Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 25, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free september 1981 7 Power shifted to the bureaucrats Peter Thomson is leaving his position As Ottawa editor of this newspaper to become executive adviser on Public relations to the wheat in the following the first of he reflects on the significant changes that he has seen during 14 years in Ottawa As a As a ministerial aide and As an Ottawa newcomer to Ottawa 14 years ago could quickly sense there was change in the it was political the Diefenbaker Pearson Era was end something new was in the it came in the form of Pierre Elliot Trudeau and Canada was on a new one recalls an Early interview with the new prime minister when he reflected on How Radical changes can be accomplished through a rather cumbersome political Trudeau used an analogy that it turns very when the Captain turns the he the change in course is but the passengers will land at a Destina Tion far from the one for which they he might have added that the longer the the greater the deviation from the original Trudeau of still at the and Canada is on a vastly differ ent course from what it was on 14 years the changes take Many but perhaps the most and the one from which others is the alignment of the Power Structure in in prime minister pearsons Day each government department was a separate fiefdom ruled by the minister and his senior it was a system that provided for conflicting policies and programs but it also contained checks and balances that have since Trudeau concentrated Power in the prime ministers office and the privy Council the prime minister and clerk of the privy Council in a much More powerful than those offices had been ministers downgraded the corollary is that ministers be came much less frequently learning of major policy initiatives affecting their departments Only after the the Brief conservative tenure brought an abrupt change in the Way policies were developed and put into the Long in in some policy changes that they wished to it for the an abrupt change from their accustomed Way of going whereby they followed the Lead of the privy Council office and developed appropriate policies and suddenly they were faced with unix Peter Thomson Ottawa editor petted and unwanted policy input from the ministerial reaction varied from department to after the tory defeat former external affairs minister Flora Macdonald complained that she had not been kept informed and had frequently been asked to take important policy Deci virtually in the her dilemma is the bureaucrats were accustomed to operating in the Liberal they did not believe a Mere minister would deign to or even a policy paper but would merely rubber stamp it because it had flowed from on the inner Circle of senior bureaucrats who receive their direction from Michael clerk of the privy have grown unaccustomed to input at the ministerial it is a Type of bureaucratic thinking that stems from Trudeau style of governing and it is not yet thoroughly understood by the Canadian one example might be an Exchange Between a senior ministerial assistant and a former Deputy minister of i when the aide expressed a View affecting clearly reflecting the ministers he was told you look after the we will look after the it was difficult advice to if one holds to the old fashioned View that politicians form policy and bureaucrats administer the programs that put it into another Case arose under the Conser in which the people sought to halt a certain politic ally damaging regulation which had been developed by the on three separate occasions a minis Ter had the offending regulation remo the bureaucrats kept sneaking it Back it was finally removed for Good Only when a number of tory maps threatened to quit the party if the regulation was even after the Issue was finally re one of the bureaucrats of fairly senior level argued almost violently that the political people had no right to alter regulations drawn up by the in a third a departmental offi Cial assigned to the ministers staff was reminded quite forcibly the Deputy minister that the official worked for him for the minister that it was the Deputy minister not the minister held the officials future career in such is the state of the bureaucratic mind in and such is the Power that the bureaucracy holds that minis ters Are used More to be front men or women for than to have any input into development of those pro it is a condition that May have commenced in pre Trudeau but it has flourished in the past 14 the to put it is pretty much in control so Long As the prime minister the second major area of change that one notes on reflecting Over the past 14 years is in fiscal in 1967 the government of the Day postponed implementation of medicare for one year on the grounds that the country could not yet afford Early in 1968 the late Robert Winters uttered the politically embarrassing remark that it was time the country returned to fiscal of lost the Liberal leadership race to Trudeau on the final ballot in the 1968 leadership and fiscal responsibility have been forgotten words Ever Back in 196768 the Federal budget was less than billion and the deficit less than this year the budget Calls for expenditures of billion with another billion hidden away where they do not show the deficit is budgeted at close to where it once took 12 per cent of revenues to pay interest on outstanding it now takes More than 20 per fourteen years ago politicians and bureaucrats expected alternating budgetary surpluses and deficits to keep the Economy on an even keel and inflation at a today there is Little thought of balancing the budget and inflation is an accepted Way of in 1967 governments took pains to separate capital expenditures from operating expenditures with a realization that current revenues should fully cover current expenses or else debts would grow along with implications for inflation and burdensome debt that View changed rather abruptly in the Early capital and operating expenses became lumped and the government stressed Cash require with a prevailing View that the econ omy would continue to expand at a rate that would cover present excessive deficits were encouraged to the inevitable result has been inflation at unprecedented permitted by government partly in the belief it was Best for the partly As a Confidence Job on the and partly As ammunition in the continuing Battle with the provinces for command of tax dollars and spending there have been periodic efforts to Stem the flow either for purposes of real intent or to deceive the Public that the government was one recalls the prices review Agency of the implementation of in comes and Price controls in the food prices review Board and other High profile but Low result efforts to convince people the government the inevitable consequences of fiscal lie in Mort Gage rates of 22 per cent where per cent was considered High in in a Price