That was a great posting from Ed Weick on the civil service. It is another
institution that needs to be rebuilt if we ever wrest control of this
country from the business cult.
I think there are two main reasons why the civil service is now so
ineffective: insufficient staff to fulfil its mandates and demoralization.
One cause of the demoralization is obviously the staff cuts themselves. When
people see good workers getting the axe in a downsizing (whether in public
service or a private company) the survivors become dispirited.
The other reason is, I think, the unremitting denigration of civil servants
that comes from business and media and their own right-wing bosses in
parliament or legislative assembly.
Some months ago I heard the Alberta Minister of Something or Other say,
"Anything that government can do, private enterprise can do better," as he
explained why the province was turning over the building and maintenance of
rest stops on the highways to private business.
(That's a laugh. Private enterprise seemingly cannot even design a
wheelbarrow. I'm not kidding. Last year I bought a wheelbarrow for our farm
only to discover that the nose was so low, it bottomed out on a 1/2 inch
bump in the ground--and here I thought the purpose of a wheelbarrow was to
move loads over rough ground. I returned it and got another model. The wheel
kept falling off the hubs because of a design flaw, until I hauled it into
my workshop and made a couple of little parts for it. I could give a long
list of shoddy products that were stamped out without any concern for design
basics.)
I was in the civil service from 1972 - 77, and looking back on my memories
I wonder also if the top echelons have not been corrupted by
"businessification". By that I mean a focus on status and perqs like the
expense-account lunch instead of on the mission. Ed could answer that one
better than I from his much longer experience.
Victor Milne
Visit FIGHT THE BASTARDS! an anti-Harris, anti-neoconservative website
at http://www3.sympatico.ca/pat-vic/pat-vic/
