You go. Chantal

In today's Toronto Star, amongst the rants and raves over a beer ad that called Torontonians cold, was an editorial by Chantal Hebert concerning the fact that most Ministers of Health across Canada have less time in their jobs than most servers at Tim Hortons.  At a time when pandemics are on the minds of Canadian, is it right that we are led by neophytes?

But Chantal stopped too soon in her analysis.

The reality is that there are junior everybodies all the way down the seniority food chain in almost all levels of government.  With senior people retiring, the young pups are brought in to replace them... and in many cases those new souls think they have more experience than the elders they are replacing.  But nothing could be further from the truth.

But let's look at the upper middle level of government -- the deputy ministers.  In our federal group, DMs seldom have experience in their assigned ministry. They most often surround themselves with Queen's or UofT MBAs with more hair than experience.

Government used to be a calling for Canadians.  It has over time turned into just another job where the term "pensionable time" is commonly mentioned.

How to make government work

Michael Ignatieff has it right.  The Dippers and the Bloc have it wrong.  Harper just doesn't get it.

The IT is how to make government work given that we will probably never again see a majority government.in this country.

Cooperation and transparency.  That's IT.

Read the budget before you decide to vote against it, Jack and Gilles.

Talk with the opposition before you try to bully legislation through the House, Stephen.

Keep an open mind and your eye on what is good for Canadians, Michael.

That is the way to get government to work in Canada.