Appeasing the political masters: the public service of the future?

I have been saying for years that one of the biggest dangers our democracy faces is the undermining of the independence of our public service.  Don Martin wrote a very good column showing why this is true.  If you read nothing else today read that, all the way through.  The last bit is chilling:

But this appears to be an arms-length move done independently to appease the political masters. If so, it will send a shiver deep into departments or agencies orbiting the government’s axis of direct or indirect influence.

If nothing else, Supt. Cheliak could become a polar-opposite example of how the Harper government treats its appointees.  Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran is one extreme. He became an angry thorn for a government that promptly denied him a contract extension after one term.

William Elliott may prove to be the other extreme. For doing the government this very big personnel transfer favour, the troubled civilian police commissioner is now officially bulletproof from premature contract termination and may be a very safe bet for an extension.

More and more I hear (from anonymous sources - I always wanted to say that!) that the very language in high level meetings in some departments is changing.  Rather than driving a point home on the delicate nature of a project by saying how it will affect the public they are paid to serve, some - and certainly not all - execs talk about how this will help or hinder the Harper government.  They speak as though this is their mandate.

We can’t fluff this off thinking it’s just a few bad lackeys and the integrity of the PS will hold because the bulk of public servants know why they are there.  While the seasoned public servants are getting fed up (and I believe starting to push back), Babyboomers are set to retire and we’ll have a whole fresh bunch of eager beavers stepping in not knowing any better and thinking their job is to serve the elected government, and that includes making the political masters look good.

Unethical PMs like Harper won’t have to work so hard at twisting things.  The new public service will do it for them.  As Martin pointed out with Elliot, so it will be with most appointees until we no longer have a non-partisan service. 

This is one of the most - if not the most - serious issue we face with Harper.  Everything else - human rights, environmental protection, housing, wages, how our troops are dealt with depend on a public service that can impartially advise and provide services to the public.  If we cannot count on impartial studies and reports, on truth in reporting, on the welfare of the public before all, we are at the mercy of whatever the leader of the day decides Canada should be.  We could get lucky and have an altruistic type who really cares about all of us equally, but the odds go the other way.  People who enjoy using power tend to be the ones who seek powerful positions.