February 05, 2005
Fantino appointment signals politicization of public service
Reports out of Queen's Park say Premier Dalton McGuinty will appoint Toronto's outgoing Police Chief to be the Ontario's new Commissioner of Emergency Management. Julian Fantino will replace Dr. James Young who is heading to Ottawa to take on a similar role with the federal government.
The position is one that has grown in importance since Dr. Young was first appointed to the job (renamed from "Commissioner of Public Safety and Security" by the McGuinty government) in 2002. Since then, the province has weathered the SARS emergency and the Blackout emergency. The Commissioner is an Assistant Deputy Minister in the public service, though once an emergency has been declared the influence and power of the position is second only to that of the Premier.
So this is a pretty important position, with lots of power and in hiring a new Commission the government should have made sure it had a solid process in place to hire the right person. Fortunately for the government, the public service has an excellent process in place for the hiring of senior public servants. The position is advertised, resumes are received and considered, interviews are given and candidates ranked against an objective list of criteria.
The problem with the Fantino appointment is that it doesn't appear that process was followed. Instead, it appears the McGuinty government has taken the same route it took with the appointment of Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Sheela Basrur, and cherry picked someone it liked to put in the position.
Why do they like Mr. Fantino? Well, it's political. The Opposition Tories were smitten with Mr. Fantino when they were in government. Their visible attachment to the man essentially inoculates his appointment from opposition criticism. The Tories have also openly courted Mr. Fantino to run for them as a candidate possibly in the riding held by Finance Minister Greg Sorbarra, so choosing the outgoing Police Chief removes a possible electoral threat for a senior Cabinet Minister. The Liberals also suspect Mr. Fantino has municipal political ambitions in Toronto. Choosing him makes room for a candidate who is more compliant to their requests.
Mr. Fantino is, at least at first glance, qualified for the job, but qualified or not, no public servant should be appointed for political reasons. It undermines the principles that underpin our professional public service. It probably wouldn't bother me as much as is does had it not been for the Basrur appointment which was a political appointment following a political firing. This is a disturbing pattern that signals a creeping politicization of public service appointments. It is only a short step from here to the appointment of partisan political operatives to public service positions. The NDP did that in the early 1990s and we all know how well that turned out.
Further Reading:
Fantino about to be named emergency czar (Toronto Star)
McGuinty set to announce job for Fantino (Globe and Mail)
Premier ready to hire Fantino (Toronto Sun)
Posted by maxthecat at February 5, 2005 09:25 AM
http://www.maxsmewsings.com/mt/archives/2005/02/fantino_appointment_signals_politicization_of_public_service.php