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Canada’s benefits derive from a non-partisan Civil Service
By Abena Rockcliffe
A four-member delegation from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Canada Branch,
Canadian High Commissioner, Pierre Giroux
recently visited Guyana. Those officials were able to boast of the benefits Canada has been able to reap from having a completely professional, non-partisan civil service.
The delegation met with Government officials and other Members of Parliament.
These meetings saw an exchange of views on a variety of topics related to Guyana- Canada bilateral relationship.
During an interview with Kaieteur News and the Trinidad Guardian, the officials indicated that while the discussions were vast, none was centered on the need for a non partisan public service.
However, while the topic did not come up in those discussions, the officials told the media that one of the reasons that Canada continues to thrive would be its civil service.
Alexandra Mendes said that while a change of government may see many changes in Canada, the change of government never affects the civil service. This is much different from what gives in Guyana.
Mendes, who sits in the House of Commons, on behalf of the Government of Canada, said that each Government may have different ideas for the development of Canada and some projects that were born under the previous government may have been disrupted. However, the civil service enjoys continuity.
Canadian High Commissioner, Pierre Giroux, then noted that Canada has one of the strongest civil services in the world. He boasted that it is fully non-partisan. He said this does well for continued development.
Giroux explained that there is a Clerk that represents the civil service. That Clerk actually counsels the transition from Government to Government. That transition process, Giroux said, has been established for over 100 years now and has been working quite well.
Through this process, the new government is informed of what is in place so there is an option to continue or change, said Giroux.
Mendes said that the government is also informed about the consequences of change too “because obviously you may promise 10,000 things during campaign that was contrary to what the then government had been doing.
Canadian Member of Parliament, Alexandra Mendes
“But the Civil Service may say you promise this but if you do, it is going to provoke this, that and the other thing.”
Mendes said, too, that one of the things that Canada did very well post Second World War was to professionalize the civil service. It has been for decades, and remains, one of the best civil services in the world.
The politician said that there was never a case post second world war where a new government had to do mass firings. “There is absolutely no cause for that, and they (the workers) are all unionized.”
Mendes also pointed out that there are people with institutional memory who know how to oversee continuity, “so we do not have to start from scratch every time there is a new government.”
The government of Guyana recently partnered with the Government of Canada to implement the Caribbean Leadership Project, which will see Permanent Secretaries and senior managers of Government ministries and agencies trained in the areas of service delivery, leadership, administration transitions and team building.
The $20M project provides training only for top level managers. However, the Public Service Staff College will be equipped to train new entrants into the Public Service, while special programmes will be crafted to train those who serve in middle management.
Giroux, said that the project, which is a seven-year programme in the Caribbean funded by his Government, is aimed at training and enabling public and civil servants to deliver a high standard of service.
“We have had a regional programme for the past four years. The purpose is to train public and civil servants in the Caribbean and it is delivered through the Cave Hill School of Business. We hope that this will help Guyana to develop its public service, which is important to any democracy,” he said.
Upon entering office, the APNU+AFC government has fired quite a lot of public servants.
The new Government had highlighted the public service for overhaul, noting growing complaints of inefficiency, poor quality services and poorly paid workers.
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