Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

FELDSTED: This arrogant, condescending, dishonest piece of elitist ego is not an asset to the civil service, government or Canada


Michael Wernick to step down as clerk of Privy Council, cites lack of 'mutual trust' with opposition.  Wernick writes: 'The clerk (must) be seen by all political parties as an impartial arbiter'
Catharine Tunney ~~ CBC News ~~ Mar 18, 2019

In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing his retirement, Wernick wrote that "recent events have led me to conclude that I cannot serve as clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to cabinet during the upcoming election campaign."


This arrogant, condescending, dishonest piece of elitist ego is not an asset to the civil service, government or Canada.

Wernick is correct – the Clerk of the Privy council must be neutral, non-political and trusted by all parties and Members of Parliament – and report to the Governor General, not to the Prime Minister. Constitution Sections 9 and 11 are clear:


9. The Executive Government and Authority of and over Canada is hereby declared to continue and be vested in the Queen.

11. There shall be a Council to aid and advise in the Government of Canada, to be styled the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada; and the Persons who are to be Members of that Council shall be from Time to Time chosen and summoned by the Governor General and sworn in as Privy Councillors, and Members thereof may be from Time to Time removed by the Governor General.    

Wernick never uses his full title: Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet.

As Secretary to the Cabinet he cannot be non-political and cannot be trusted by opposition parties or Members of Parliament. He sits in the government’s inner circle and is part of the Prime Minister’s Office. Claims by the government, Wernick and the media that he is politically neutral, and non-partisan are preposterous. 

The executive power of the Governor General, acting for the Queen, were transferred to the Prime Minister by PM Mackenzie King in March 1940 by an Order in Council. 


The change was not approved by the Commons or the Senate and did not have Royal Assent ... it is not law. 


The Prime Minister does not have the constitutional authority to override the Queen. Mackenzie King invented the dual role of Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet. 

Prior to that they were separate roles.

We are suffering governments of dubious legality and subterfuge. We need to get this sorted out and reinstate the Privy Council as a separate entity from the Cabinet and Prime Minister, reporting to the Governor General. The Secretary to the Cabinet should be a separate position and is naturally partisan.

The Prime Minister’s Office should be restricted to a principle secretary and two clerks. The Prime Minister surrounding himself with a dozen highly paid advisors and strategists at public (taxpayer) cost is ridiculous. His advice and policy development should come from his cabinet and caucus, not from expensive hired help. That is not democratic governance.   


John Feldsted
Political Consultant & Strategist
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GORDON F. D. WILSON: When The Trick Masquerades as The Treat

Thirty-seven years ago, Halloween 1987, I became the leader of the BC Liberal Party.   British Columbia was badly polarized. Social Credit held one side and the NDP the other. It had been twelve years, 1975, since Liberal MLAs Garde Gardom, Pat McGeer, and Alan Williams had walked away from their party to join Social Credit, one year after the lone Progressive Conservative MLA Hugh Curtis had abandoned his party to sit with Bill Bennett, the son and heir apparent to long-serving BC Premier, WAC Bennett.   An unwritten agreement by the biggest Canadian political shareholders, the federal Liberals and Conservatives, decided that if British Columbia was to remain a lucrative franchise from a revenue perspective, they couldn’t risk splitting the electoral vote and electing the real enemy, the NDP, so no resources would be used to finance either a Liberal or Conservative party provincially.   “There are two sides to every street,” I was told by a very prominent Canadian businessman who cont

FORSETH: You Have To Be A Bit Crazy

  Ward and his wife Carleen celebrating his win on election night.   In March of this year, I took on the role of Campaign Manager for BC Conservative candidate Ward Stamer.  It’s the third time I’ve had the opportunity as I took on the role for Peter Sharp in 2013, and for Dennis Giesbrecht in 2020. Now let me tell you, in the past, a BC Conservative campaign team generally consisted of myself, the candidate and one or two helpers – and very little in the way of a campaign budget. Thankfully, a benefit of having spent 30+ years in the broadcast media afforded me the ability to do ad copy and write candidate speeches, and prep both Dennis and Peter to deal with the media – it’s also something I have always enjoyed. That was part of my duties this time around as well, however having a team of a dozen and a half volunteers meant that for the first time we had people available to ID our supporters, put together and install campaign signs, distribute campaign literature, and help out at ou

Rustad will support policy for 'everyday' people, otherwise work to bring down NDP

  Conservative Party of B.C. John Rustad Tuesday (Oct. 29) said his party would support government policies that support "average, everyday working" persons in B.C., but also repeated earlier promises to bring down the B.C. NDP government under Premier David Eby. "If there are things that are moved forward that will improve lives for those people, we would be looking at support it," Rustad said. "But if he's going to carry forward with the destructive policies that he has, then yes, we are going to look at every opportunity possible to bring him down as soon as possible."  CLICK HERE for the full story

Labels

Show more