Include Me Out: How Modern Government Is Moving On Without You

“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”— P.J. O’Rourke 

As taxpayers who’ve seen their monthly property tax vault from $310/ month to $400/ month within three years the notice that Calgary is offering $285 K for a Director, Climate and Environment caught our eye. For those who don’t follow Calgary politics, mayor Jyoti Gondek is the Woke pretender who exploited a four-way split to gain the mayor’s job in 2022.

Her first act in office? Energy? Transit? Lowering taxes? Be serious. She declared a climate emergency in a city where the sun shines 333 days a year. The biggest air quality issue is forest-fire smoke that originates hundreds of kilometres away from her progressive reach. No matter. 

She’s running again this fall on the same noxious platform of climate Armageddon married to “the values of equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism and reconciliation”. For those saying, “Who cares what happens in Cowtown?” this formula applies to virtually every major metropolitan area of Canada. It is a nation of Gondeks running city halls on behalf of unwitting people who go, ”How’d that happen?” 

As we head to Labour Day and the celebration of work we can’t list them all the hizzoners and heronners, but we’ll just say Olivia Chow dancing during Toronto’s Caribana or Montreal’s Valerie Plante sending cops into churches to arrest Christian singers and let that suffice.

So as we wade through the 17 paragraphs of “equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism and reconciliation” in the job offering know that you are watching in real time the metastasizing of the Canadian public service in microcosm. A creeping blight that now, post Justin Trudeau, sees Canada’s job growth only coming in the public (translation: non-profit) sector. The consultancy class. Sucking billions from the private economy, they’ve rewarded themselves with:

Work-life balance

Pensions

Benefits

Psychological and physical safety

1 day off in a 3 week cycle

Standard 35 hour work week

On a historical note, Justin came by this pork-barrelling naturally. Long ago, his papa Pierre was instrumental in bloating the civil service from a grey, unassuming body to a behemoth instrument of the government’s latest fancy. Faced with the trifecta of Quebec alienation, ‘60s social unrest and a huge Boomer generation PET and the Liberals created a vast menu of public-service jobs to accommodate the army of graduates from the expanding university/ college programs. 

With platinum pensions, job security and white-collar pretension they calmed the counter culture even as the cost sent Canada’s economy into a ditch. When the civil service was granted the right to unionize, the stranglehold was complete. Thus we have government employees wearing keffiyehs, demanding the death of Israel and openly politicking for the far Left in elections. 

How powerful are they? When the Truckers Convoy interrupted their sleep in Ottawa with honking horns, Trudeau declared a national emergency. Flush with success Toronto teachers are now doing land acknowledgements for every indigenous entity they can lay their vanity upon.

As you read the Calgary job application Job ID #: 312391 you’ll note that the public service’s righteous causes of the past— South Africa, nuclear war, bilingualism— have faded. But they have been replaced by a new mania, the Big Cs of climate, colonialism and conciliation. All eagerly regurgitated by friendly media.

Protected by ironclad job security, they can make your money disappear. Just this week we learned that these folks “faked” a start-up for subsidizing business after handing out $130M. Auditors can’t find the companies or jobs. $130 million . Oh, the possibilities. As P.J. O’Rourke observed, “It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money.”

Perhaps the best example of bureaucratic waste is tucked into the line “Applications are encouraged from members of groups that are historically disadvantaged and underrepresented.” (*Translation: DEI) And “… as a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT), you are expected to promote an inclusive leadership style that values equity, diversity, inclusion, and ensures psychological and physical safety.”


So you are urged to promote inclusion while the vast majority of taxpaying white male citizens are excluded from consideration. Right. Got it. And if you want this job please don’t mention that the vast David Suzuki climate empire propped up by government is falling apart in the United States and Europe. (The Chinese and Indians wisely never bought in.) Bury that lede beneath a truck garden of word salad.

There’s more. “Leveraging the business unit's expertise in watershed planning, urban conservation, biodiversity stewardship, climate resilience, and energy management, you will encourage innovation and collaboration across sectors, integrating environmental excellence into city-wide planning systems and governance frameworks. With strong strategic thinking and political acumen, you will need experience in leading transformational change and fostering innovation.”

Transformational change is what they want (after a lengthy apology for colonialism) That’s why it’s buried at the end of this tedious tract. And oh, did we mention you’ll be required to forgo political neutrality? “You have a strong reputation for political and organizational sensitivity and are driven by a dedication to serving the citizens of Calgary. You are committed to our mission of "Making life better every day" through our core values of Character, Commitment, Competence, and Collaboration.”

Except every third Friday when you march in a Pride Parade or Free Palestine pop-up. Or just goof off. That’s a reward for the exhausting work of leading “climate initiatives that reduce climate risk through enhancing adaptation and resilience for both the Corporation and the community, energy management and greenhouse gas reduction, and supporting the energy transition for Calgary.”

Once again the real goal is buried in the last sentence. “Supporting the energy transition for Calgary”. Because Mark Carney has ordered NetZero diktats, city hall s like Calgary will forgo energy supremacy in exchange for EV batteries and charging stations that don’t work when the city’s temperature drops to minus 35 C. 

You are encouraged to “foster open communication and a collaborative working environment that empowers others to make sound decisions. You ensure a respectful, inclusive, and accessible workplace and promoting employee health, safety, and wellness.”

So massive is the job’s importance that it requires an office full of other well-compensated civil servants to field your application. “To speak with a City recruiter, connect with Ashu Gandhi, David Fletcher or Jaci Spence-Eising on LinkedIn.” 

We could go on, but the urge to self-harm has overtaken us. We can only summarize with the reason civil servants don’t look out the window in the morning is that then they’d have nothing to do in the afternoon.” Rim shot.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.