The Bern
Coffey debacle is
mind-boggling. But it leaves two important facts exposed.
First, Ball
approved the untenable arrangement with Coffey permitting him to continue his
law practice. It is one thing to allow for a winding-up period, quite another
for the Clerk of the Executive Council to be moonlighting - in a court of law where he would be obligated to argue against his employer.
Second, just as the Government was taking some initiative to hold Nalcor to account, the brutally incompetent Crown Corporation has, again, been let off the hook as far as the MF Oversight Committee is concerned.
Second, just as the Government was taking some initiative to hold Nalcor to account, the brutally incompetent Crown Corporation has, again, been let off the hook as far as the MF Oversight Committee is concerned.
With Coffey’s
intervention, the Committee had finally gotten two capable members. Likely, the
appearance of three ‘naysayers’ on the Muskrat file was causing some people to
sweat. Likely, Coffey was outed but he and Ball ought never to have afforded Nalcor - or the Opposition - that opportunity.
Now, the former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources under
Dunderdale - who played messenger for Ed Martin, sending Nalcor's requisitions to Cabinet - is head of the Oversight Committee. Ball confirms, again, he is gutless.
Coffey has
resigned. The truth is Ball should, too. He has demonstrated, time and again,
he is not up to the job of Premier.
Bern Coffey
was supposed to bring some order to the constant chaos which Ball divined. Instead,
he has wound up adding to it.
Coffey can’t
be excused for failing to understand that the Health Care Corporation and Nalcor
are government – not some third party commercial interests. Any legal
distinction afforded under the corporations act or having contrived administrative procedures to give the appearance of a Chinese wall, to which Coffey alluded, is nothing
less than a fiction.
Coffey’s
credentials are well-known. The timing of his appointment, following a
disastrous run of decision-making by the Premier, offered hope he might help
bring some sobriety to a government in perpetual political crisis.
A highly
successful Crown Prosecutor, Counsel to the Cameron Inquiry on testing errors
at Eastern Health, and private practitioner, Coffey’s credentials included – as
a member of the 2041 Group – opposition to the Liberal Party’s endorsement of
the Muskrat Falls project.
Indeed,
Coffey loudly advised Nalcor CEO Ed Martin not to pursue the Muskrat Falls
project without first obtaining judicial review of the Water Management
Agreement.
Nalcor’s subsequent loss in the Quebec Superior Court is testimony to Coffey’s legal and intellectual talents. It is confirmation that Nalcor intended to proceed with the project come hell or high water – which is sufficient proof that they need constant and uncompromising oversight - though a mass firing of the senior executive would be more beneficial.
Nalcor’s subsequent loss in the Quebec Superior Court is testimony to Coffey’s legal and intellectual talents. It is confirmation that Nalcor intended to proceed with the project come hell or high water – which is sufficient proof that they need constant and uncompromising oversight - though a mass firing of the senior executive would be more beneficial.
Coffey
should have known better.
He should
have known that both the Tories and the Liberals have done their best to
degrade governance processes and administration. His job was to help put a
stop to those practices.
He should
have remembered from whence he came.
Partisan
politics has a way of causing disqualification for senior public service
roles. In the tradition of the British
civil service, partisans are mostly disqualified regardless of their personal
achievements. Partisanship has corrosive influences. It affects objectivity and
causes suspicion when the Government changes hands, leading to more firings and
partisan hiring.
Coffey had
run for and lost the Liberal leadership in 2011.
For that
reason, his appointment was received with some disquiet, in part because Ball
had already begun replacing some public service positions – including at the
ADM level – with individuals having strong Liberal Party connections. The Liberals
were behaving much as did the Tories.
Nevertheless,
some, including this scribe, had concluded that Coffey might be the trusted
confidante the Premier needed to find his backbone.
That was
wishful thinking.
Coffey must
have known that, as Clerk, he is a public policy coach charged with the
effective operation of a large bureaucracy. He is also the government’s chief
advisor.
The job does
not allow spare time. There is no spare time for senior executives when the
government is sane. There is even less time when it is irredeemably mired in dither,
poor judgment, and financial crisis.
Neither can government
afford divided loyalties. The Clerk of the Executive Council has no business
contesting his employer on any level. The perception of conflict is simply
unavoidable.
That Coffey
is gone is necessary. But it is still unfortunate. Coffey would have seen first-hand
the difficulty bringing Nalcor to heel – its record of deception, poor
management, and his own inability, thus far, to countermand Nalcor’s unbridled
arrogance and insouciance.
Now, Nalcor
is back in charge. A chronically weak Premier presides. The Liberal Party gives
him a vacant stare.
Public administration is, again, diminished.