Speaking truth to power serves the greater good

The poor development of a product, policy, or appointment is often simply because someone did not say ‘no’ to the person in charge. The finance minister’s recent stumblings seem to be a case in point.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau, pictured speaking to reporters in October, could have used advisers who steered him away from the small-business tax reforms and his comments about not answering to journalists. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY ANDREW CADDELL

November 1, 2017

The Abominable “No” Man. That is what a journalist friend called me when I worked as press secretary to the solicitor general in the 1980s, mainly because I was reluctant to provide easy access to journalists when things went wrong; and with responsibility for prisons, the RCMP, and the parole ...

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