Was Zelensky and his government generally considered competent before the invasion? I genuinely don't know, I only ask because sometimes people really can surprise you under pressure. In both directions I guess, and "they might rise to the occasion" is not a good strategy. But it also seems hard to know who actually will be good under pressure. Who would have guessed Zelensky was going to stay and put himself at such risk? Would Carney do that? He's a serious guy with a serious background, but that might mean nothing. Serious people can crack under pressure and comedians can become heros.
The Covid years should have taught us that, given governments' actual ability to do something constructive and net beneficial (especially Canada's governments), it is very often the case that, as with Covid, "do nothing" is the right response - because it will give a better outcome than doing "something" in practice.
Every government action should be preceded by "what makes us think that this particular action is highly likely to be better than inaction, when viewed in hindsight."
And that is why all government hiring should be exclusively merit based. When the dirt hits the fan we need the very brightest and most competent people in control of the wheels of government. The safety and security of every citizen depends on it.
In theory, the law mandates that federal government employment is based on merit - in theory. "Appointments...to or from within the public service shall be made on the basis of merit and must be free from political influence." - Public Service Employment Act, section 30(1) https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/P-33.01/section-30.html
I like the thesis, but suggest that the government does a fabulous job on its own without need for Hollywood. Almost everything they enthusiastically publish or promote are intentions and most people do not differentiate between results and intentions.
The field of emergency management is very similar, in that the gap between actual capabilities and capacity of all levels of give and the expectations of Canadians is wide and deep. This should be the inspiration or at least a catalyst for building individual resilience, but alas, as I see it from both being a professor in the field and as an entrepreneur, assuming someone will rescue them is the plan for most Canadians. They just want to be taken care of, vice assuming personal responsibility.
Matt is correct. And what he says makes me wonder if he secretly wishes that we had a different government than what we have now. Because what we have now is a smoke-blowing mirror-flashing version of the Trudeau regime that is even more expensive than the previous lot.
Great read Matt. The point you made about health care seemed to be a (perhaps unintended?) parallel for me. A friend of mine had been extolling the reliability of our health care system that resided at the top of the pile in the world until she had to access it for more than the typical ER visit. The health care professionals absolutely care and exhibit competence but there is only so much they are able to do with the systemic constraints prebuilt into that system. The convey was another wake up call for all of us at just how unprepared we collectively are for any situation that arises that isn’t covered in the “manual”. I chuckled at the pothole remark as well as I’ve used that line many times when governments regardless of size trot out grandiose solutions to repair an entire planet while simultaneously lacking the wherewithal to literally fix potholes and replace broken stop signs. Your concerns are definitely well founded.
I strongly believe that when something / bloody anything goes wrong, we start of with the beseeching cry of, "Someone otta do something!" ["someone" defined as "the government" and "something" defined as "fix this damned thing"]. That beseeching cry is actually a totally unreasonable EXPECTATION/UNREASONABLE BELIEF that the "something" will actually be done by the "someone" which is, of course, stupid. Not unreasonable but stupid.
Of course, "we" [the electorate] are led to believe that governments are omniscient and benevolent by our politicians and "we" are too stupid [that word again] to think through the implications and limitations of what the politicians are saying.
Cynical? Certainly. Correct? You decide.
Or, put differently, "we" keep proving that we get the government that "we" deserve.
I wonder how much the presentation of history affects expectations. Curveballs and horrific events have come at us in the past. By looking in the history books it would appear our success was a given. For an event like WWII it’s easy to sit here today and forget the amount of time between action (invasion) and reaction (build up of troops and material then actual counter-invasion). Also so much else happened, such as on the home front, that isn’t regularly spoken of. Nazi rallies in New York. General accepted antisemitism in everyday society. And the fact our leaders are human that can still make the worst of choices believing they are doing the best for their country. And on and on.
We need to get the little things right to get the big things on track, most definitely. I think the hardest thing to get right is to truly understand, and not just intellectually, that the most beneficent outcome is not guaranteed.
Good God so many pearls of wisdom in this article. And no I’m not calling anybody a swine (although the term heifer would apply to some Liberal ministers, but I digress). The one pearl that I got from Hollywood is the scariest statement of all. “Hi we’re from government and we’re here to help you”
The one approach I’ve found to be the most successful is to listen to Government statements and assume the opposite to be true. Government is the descendant of the robber barons in medieval times- control the population through force and tax it to cover the cost of this control through taxes. This is still true today whether it takes the form of African warlords, elite Canadian families, or senior civil servants .
