Oh...wait...
The farewell, which nearly 200 communication personnel from various departments were forced to attend was for...Dimitri Soudas?
What? Couldn’t he Facebook enough of his own friends to attend voluntarily?
The article is in French,
but the gist of it is –
nearly 200 high level public servants were forced to go to a farewell party for Soudas. They were lead to believe that the “meeting” had to do with communications in the federal government. Many thought it would have to do with cuts to departments.
The order of the day was not specified and the notice was sent by the PCO to high level communication managers in all ministries, assistant deputy ministers, and DGs. Each invitee could bring up to five senior members of their team.
The meeting consisted of what has been described as a completely useless, very general talk given by Jonathan Massey-Smith, head of PCO Comm. Half way through the meeting, Massey-Smith and his assistant delivered a long eulogy on Soudas and gave him a gift. Then, further torture ensued as the captive audience had to endure another lengthy speech, this time given by Soudas.
Apparently, the invitees could not leave the farewell bit because i twas part of the whole meeting. Some public servants wanted to leave, feeling uncomfortable because of the way they were forced to attend an obviously partisan event, but didn’t dare.
Donald Savoie, author of several books on public administration said it’s the first time he has heard of this being done, adding that while it is essential that public servants work with political employees, neutrality in the public service must be preserved. It must remain non-partisan by keeping the lines between politics and public service very distinct. By not informing the public servants what the event involved was, Savoie said, brazen.
No kidding. It removed the public servants’ right – and responsibility – to decide it this is a function they should attend, and whether or not it crossed that neutrality line they must maintain.
