Ethics in the Public Service (Cont

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Ethics in the Public Service(Contd)

• November 21st, 2006

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Public Service Ethics

• importance of the public service ethics regime
• ethics and the context of the Sponsorship Scandal
• ethics and the Gomery Recommendations

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Ethics and the Context of the Sponsorship Scandal

• The problems in the administration of the
  Sponsorship initiatives were disturbing for two
  reasons they revealed a breakdown of ethical
  standards, and they continued for so long without
  being stopped. Gomery Report,
  Recommendations, 10.

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Ethics and the Context of the Sponsorship Scandal
(According to Gomery)

• a breakdown of public service ethical standards
• adoption of private sector ethical standards

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Ethics and the Context of the Sponsorship Scandal

• One expert attributed the Sponsorship scanadal
  to excesses caused by what he called a private
  business culture or entrepreneurialism in the
  public service. This attitude has replaced a
  public business standards based on the public
  interest. In the Sponsorship Program, acccording
  to this theory, the Prime Minister and the
  Cabinet, with the best of intentions, encouraged
  the entrepreneurialism of certain public
  servants, who in turn stopped working for and by
  the rules of their department and cultviated
  relationships with private-sector sponsorship
  companies using a different set of rules and
  standards. Gomery Report,
  Recommendations, 46.

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Ethics and the Context of the Sponsorship Scandal
(According to Gomery)

• a breakdown of public service ethical standards
• adoption of private sector ethics standards
• individual self-interest of public servants

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Ethics and the Context of the Sponsorship Scandal
(According to Gomery)

• a breakdown of public service ethical standards
• adoption of private sector ethics standards
• individual self-interest of public servants
• acceptance of political intereference

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Ethics and the Context of the Sponsorship Scandal

• One legal expert spoke of the Government
  advertising program as having no rules or
  direction, suggesting that a shift to a
  rule-of-law culture would shelter advertising
  programs from corruption. Such a culture would
  shift the balance towards public servants
  loyalty to the rules of the public service rather
  than to the wishes of their political
  superiors. Gomery Report, Recommendations,
  46.

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Ethics and the Context of the Sponsorship Scandal
(According to Gomery)

• a breakdown of public service ethical standards
• adoption of private sector ethics standards
• individual self-interest of public servants
• acceptance of political intereference
• emphasis on policy rather than management

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Ethics and the Context of the Sponsorship Scandal
(According to Gomery)

• a breakdown of public service ethical standards
• adoption of private sector ethics standards
• individual self-interest of public servants
• acceptance of political intereference
• emphasis on policy rather than management
• ...the road to career advancement for aspiring
  public servants is in the policy advisory
  field... (106)

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Ethics and the Context of the Sponsorship Scandal
(According to Gomery)

• a breakdown of public service ethical standards
• adoption of private sector ethics standards
• individual self-interest of public servants
• acceptance of political intereference
• emphasis on policy rather than management
• failure to speak truth to power

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Ethics and the Context of the Sponsorship Scandal
(According to Gomery)

• a breakdown of public service ethical standards
• adoption of private sector ethics standards
• individual self-interest of public servants
• acceptance of political intereference
• emphasis on policy rather than management
• failure to speak truth to power
• esp. DM of PWGSC

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Public Service Ethics

• importance of the public service ethics regime
• ethics and the context of the Sponsorship Scandal
• ethics and the Gomery Recommendations

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The Ethical Framework Post-Sponsorship,
Pre-Gomery

• The Tait Report, A Strong Foundation

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The Ethical Framework Post-Sponsorship,
Pre-Gomery

• Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service,
  2003

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Gomery Recommendations Re Ethics

• Values and Ethics Code
• lengthy
• public servants cannot easily relate to it
• cannot be fully comprehended
• does not define terms adequately (e.g.
  impartiality, loyalty, integrity)
• does not provide guidance on how to determine the
  public interest in a specific situation
• does not provide guidance on how to reconcile
  conflicting values
• on what basis does one determine how to reconcile
  conflicting values?
• models of democracy!!!

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Gomery Recommendations Re Ethics

• Recommendation 2 The Government should adopt
  legislation to entrench into law a Public Service
  Charter.
• short, simple statement of essential values
• will...
• signal and symbolize strong political support for
  the Charter
• promote greater public, parliamentary and media
  discussion of, familiarity with and respect for
  Charter
• inform the public about the values for which
  public servants stand and their rights and
  responsibilities in relation to politicians
• provide a firm legal basis for promoting and
  requiring compliance.

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Assessing the Gomery Ethics Recommendations

• improvement on Values and Ethics Code for the
  Public Service?
• a comparative assessment

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UK Civil Service Code

• ...revealingly, the introduction of the Code,
  while hailed as Whitehalls Cultural
  Revolution, has in fact produced remarkably
  little change. Only six complaints have been
  forwarded to the Civil Service Commissioners in
  the seven years the Code has been in operation
  and, according to the head of the Civil Service
  Commission for the UK, the Code has not seeped
  into the culture it has not changed the way
  people behave or respond. Sossin, Gomery
  Research Studies Volume 2, 61

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Assessing the Gomery Ethics Recommendations

• improvement on Values and Ethics Code for the
  Public Service?
• a comparative assessment
• the broader context political leadership on
  values and ethics

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With his inside-Ottawa experience extending back
to the early 1960s, Jean Chrétien knew how to
exploit all the systemic weaknesses that Judge
Gomery is now trying to correct. The former prime
minister appreciated that few deputy ministers
would jeopardize their careers, even if placed in
an ethical dilemma when money was being dispensed
without parliamentary scrutiny or program
criteria. In a town besieged by fiscal restraint,
he understood the value of a secret reserve
what one of Paul Martin's aides later described
as his personal honey pot. And Mr. Chrétien was
fully attuned to the mutually advantageous
concept of plausible deniability that lies at the
heart of the minister/deputy-minister bargain.
Norman Spector Globe and Mail 6 Feb.2006
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Political Leadership and Values and Ethics

• Conflict of Interest Code for Public Office
  Holders (1994-2004)
• applies to ministers but not to parliamentarians
• not enshrined in law
• set by Prime Minister
• administered by the Office of the Ethics
  Counsellor
• appointed by PM (at pleasure)
• Bill C-4
• Code of Conduct for Parliamentarians (March 2004)
• created Ethics Commissioner
• appointed by Cabinet
• serves 5 year term during good behaviour (may be
  removed for cause)
• amendments under Federal Accountability Act

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