“These ministerial offices are like black holes. We don’t know what function they’re playing. They’re in communities where access to federal government services are being cut back, and yet these mysterious offices are receiving more funding. People have asked me what do they do, and I have no idea,” said NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ont.), who filed an Order Paper question on the mandate, cost and location of ministers’ regional offices last January.
Cabinet ministers’ regional offices have existed since first being established in 1985 under prime minister Brian Mulroney to support regional ministers, who are appointed to oversee regional decisions and appointments and to ensure regional input at the Cabinet table.
Donald Savoie, a professor at the University of Moncton and an expert in public administration and governance, said since they were created, ministers’ regional offices have “traditionally” been seen as giving electoral advantage to the governing party, including under previous Liberal governments, “because they’re very political” and always have been.
“I think it’s an understanding that certainly the parties that have held power in Ottawa—Liberals and Tories—they know how the system works and there’s a level of tolerance that these offices are very partisan,” said Prof. Savoie. “It’s not something the Harper government invented.”
There are currently 14 regional ministers, including some who are responsible for multiple regions. While each regional office is tied to the respective regional minister, Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney (Calgary Southeast, Alta.), the regional minister for southern Alberta, also has exempt staff in regional offices in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal, as well as his own Calgary MRO. Mr. Kenney is also the minister responsible for multiculturalism, and as such he has exempt staffers in other MROs to provide regional multicultural advice.
Since 2008, five new offices have been opened across Canada—in Kitchener, Iqaluit, Yellowknife, Whitehorse, and Fredericton—bringing the total number of MROs to 16. The others are located in St. John’s, Charlottetown, Halifax, Québec City, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
In 2008-09, the 11 MROs cost a total of $2,382,525 in yearly operating costs, which includes the cost of staff salaries but excludes the cost of office leases, as revealed by the government’s tabled response from Sept. 15 to an Order Paper question from Liberal MP Sean Casey (Charlottetown, P.E.I.).
In 2013-14, the 16 MROs cost a total of $2,747,355 in yearly operating costs, again including salaries but excluding office lease costs—a difference of $364,830 from 2008-09. In 2012-2013, MROs cost a total of $4,016,849 in yearly operating costs, as a result of opening three new MROs in the North, as well as the cost of moving the Moncton MRO to Fredericton, N.B.
Each of the 16 MROs had a total of two full-time staff in 2013-14, except for in Yellowknife where there’s only one. Individual MRO costs in 2013-14 ranged from a high of $260,229 for the Yellowknife office to a low of $161,090 for the one in Regina.
Ministers’ regional offices are publicly funded by the government, just like regular ministerial offices, and are typically staffed by up to two departmental staffers as well as at least one exempt ministerial staffer.
“Ministers’ regional offices have been established for the use of all local and visiting ministers and their officials in conducting government business in regions,” reads a description in the 2011 Treasury Board Policies for Ministers’ Offices.
Dan Mader, a former Cabinet staffer who now works for public affairs firm StrategyCorp, said a minister’s regional office serves as office space for ministers when visiting their region, giving them a place to book meetings with local stakeholders and have local staff who can help the minister by being the government’s “eyes and ears” in the region. Ministers can decide to have staff focused on regional affairs working in Ottawa, or they can station them in the MRO, said Mr. Mader.
“I think if they [MROs] are growing it’s because some ministers are starting to have some of those regional staff be out in the regions, rather than in Ottawa, as well as just finding ways to make more use of them,” said Mr. Mader.
“They allow the government to serve those regions better and not to be as remote,” he said. “Any time a minister’s office is doing something, dealing with an issue that might be a regional issue that impacts one region of the country, it’s very common for them to speak to the regional office there, get their input on it, particularly when there’s an issue that involves working with a provincial government.”
Mr. Casey said he understands MROs are meant to be a place for ministers to “hang their hat when they’re in town,” but said increasing the number and size of MROs during a time of fiscal restraint is a “bad” decision.
“Since the last election, the government in Prince Edward Island has closed the Veterans District Office, they’ve closed the Citizenship and Immigration office, they’ve closed the EI processing centre in Montague and they’ve closed the counter service for taxpayers, and yet at the same time, they’ve opened and staffed a minister’s office [in Charlottetown],” said Mr. Casey.
“We’re in a time of restraint, it should apply to Cabinet as well as the public,” he said.
Mr. Casey said MROs don’t “take any great pains” to let the public know they exist, and said he understands the focus of these offices to be on outreach.
“It strikes me that it sounds an awful lot like what the NDP is being taken to task for on satellite offices, only this, as I understand it, is within the rules. It might show bad judgment but it doesn’t show illegal conduct,” said Mr. Casey of the existence of MROs.
The NDP has come under heavy fire for the existence of satellite offices in regions outside Ottawa, including Montreal, established using caucus funds provided by Parliament. The party is fighting in Federal Court a decision from the House Board of Internal Economy, which in part ruled the NDP’s satellite offices were a misuse of Parliamentary funds and ordered MPs to reimburse costs.
Mr. Angus said there’s no “clear role” that MROs play for the public benefit, and it’s hypocritical of the government to increase these offices while cutting back public services.
