line", "fall from favour", etc. It just seems a bit much, considering the subject.