tag on a House that Cost in and inflation of about 13 per cent where three to four per cent seemed High in one of the major changes in Canadian politics since 1967 has been removal of the words fiscal responsibility from the a third area of major change in the past 14 years has been in Federal pro Vinci Al and in the stance of particular provinces on the question of fourteen years ago cooperative federalism was in the Feder Al government is on a powerful kick toward centralization of All Power and authority in primary Issue How far Ottawa is Able to proceed depends partly on the and partly on the mood of the it is clearly a primary Issue of today and but equally significant perhaps is the changed stance of the in their attitude toward fourteen years ago the Prairie prov despite a couple of dynamic were still largely centralist in orientation a Holdover from the Days of the Rowel Sirois was off in the wonderful world of Bennett looking across the mountains Only when the Atlantic Haven ots of were strongly Centra Quebec and Ontario were the bastions of provincial rights Quebec primarily for cultural Ontario for economic How the tide has turned with wealth sprouting in the East and West Ontario has become along with new Brunswick the most centralist prov Ince in it is the and the far Eastern parts of the country who Are asking whether they want All decisions made in Distant where they have precious Little ones own views change on Long Contact with most people who come perhaps because of Selfin become More and More Centra list in their a few of see so Many instances of How the Atlantic provinces and West get Short changed because of the political numbers game that we come to believe a healthy degree of decentralization of Power in the Long make Canada a much More efficient and politically viable coun it is a debate that will one for years to it is also a debate that has taken a most interesting turn in the last 14 first of two More focus on Page 8 Pierre Trudeau increased his personal control by altering Lester pearsons government machine to give elected Cabinet ministers less influence than senior civil Why does aut Opac restrain free Enterprise in Many an automobile insurance policy in Manitoba is like a Black and Decker circular it does not matter where it is it is the same and has the same the difference is in what the customer has to the Wise customer in the Market for a saw knows that the suggested retail Price listed on the Box is Seldom obtained in the Market he knows that if he buys the saw from a Small he might pay the suggested retail Price but if he buys it from a volume based department store at a whopping discount he will save the customer saves his Money by watching the and buy ing his saw from the store that has decided to use it As a loss or As part of a general when it comes to automobile insure the customer has no such he can buy the policy from a volume from a single or direct from the government and he will still pay the same there Are insurance agents in Manitoba who would like to give the customer a break on his insurance but the govern ment will not let to make sure the customer will not get a this year the government wants to examine agent advertising in the government will not give the insurance customer the Choice of Fred Cleverley buying and saving the agents agents talk loud and Long about the service they give along with the ten seconds it takes to stamp a renewal but this service has never been put to the Money motorists could save an average of each if the government would sell the insurance less agents there Are agents who Are prepared to discount and live with lower there Are other agents who Are prepared to offer their custom ers a Chance at a lottery Type such As a color television or a vacation trip if renewals Are completed through their Why the government refuses to allow this particular Type of free where the Only people to gain Are the is difficult to the aut Opac Czar of Public relations manager Iain says agents must be prevented from offering gimmicks to attract one gimmick that is allowed Are picture calendars the Manitoba Public insurance corporation Sells its but Only because the when Exa mined talk Only about the general insurance business of the gov and not about customers can be forgiven if they do not notice the Subtle Grieve is also worried about people who Are not aut Opac agents soliciting he cannot explain How he intends to control these unscrupulous individuals by monitoring legitimate Agency in Grieve is in an agents the reason the government has decided to become an advertising policeman is because the insurance agents association of Manitoba asked it the agents association denies that it is afraid that some Bright agent somewhere in the province will find a method of giving motorists a break that could run like an epidemic through the renewal it wants what it Calls guidance from the to will wonder if the government is not prepared to give them a break it is deter mined to Stop agents who want to do the same the mechanics of automobile insurance prevent renewal cheques must be made out to the minister of the government will get every Penny it asks for its insurance if an agent wants to give up his his own in order to attract Why should he be prevented from doing so if the govern ment gets its and the customer gets the Why should the freemen Ter prising agent be prevented from acting like a free Enterprise As Long As Black and Decker got its Price for circular would it care if a store decided to give them or charge a Penny each if that store went broke in the others would take its if Black and Decker acted like its saws would be quickly replaced by saws made by manufacturers who did not act like if an insurance agent in Manitoba decided from the in com Mission he received by renewing automobile he could afford to spend on a color television set to be Given to one of those or on a trip for two to a warmer Why should the government worry the government Sells lottery tickets at far worse Back when the members of the pres ent government were asking for their they talked a lot about the importance of Freedom of Choice for Manito what politicians say and what they mean Are otherwise Pierre Trudeau would not be prime minister but there were people in the province who thought that free Dom of Choice in the automobile insurance Field meant Freedom to buy insurance from the government or from a private was the wrong As what Freedom of Choice Means is that an agent can spend his commission Money on a television set or a As Long As he spends it on not on his there Are quite a few customers who would be willing to dispense with this particular kind of government protect doonesbury to sure Many people Are won Wing rj6ht Radical if Janof cmkuin6 of puppies Tuph Aerial spy for have you disrupting problem there and then Only on the twice of family he Mab school Grace rates were tkyin6to avoid that ;