Savoie sets out to detail how government pesters itself

Donald Savoie, one of the country’s most respected scholars, argues with conviction and exasperation that 'government' doesn’t work anymore, and things are getting worse. He’s not alone. The guy on the barstool next to you will probably tell you the same thing. What does Savoie mean by government, and what does he argue has gone wrong?

The Prime Minister's Office, in Ottawa. Donald Savoie argues that the modern-day government bureaucracy and line departments have made nobodies of MPs and flunkies of cabinet ministers, which only exacerbates public disenchantment with democracy. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Feature

BY CHRISTOPHER DORNAN

December 19, 2022

The Government of Canada did not feel the need to create a Department of External Affairs—an office of diplomacy and foreign relations—until 1909. The country had existed for 42 years without one. The newly created department was entirely housed above a barber shop in do...

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