28 January 2016
On January 16, 2016, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion announced the nominations of the Ontario co-chair for the federal Liberal election campaign, Mr. David MacNaughton, as Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, together with a member of Prime Minister Trudeau’s transition team, Mr. Marc-André Blanchard, as Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations.
The announcement represents the first non-career diplomat appointments to ambassadorial positions since the Liberal Government won a majority government in October. While the Prime Minister has exclusive authority to make head-of-mission appointments, the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO) believes that the Canadian public is best served when the government draws first on the policy expertise, analytical and advocacy skills of its career diplomats when appointing heads of mission abroad.
“The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, which has noted the appointments of David MacNaughton as Ambassador to the United States and Marc-André Blanchard Ambassador to the United Nations, is disappointed that Canada’s government has nominated non-diplomats to two of Canada’s ambassadorial positions”, said Timothy Hodges, PAFSO President. “From PAFSO’s perspective, this could signal the continuation of a worrisome trend which appears to have been building over a number of years.”
Career diplomats are, without any doubt, the most qualified and experienced candidates for the job, having spent at least 20 years – and often much more – honing their craft. Not to mention the fact that these dedicated public servants are all well versed in Treasury Board guidelines for the sound management of human and financial resources, something which political nominees may not fully appreciate prior to their appointment. The Government of Canada will have invested years of training to perfect its Foreign Service – which is constituted of non-partisan civil servants whose only desire is to represent Canada abroad and defend Canada’s national interests. Appointing non-diplomats often amounts to a waste of resources and devalues the dedication Foreign Service Officers demonstrate throughout their careers.
“We will continue to monitor the future appointments of this new government, which we hope will look to its highly competent career diplomats for future head of mission appointments. In the meantime, we wish the ambassadors-designate success in their assignments and confirm that we will be providing them with the same top-quality advice and support that we have offered our distinguished Ambassadors regardless of their political affiliation”, concluded Mr. Hodges.