Most bureaucrats just got a new boss

Jan 06, 2022

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WELCOME TO OTTAWA PLAYBOOK. I'm your host, Nick Taylor-Vaisey. Today, most public servants in town work for someone new after the PM's latest reordering of power in the nation's capital. Also, the Trudeaus have a new personal chef. And we check in with an expert on how safe the Hill is for everyone who works there.

DRIVING THE DAY

THE POST-SHUFFLE SHUFFLE — Wednesday marked one of the final components of a post-election reordering of power and influence in Ottawa. Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU ordered a significant game of musical chairs at the highest levels of the federal bureaucracy.

Deputy ministers hold serious sway in government. They sit near the top of every ministry's org chart, overseeing thousands of public servants. A minister's chief takes care of the politics. DMs keep an eye on everything else.

The clerk of the Privy Council who advises the PM sees deputy ministers as "a portfolio of assets, not just as individuals" — that's how former clerk MICHAEL WERNICK (more from him later in Playbook) characterized the roster of seasoned bureaucrats in his handbook on governing.

When the PM shuffles the deck, it means he wants things to operate differently at the highest levels. A small shakeup is akin to tinkering at the margins. Wednesday's movement was not that.

— Big names on the move: The top bureaucrat in procurement, BILL MATTHEWS, is heading to a new assignment at national defense. This isn't a shocker for anyone who's watched the file in the Covid era. Matthews and ANITA ANAND tag-teamed the massive effort to secure PPE and vaccines. And he knows his way around the place. The accountant-by-training was at DND before his move to procurement in 2019.

Anand tweeted about her second-in-command's new gig: "Bill is a public servant of the highest order, with expertise managing complex files for Canadians."

Procurement Minister FILOMENA TASSI's new deputy is PAUL THOMPSON, who leaves his ADM post at FRANCOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE's ISED.

The next domino was JODY THOMAS, who leaves national defense after more than four years as DM — punctuated by her formal apology to military and civilian personnel who were victims of sexual misconduct.

Thomas will now serve as the PM's national security and intelligence adviser, replacing the retiring VINCENT RIGBY.

GRAHAM FLACK is also on the move from employment and social development. The Harvard-educated lawyer joined the DM ranks in 2014 at Canadian Heritage. His Covid era was defined by a suite of pandemic response measures, including the rapidly developed CERB. Flack is now in MONA FORTIER's bailiwick, where he's the next secretary of the Treasury Board.

JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY replaces Flack at ESDC, where he'll be paired up with CARLA QUALTROUGH. JOHN HANNAFORD fills Tremblay's shoes at natural resources, the domain of JONATHAN WILKINSON.

DAVID MORRISON steps in for Hannaford at international trade, where he'll get to know MARY NG . Morrison will also serve as Trudeau's personal representative at the G7. CHRISTOPHER MACLENNAN is now DM at international development, and he'll be Trudeau's rep at the G20.

PHILIP JENNINGS, who is absolutely not the same person as the lead male character in the hit FX drama The Americans , is Canada's next nominee as executive director for Canada, Ireland, nine Caribbean countries, and Belize at the International Monetary Fund — a D.C. posting, if he wins the job.

— Important jobs that won't make headlines: MICHAEL VANDERGRIFT, the intergovernmental affairs DM, adds deputy secretary to the Cabinet (plans and consultations) to his LinkedIn. JACQUELINE BOGDEN is deputy secretary to the Cabinet for emergency preparedness and Covid recovery.

DAN COSTELLO is Trudeau's next foreign and defence policy adviser. DANIEL ROGERS is associate chief of the cyberspies at the Communications Security Establishment.

— The next rung down: The ranks of associate deputy ministers saw their own shakeup. STEFANIE BECK leaves the high commission in London for national defense, much to RALPH GOODALE's chagrin; CINDY TERMORSHUIZEN gets a promotion at foreign affairs; FRANCIS BILODEAU climbs the ladder at ISED; PAUL SAMSON gets a pay bump at agriculture and agri-food; and MALA KHANNA shifts to Canadian Heritage.

FIRST OUT THE GATE — The Tory finance critic walked up to a microphone Wednesday afternoon at 1. PIERRE POILIEVRE , the first Ottawa Conservative to hold court with reporters in 2022, unleashed a critique of Liberal spending that he says is fueling Canada's overheated housing market.

Poilievre marked the occasion with a new catchphrase for a new year: "Where's all the money coming from?" He demanded the House finance committee start meeting next week, well in advance of Parliament's return at the tail end of the month. Expect the most vocal Conservative in Ottawa to post his next YouTube video in 3…2…1…

— Fact-check: Playbook can't help but correct a minor infraction. "We've been on vacation now for three weeks," Poilievre told reporters. "Now, Trudeau wants another nearly four weeks before the House returns."

The Liberals did delay the return of Parliament after the September election by two months, forcing MPs and senators to rush through a series of priority bills. But the House's winter break is formally mandated by the standing orders that govern the place. The fixed calendar says MPs leave the Friday before Christmas and return the last Monday in January.

