| 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. |
 Author
|
Topic: Hillier to be REPLACED (Read 954 times)
|
Mike Blais
SSM (NATO Bar), CPSM, UN-Cyp, CD
Ultimate 2000+ Member
 Offline
Gender: 
Posts: 3209
A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
|
Sounds like Harper is planning an election, gents. Till then, all Canadians are on a need to know basis... Bletch.
|
1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
|
|
|
|
|
Mike Blais
SSM (NATO Bar), CPSM, UN-Cyp, CD
Ultimate 2000+ Member
Offline
Gender:
Posts: 3209
A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
|
Hillier's popularity backfires on Tories
Email Story Email story
Print Print
Text Size Text Size Text Size Choose text size
Report Typo Report typo or correction
Email the author Email the author
iCopyright License this article
AddThis
Dec 27, 2007 04:30 AM
James Travers
Ottawa
Rick Hillier is more than the most visible military leader in decades and the Canadian face on the Afghanistan war. He's also a prototype new mandarin; one politicians are now using to their advantage and will soon deeply regret inviting on to the public stage.
Chosen by Liberals to personify more muscular defence policies and deployed by Conservatives to market the Kandahar mission, the street-smart, media-savvy Newfoundlander hasn't always been helpful to his political masters.
Apparently forgetting Paul Martin's defence budget generosity and that, for better and worse, his army in southern Afghanistan is the one Jean Chrétien funded, Hillier blamed Liberal cuts for a "decade of darkness."
He skirmished so often with Gordon O'Connor over everything from procurement to funeral expenses that Stephen Harper finally shuffled the former arms industry lobbyist he had unwisely made defence minister. More recently, Hillier darkened the rosy hue of Tory Afghanistan forecasts and redefined the job for his successors.
Hillier's folksy frankness makes him a mess hall and Don Cherry Hockey Night in Canada favourite. Reviews here are more mixed. Debate swirls over whether or not he criss-crosses the line that traditionally separates senior public servants from elected public figures. Compelling cases are made both ways, but the consensus is that Hillier is now way above the parapet most bureaucrats are comfortable staying below.
The irony is that Conservatives, now keen to change the Afghanistan channel to something more benign, wouldn't mind seeing the back of the general they found so helpful when the mission was all about 9/11 retribution and killing murderous scumbags. But Hillier is too popular with the troops and the public to be forced out and that makes the next move his.
Being trapped in a box of their own making should make politicians wary of building more. Not a chance. It's just too appealing to be able to shift responsibility from accountable ministers to theoretically anonymous deputies when things go wrong.
Once a parliamentary principle, the bargain that allows mandarins to speak truth to power from the shadows while ministers stand in the spotlight is so badly broken that few noticed when Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day left it to the border agency's Alain Jolicoeur to answer awkward questions about the how and why of the Vancouver airport Taser horror.
Sadly, Day's sudden modesty isn't an anomaly. Despite at least partly winning the last election on the strength of their accountability promise, Conservatives are accelerating the Ottawa tactic of passing the buck so often to so many people that where it stops is a mystery. More bureaucrats are appearing in public and the Prime Minister is making a habit of appointing panels answerable only to him to consider public policy issues that were once the purview of those we elect.
Short term, those methods work too well. Politicians can take credit and then bob and weave around public opprobrium while others carry the can.
Long term is entirely different. As Hillier is demonstrating to the Prime Minister's discomfort, the clout that comes with public profile is easy to loan, difficult to recover. Once established as marquee players, bureaucrats will bridle at recasting as docile supporting actors. With their own agendas to protect and careers to advance, they are sure to ad lib and their lines won't always please politicians.
Rick Hillier, take a slow, deep bow. Your fans and critics are watching.
|
1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
