Accountability

Richard Ostrofsky
(September, 1996)
These days, Ottawa seems filled with mid-level civil servants who feel
betrayed by their organizations. Quite a few are customers of Second
Thoughts Bookstore. Some of these, knowing my interest in the post-
modern crisis of government, have been sharing their feelings and stories
with me. Listening to these people, one finds a pattern: Mostly they are
persons, of considerable dedication who once chose to go into public
service rather than business – partly from an interest in “the big picture”,
partly from a fascination with the workings and uses of power, and partly
from genuinely idealistic wish to serve the public interest. They have
reached positions of scope and responsibility: high enough to see what is
really going on, not high enough to have any direct personal voice in the
making of policy. Most of them have seen their last promotion – partly, of
course, because government is in an era of contraction, but partly too
because they lack the major qualification for a really senior position:
unquestioning willingness to put organizational interests and tacit policy
ahead of the public interest when any conflict arises. Most of them feel
betrayed by their superiors (at DG or ADM level and above, say, and by the
political masters these serve, who routinely pass the blame down to their
subordinates when anything goes wrong.
Several recent incidents – the Tainted Blood Scandal, the Somalia Affair,
and many others – are bringing this sense of betrayal to a head. As well, the
Liberal government shows no sign of making good on its “Red Book”
promise to bring down “whistle-blowing legislation”, aimed at protecting
civil servants courageous enough to call public attention to instances of
corruption, malfeasance or non-feasance in their departments. On the
contrary, it is resorting to “cover-ups” wherever possible. When caught, it
allows Ministers and senior officials to wriggle off the hook of
responsibility by pleading ignorance and passing the buck downward to
hapless underlings who had been following tacit policy in the first place. No
wonder that government’s senior working level is on the verge of revolt.
Retired and active civil servants (largely) from this level, quite a few of
whom living in Ottawa South, are coming together as a new organization
called the Alliance For Public Accountability. Their purposes are:
• to ensure that Access To Information channels remain open, and to
provide the public with authoritative information in cases of
governmental malfeasance;
• to support whistle-blowers, disseminate the information they provide,
and protect them from bureaucratic reprisal;
• to ensure that the Liberal government delivers on its election promise of
“whistle-blowing” legislation; and generally,
• to embarrass our glorious leaders into cleaning up their act.
Canadians, for the most part, are nice people, with a long history of
deference to authority and to superior power. Pointing fingers of blame and
“throwing the rascals out” do not come naturally to us. However, there does
begin to be a mood that enough is enough.