Could the House return sooner? Yes. But the January break isn't a delay tactic, though Poilievre might recall a winter recess called under more curious circumstances.

— Don't follow the leader: Two hours after Poilievre was in West Block, his boss ERIN O'TOOLE popped up to rant on Facebook Live. Who would have guessed that O'Toole would be relegated to runner-up in the race to make a splash in the new year?

AROUND THE HILL

Chanthy Yen is the new chef at the prime minister's residence

Photo by Sylvie Li | Chanthy Yen, the new chef at the prime minister's residence

FIT FOR A KING — The renowned Montreal chef CHANTHY YEN has an impressive résumé. Yen's family fled Cambodia in the 1970s. He grew up in Windsor, Ont., where he first worked in the kitchen at an Italian restaurant. His grandmother was always his inspiration, but he also learned under the wing of chefs like FERRAN ADRIA, ANDONI ADURIZ and MAGNUS NILSSON.

Yen opened his own restaurant in Montreal, Fieldstone, before taking on a role as executive chef at a gastropub called Parliament. When the pandemic hit, he opened a ghost kitchen called Touk — that's "boat" in Khmer — that served curbside Cambodian food. He's writing a cookbook, and launched a GoFundMe with dreams of cooking for NORODOM SIHAMONI, the King of Cambodia.

— Next up, Rideau Cottage: Yen is adding a new line to his CV as he takes up a gig as chef at the prime minister's residence. He started just before the holidays. CHE CHARTRAND, a product of the Beckta empire profiled by journalist MARIE-DANIELLE SMITH when he was hired by the Trudeaus in 2018, is moving on.

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

— Conservative leader ERIN O'TOOLE will head to West Block for his first presser of the year. The topic: Covid.

PERSPECTIVES

SECURITY ON THE HILL — Canadians might look south of the border and see political chaos they could never imagine unfolding in their own country. Take these two headlines on POLITICO's homepage this morning as Americans mark the one-year anniversary of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol:

— 'Shocked and stunned and horrified': How JOE BIDEN processed Jan. 6

— They stormed the Capitol. Now they're running for office.

The most iconic building on Parliament Hill is currently empty on the inside, a gutted heritage building with fences ringing its perimeter. Most Canadians wouldn't know that MPs actually sit in a temporary chamber across the lawn in West Block.

But politicians do face serious security risks when they're in Ottawa and elsewhere across the country. MICHAEL WERNICK told a parliamentary committee before he retired in 2019 that he feared a politician would get shot on the campaign trail. Playbook asked him to reflect on the state of Canada's democracy — and the threats faced by those in elected office. This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How safe are politicians when they're out and about on Parliament Hill?

Had there not been the attack of October 2014, then STEPHEN HARPER would not have moved to create a unified Parliamentary Protective Service, and make considerable investments in at least the parliamentary precinct and the Ottawa space that that our politicians inhabit. There were quite a lot of physical upgrades.

What people forget is how dysfunctional things were before the creation of the PPS. The House ran its own security system, which was different from the one in the Senate. They didn't talk to each other. They had literal turf wars. They used different radio systems. They weren't connected well to the Ottawa Police or the RCMP. It was a complete shambles of interagency rivalry and competition. And it was all protected by people hiding behind and invoking slogans around parliamentary independence.

It's a good thing, in a sad way, that the attack happened because it's made everybody on the Hill safer.

If you were the Privy Council clerk when Corey Hurren crashed the gates at Rideau Hall in July 2020, what would your job have been?

I would have got the national security adviser to go and probably talk to the secretary to the governor general. And I would have talked to the governor general at some point in our regular monthly conversations, and offered help and assistance and technical advice and all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, it would have been up to her what to do.

We've had problems because people hide behind their institutional independence. The courts were very reluctant to take any advice on cybersecurity. And they resisted getting involved with Shared Services Canada or the Communications Security Establishment, pleading that somehow this would compromise their independence, which is nonsense.

Parliament always took a view that they were separate and distinct and not part of the executive. They rebuffed a lot of approaches to talk about security issues. Getting people to work together with each other has always been one of the obstacles to coherence in the Canadian system.

— Further reading from THOMAS HOMER DIXON in the Globe: The American polity is cracked, and might collapse. Canada must prepare.

ASK US ANYTHING

What are you hearing that you need Playbook to know? Send it all our way.

PROZONE

Pro subscribers should not miss the Pro Canada PM memo from ZI-ANN LUM: A shake-up in Ottawa.

In other headlines for subscribers:

— Jan. 6 protesters find a new cause: Running for office.
— Social media booted Trump. His lies about the election are still spreading.
— 'Close the loopholes': The Pentagon's next front in its hunt for extremists.
— Fed contender Raskin would zero in on climate, Wall Street as top bank cop.
— CDC recommits to isolation and quarantine guidelines without tests.

MEDIA ROOM

— Top of POLITICO this morning: Jan. 6, in their own words: Members of Congress look back and forward.

— And from POLITICO's LAURA KAYALI in Paris: Omicron puts Macron's grand EU presidency plan at risk.

