David Mulroney: The next PM must remind Canada’s public servants who really runs the show

In 2013, a year after I retired, CIDA was folded into the then-department of foreign affairs, something long desired by many diplomats, including me. The hope was that this would better align our foreign aid with our foreign policy. But be careful what you wish for. Once in power, the Liberal government put the cart before the horse. Instead of aligning our international assistance program with broader foreign policy objectives, the new government subsumed a new, narrowly focused feminist foreign policy within its signature (and multi-billion-dollar) Feminist International Assistance Policy. This couldn’t have come at a worse time. Canada would soon be struggling with challenges for which a feminist understanding of events was entirely inadequate. These included a global pandemic, war in Ukraine, a deepening foreign interference crisis, unprecedented mass migration, and the deadly nexus of drug smuggling, money laundering, and transnational crime. And although it could be given a feminist reading, aid officials proved curiously blind to the alarming rise in the kidnapping, rape, and forced conversion of Christian girls in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Pakistan. Untangling this mess will require a combination of culture change and restructuring. We can no longer entrust our international affairs to ideologically rigid and determinedly non-accountable public servants. People need to be reminded that the price of fearless advice is loyal implementation. We also need to recover the principle that foreign aid is an element of foreign policy, not the other way around. Thinking about foreign aid should also include consideration of our own economic interests, opportunities for safeguarding Canadian health and welfare, and implications for Canada’s defence and security. It’s also entirely reasonable to expect that our foreign aid will win us friends rather than lose them, something worth considering the next time we seek a non-permanent seat on the Security Council. Repairing the damage will involve rebuilding capacity in the public service in general and in the foreign service in particular, something that will require vastly improved recruitment, personnel management, and training. A new government should also commence replenishing the now almost empty pool of senior public servants with the experience in international affairs necessary to run the department whose business that is. Above all, we need to recover some traditionally Canadian humility and respect for others. The objective of international assistance is not to transform a foreign country into a simulacrum of ultra-progressive Canada. We need to listen, to learn, and to help build local capacity, allowing our partners in the developing world to be responsible for their own futures.