It’s customary for the federal bureaucracy to go into ‘caretaker’ mode during a campaign. But thanks to Trump, the public service needs to hit the ground running the minute the new government is chosen.
If you thought Ottawa couldn’t get any quieter, just wait until Prime Minister Mark Carney sends Canadians to the polls as expected this Sunday.
The national capital has already been devoid of Parliament since Justin Trudeau went to Governor General Mary Simon asking her to punt democracy into the long grass. Now the bureaucrats will join the politicians on the metaphorical beach as Canadians decide which party will govern them.
It would have been nice to have a functioning Parliament as U.S. President Donald Trump attempted his wholesale dismantling of the world’s best and most mutually beneficial bilateral relationship. That Canada will now have a fresh Parliament with a fresh mandate to counter him can only be a good thing. That we have to get to there from here is a shame.
And while the federal ministers remain in place and at work during an election, the current tightness in the polls means many of them must be in their ridings pulling votes instead of reading up on transition binders or the latest Trump volley. If an American president were looking to have some more fun, now would be a good time. Trump might just now go full berserker.
What Canada needs in such an environment is maximum responsiveness. What it will get these next few weeks instead is lethargy. It’s hard to describe just how catatonic the federal public service gets when the writs have been issued. The machines keep the body of government living, but not much beyond that. And that goes double when there is likely to be a change in government. A town that’s already prone is about to become paralyzed.
Of course, the recent uptick in Liberal fortunes means there might not be a change in government. But there would still be a change in priorities, even if the Liberals are returned. The consumer-facing carbon tax is effectively gone. Other things are sure to go. Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives, we know, will be changing things around, beginning with the CBC. But Trump is changing reality faster than the policy process knows how to cope.
All the more reason, then, for the public service to stay on high alert instead of descending into the usual torpor. There are many jobs to do. The bureaucracy will have to keep an eye on the United States (and the world) while the politicians shake hands and door-knock. It will also have to keep a keen eye on policy announcements, of which there might actually be some in this campaign, such is the urgency in response to Trump. To wit, Poilievre is already out of the doors with his “Canada First with Shovel-Ready Zones” announcement. The NDP’s Jagmeet Singh has already committed Canada to somehow magically building all of the F-35s in Canada. In other words, the upper echelons of the public service had better have the all-time best transition process ready to go, come April 28.
No matter how the nation chooses to pull apart the current Parliament and put it back together, the reconstituted House of Commons and the government leading it will have to move swiftly. This will mean a good working relationship with the arms and legs of the public service.
Carney might not have experience as a politician, but he has experience on the other end of the equation, as a senior mandarin at the Department of Finance. His work around the tables of the G20 and Bank of International Settlements will also stand him in good stead in terms of working through the mechanisms of the bureaucracy. That he has reportedly tapped former Clerk of the Privy Council Janice Charette to head his transition team is a sign of intent.
Poilievre would do well to drop some names of his own. His experience as a minister and parliamentary secretary will serve him well in a return to government, but a similarly and even more-experienced team around him would help to reassure Canadians that he will hit the ground running.
Andrew MacDougall is a London-based communications consultant and ex-director of communications to former prime minister Stephen Harper.