— One of the consequences of Covid-19 may be more room for sensible debate on Canada's health care system, SEAN SPEER writes on The Hub.

— To illustrate the urgency of Speer's point, CHATELAINE has a front-line interview with ICU nurse BIRGIT UMAIGBA.

— Former Ontario premier KATHLEEN WYNNE sat for an extended interview with PAUL WELLS and Maclean's. What won't she miss as she leaves politics? "The vitriol." Wynne also dishes on the phone call she got from DOUG FORD after his infamous March Break advice in Covid's earliest days.

— "I'm no longer a lost child. My story matters," DEBBIE PAUL tells the CBC's TRINA ROACHE. Here is that story — the shortest version told in a headline on the feature: "After the residential school in Nova Scotia closed in the late '60s, Debbie Paul was kidnapped by a nun and brought to a white family in the U.S. She always told people this, but was missing the evidence. Until now."

— From POLITICO: NFTs move to influence Congress, even if lawmakers have no clue what they are.

PLAYBOOKERS

Birthdays: HBD to former Sen. NANCY RUTH, who is 80 today. In this excerpt from RAMONA LUMPKIN'S book, read about Ruth's campaign to change the words to O Canada.

Former NDP MP PETER STOFFER, broadcaster TRACY MOORE and former B.C. MLA BARRY PENNER also celebrate today.

Spotted: Wordle backlash directed at the social sharing of scores. … Via DAVE CHAN: Photographers waiting.… Premier ANDREW FUREY cheering for Son of a Critch. ... RICHARD CANNINGS, #89 across.

Movers and shakers: Meta's KEVIN CHAN shared on Facebook that he's shifting roles to become the company's global policy campaigns strategy director. His post included this tidbit that ought to get tongues wagging in Meta-skeptical corners:

"While we must acknowledge and address important questions about the proper balance between expression and security, privacy and innovation, and cultural sovereignty and the global economy, we should not lose sight of the fact that the Internet has further democratized societies, unleashed significant productivity and economic growth, and helped build and strengthen communities big and small."

JASON LAWSON is now director of strategic planning at the Canada Revenue Agency. "Excited to be reunited with old colleagues and say hello to new ones," he shared Wednesday of his move from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

The PARLIAMENTARY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM is holding info sessions for 2022-23 applicants. "Best year of my life," SARA KRYNITZKI noted as she promoted the details.

Media mentions: BRYAN PASSIFIUME will join the parliamentary bureau of the National Post later this month. The same bureau recently lost BRIAN PLATT to Bloomberg. Playbook would never suggest that reporters' initials play a role in the composition of Ottawa newsrooms. (See: the saga of ALEX BOUTILIER and ALEX BALLINGALL).

'New year, new headshots, new title!' KATHLEEN NEWMAN-BREMANG is now deputy director global of Refinery29's Unbothered.

LONGFORM, which has celebrated great nonfiction reads for more than a decade, is shutting down, MAX LINSKY tweeted. "I still remember exactly where I was the first time one of my stories got picked up by the site," EVA HOLLAND tweeted — a sentiment shared by journalists all over.

Farewells: Former diplomat and long-time public servant JUDITH ANNE LAROCQUE died unexpectedly Dec. 29. Among the words used by those celebrating her life: distinguished, gracious, smart, kind, generous.

Condolences to LISA RAITT on the loss of her mom. The obituary for SYDNEY DELORES CHRISTINA (MACCORMACK) STARZOMSKI is a wonder. "Delores was world-renowned for her perogi-making and Wigilia meals, her love of telling it like it is and her deadly one-liners," the obit shares. "She trained as a hairdresser providing beautiful roller sets for the ladies in Whitney Pier, while saving bad perms and questionable colour jobs for her family." Read the full version here.

IAIN RANKIN, premier of Nova Scotia for six months, is resigning as leader of the provincial Liberal party. "I will continue to serve the people of Timberlea-Prospect," he said. "We have a lot of good work left to do, and I want to help do the heavy lifting."

TRIVIA

Wednesday's answer: In 1977, the Great Horned Owl was adopted as Alberta's official bird. Understandable if you guessed magpie.

A few extra things about these owls we learned from Playbook readers:

— ANNE-MARIE STACEY: "Adopted May 3, 1977 after province-wide vote by children."

— ALAN KAN: "They have about 14 neckbones, which allows them to rotate their heads — as owls cannot move their eyes."

— JOHN ECKER: It's a permanent resident of Alberta, "No winter escapes to Arizona or Florida for those tough birds."

Hinterland's Who Who has more on its whoo-hoo-ho-o-o.

Props also to ELIZABETH BURN, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, BRAM ABRAMSON, JOHN GUOBA, GARY ALLEN, LEIGH LAMPERT, BOB GORDON, MICHAEL MACDONALD, ELIZABETH BURN and ZEV LEWIS.

Thursday's question: Canada's first woman mayor was elected on this date — a historic victory that earned this Globe headline: "First Woman Mayor Views Election Calmly." Name this trailblazer.

Send your answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com

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