“They need to explain to Canadians why they’re pumping so much money and taxpayer dollars into offices that look like partisan headquarters,” said Mr. Angus.
Mr. Angus questioned why NDP satellite offices in Montreal, for example, have been deemed against the rules, yet ministers are able to funnel money into regional offices.
“It looks to me they’re setting up these operations in key political battlegrounds and these are not being subject to any review. We don’t know what they’re doing,” said Mr. Angus.
The Hill Times found three different British Columbia Conservative riding associations that had “Minister’s Regional Office Update” posted under the news sections of their websites.
“This report is produced by the Minister’s Regional Office and is intended to provide you with information on recent Government of Canada activities and initiatives in your region,” reads the update.
The Hill Times found MRO updates posted on the websites for the Conservative riding associations in Vancouver Quadra, Kootenay-Columbia, and Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke, a new riding that will be officially added to the federal representation order in the next election.
The update is a summary and compilation of government press releases related to the region, spanning different departmental responsibilities, and including links to the respective departmental websites. The update posted on the Kootenay-Columbia association website specifically says it was prepared by Elyse Newbert, senior special assistant for regional affairs to Industry Minister James Moore (Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam, B.C.), who is the minister responsible for B.C.
The Hill Times was not able to identify any Liberal or NDP B.C. riding association websites that had this information posted. The Hill Times contacted both NDP and Liberal riding associations in B.C. to ask whether they’ve received or heard of the ministers’ regional office updates, and in both cases the answer was no.
“The president of our riding association, which is in Minister Moore’s riding, wasn’t aware of them [the MRO updates], nor has he seen any of them,” said Sara Norman, who’s seeking the NDP nomination in Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam, B.C., a reconstituted riding under the new federal representation order, in an emailed statement.
In an email to The Hill Times, Peter Schwarzhoff from the Vancouver Island North-Comox-Powell River Liberal riding association also said he couldn’t recall ever hearing of or receiving an MRO update.
As well, both Mr. Angus and Mr. Casey said they’d previously never heard of such updates.
Reached by The Hill Times, Mr. Moore’s office said the updates are non-partisan newsletters emailed out through a subscription list.
“The contents of the newsletter are not partisan. The newsletter informs constituents about the good work the Government of Canada is doing for British Columbians and the newsletter highlights announcements that benefit all British Columbians,” Jake Enwright, press secretary to Mr. Moore, told The Hill Times.
The regional office updates continue to be produced on a monthly basis by the B.C. minister’s regional office, but Mr. Enwright said he could not comment on when the practice began.
The Hill Times asked Mr. Enwright whether Liberal and NDP riding associations are made aware of the existence of the MRO updates, and he said anyone is able to call the minister’s regional office and ask to be added to the subscription list.
“First of all, it’s hard to ask for something you weren’t aware existed, but secondly, should taxpayer-funded ministerial offices be creating newsletters that are clearly little more than Conservative Party talking points?” Ms. Norman said in her email.
No mention could be found of the monthly updates on Mr. Moore’s ministerial website either as the Industry minister.
The Hill Times asked Public Works Minister Diane Finley’s (Haldimand-Norfolk, Ont.) office about the MRO updates, as Public Works is responsible for overseeing the operation of these offices, specifically asking whether other MROs produce similar updates. Press secretary Marcel Poulin said, aside from the general operation of offices, “other aspects would be individual to each office.”
Mr. Casey said if the MRO is pushing out updates to party offices, that’s an “issue.”
“If the ministers are communicating directly with partisans for these purposes that’s a little disquieting,” said Mr. Casey.
Mr. Angus said it’s unclear exactly what the offices do on a daily basis, and said the fact that “information is now being flowed to riding associations,” is “not acceptable behaviour.”
“It’s really a blurring of the lines between what is supposed to be strictly a riding association, partisan, electoral work and the role of the federal government,” said Mr. Angus.
Asked about the B.C. minister’s regional office update and the fact that only Conservative riding associations have received them, Prof. Savoie said regional ministers are “by definition highly political.”
“They will play to every advantage politically, and they certainly will not go out of their way to give any advantage to the other parties—that’s the nature of these offices. It hasn’t changed over time,” said Prof. Savoie.
But Prof. Savoie said regional ministers today don’t play the same role they once did and aren’t as important. Pollsters and public opinion surveys are “more accurate than any regional minister” now in highlighting issues of importance to a region, he said.
“You could make the case that we could cut some of the spending because they don’t have the same role. They don’t have nearly the influence that they once did so why would they have the same level of resources or more?” said Prof. Savoie.
Some attention has also been given to the people who staff these MROs, with some highlighting that in many cases, former Conservative candidates or campaign workers are staffing the offices. It’s true that many MRO staffers have been identified as former candidates or party staffers—like Mani Fallon who works as a regional adviser for Multiculturalism to Mr. Kenney out of the Vancouver MRO and is a former regional organizer for the party—but it’s important to note the same rings true for political staff working in ministers’ offices around Parliament Hill.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com/
Author: Laura Ryckewaert
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