It is difficult to believe the Conservatives are trying to avoid creating a “culture of entitlement” within the highest levels of government by continually removing individuals, some of whom are very effective, from their jobs considering many of those people have either publicly disagreed with the Tories or trumpeted stances that contravene the government’s.
The latest casualty in Stephen Harper’s war on dissent is RCMP Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak, head of the Canadian Firearms Program, which includes the much debated long-gun registry. Cheliak was placed on leave last week and sent for French language training, mere days before he was prepared to deliver a report at the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police annual meeting in Edmonton that demonstrated the benefits of the registry to law enforcement. This view runs contrary to the Conservatives’ repeated attempts to kill the Liberal-created program, an issue expected to be debated again in the House of Commons this fall. The explanation that the position Cheliak held requires French language training seems strange given he has held the position for one year. If bilingualism was so important in the job, Cheliak should not have even been considered for the position.
But Cheliak is only one of many casualties the Tories have shuffled aside when a worker’s vision clashes with Conservative ideology. Veterans’ ombudsman Pat Stogran was informed earlier this month his contract will not be renewed. The move came after Stogran angrily claimed the government was not doing enough to help veterans. His departure was preceded by one of the most shocking of all, the resignation of former Statistics Canada head Munir Sheikh, who fell on his own sword and resigned rather than allow Harper and his government to continually claim the agency supported the move to eliminate the census long form. Before Sheikh’s abrupt departure, it was Paul Kennedy, former chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, whose contract was not renewed. It was Kennedy who criticized the force for investigating its own officers, probed the use of Tasers in the force and directly challenged the government for more legislative clout. He was replaced by a Conservative supporter with no criminal law or police experience. Yet RCMP Commissioner William Elliot, who is being investigated for improper conduct alleged by several high-level RCMP officers, still has his job.
The list is long and distinguished, demonstrating that individuals who get in the way of the Harper government, even if they perform their jobs well, are vulnerable to the increasingly autocratic behaviour of our government. Such actions only deflate the purpose and morale of the institutions which these people lead. Merit — not politics — should be the sole basis for hiring or firing an individual. Dissent, especially within government, encourages debate on policy and practice. The Tories have made it increasingly clear they have no interest in engaging anyone who disagrees with their policies. And the only culture worse than entitlement is acquiescence, where no one dares question authority.
