dagblog - Comments for "Speaking truth to power, Canadian-style"

Just to clarify, when I

acanuck — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:32:51 +0000

Just to clarify, when I compare Fowler to Brzezinski or Kissinger, I'm talking about his enduring impact on the country's foreign policy -- not his public profile, which has been almost non-existent. At least until he got captured by Al-Qa'ida.

He's a career civil servant, not a political appointee. That's a key difference between the Canadian and U.S. systems. We lack the theoretical division between executive and legislative powers (Prime Minister Harper in effect combines the roles of Obama, Pelosi and Reid). But we balance that with a nominally independent, non-partisan, unionized bureaucracy that moderates wild policy swings when Conservatives take over from Liberals or vice-versa.

When, for example, a new defence minister is appointed, he inherits the deputy minister and assistant deputy ministers of his predecessor -- there is no wholesale purging of senior department heads and their replacement by political hacks with no institutional memory. Same goes for the foreign service: only a handful of ambassadorships go to partisan appointees.

If Fowler is here expressing public policy positions before a political gathering, it is simply because -- as a retiree -- he is now free to do so.

Robert Fowler is Canada's

acanuck — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 06:04:00 +0000

In reply to After his introductory

Robert Fowler is Canada's equivalent of Richard Holbrooke or Zbigniew Brzezinski -- or Henry Kissinger, minus the war-crimes allegations. He basically shaped the country's foreign policy while it gained international credibility, so I believe him when he says that political capital has been pointlessly squandered.

I also hope the Liberal Party does the kind of soul-searching he recommends. A majority of Canadians back Liberal core values. It's just hard to work up any enthusiasm to vote for confused, corruptible incompetents. You Democrats know what I mean.

After his introductory

Orlando — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:18:22 +0000

In reply to Speaking truth to power, Canadian-style

After his introductory remarks, he basically begins by saying, "liberals will endorse anything and everything that will return them to power and nothing that won't."

He definitely had me at hello.

Unfortunately, I have to get ready for work and don't have time to finish listening until later, which I will definitely do. Thanks for posting it!