The author Isaac Asimov some 80 years ago in “I Robot” formulated the three laws of robotics. The first one being do not harm a human, the second being obey human instructions, and the third being avoid situations or actions that cause it to harm itself. The only one that the Government of Canada seem to be obeying is the third one. (A constitutional Monarchy thing?)
Having been condemned to Canadian house arrest for daring to overstay (according to Canada) in the US during Covid times, I was subjected daily to at least 3 threats of fines and imprisonment by my presumed helpful government. I may be assuming this but it seems to me that even a Mafia loan shark wouldn’t have the dedication or resources to harass his/her clients to that extent.
I have nothing but admiration for first responders (AKA “Trauma Llamas” - look it up) who are on the cutting edge of expectations and who manage in spite of failed political promises. Please make their job possible or at least easier by doing the best you can to avoid needing their services through lifestyle, training, whatever you can. And thank them for their service.
I disagree with this, partly because my experience has been the opposite of what you write here. People tend to assume that our government and public service have basically no capabilities, no agencies dedicated to emergencies, and *definitely* no expertise about anything. A lot of people tend to point to a news story about a natural disaster or some other emergency, and then just assume it wouldn't have happened or been nearly as bad if those bumbling bureaucrats and politicians hadn't been so stupid and lazy. I get the compulsion, and being critical of these institutions is important, but I think it's often simplistic and dangerous in high doses. It's much harder to imagine how things could have been worse, but weren't.
"Public administration? Never heard of it! Let's just run government like a business, and then everything will be better."
I was in the army reserve briefly, and I remember how baffled people were at what I was doing every Thursday and one weekend of every month. They couldn't even fathom that our soldiers actually train for things outside of boot camp, ever, and accordingly had some really weird ideas about what soldiers do at work. It seemed telling to me. Maybe there's no secret team, but public awareness of what exists in the open is pretty bad, and I don't think that's just a communication problem on the government's part. Maybe it is, though. I do wish people would make more of an effort.
I also don't think it's particularly useful to compare something like having some potholes around the neighbourhood to emergency response. I get that it's frustrating in the "We can put a man on the moon, but we can't (XYZ)," sense, but again, I don't think public policy is a straight line like that. It's like saying modern medicine has failed because we can't eradicate the common cold.
Anyway, I'm (mostly) proud of this country and happy to live here, and I think that's largely because the government is competent at least some of the time, including in emergencies. It can get so much worse. Anyway, just my two cents.
As I was trying to come up with a pithy rejoinder, I found myself thinking that all of your assessments were bang on.
Except maybe the one about why we fail to see that there is no “hidden A Team” waiting in the wings to make things right when everything appears to be going wrong.
I don’t think this was Hollywood’s fault. This is our fault, because we fail to see that when we ask for this and that, we encourage a certain type to reflect our supposed “needs” back at us, and we simply lap it all up.
Why we fail to think more about “the big issues” is puzzling to me. Is it that the next hockey game (or th next party or pub crawl) is more important?
Be that as it may, our inability to correct the flaws that give us the governance we so hate is a big issue.
While I agree with your general thesis, it is important not to conflate state capacity, with the courage to use it when necessary.
Recall the campus occupations at universities in Quebec, at U of Toronto and in BC that went for weeks?
Whereas in Alta they were gone in a day, when it was made clear that such trespassing would not be tolerated.
Similarly, there were no convoy problems in Toronto either.
And once it was politically politically impossible to refuse to use force in Ottawa, it was fairly easy to mobilize police resources to disperse the crowd.
Carney wouldn't seriously appoint Melanie Joly as our alien envoy would he? The aliens wouldn't even find her attractive. Yikes. An actual Canadian Hollywood actor would be more suited for that work than friggin Melanie Joly.
This is an excellent and much needed dose of reality. Faith in institutions is in decline for a bunch of reasons, but I am totally on board with your thesis that expectations derived from Hollywood rarely survive contact with the real world. Look at the show The West Wing, with the inanely brilliant Sorkin-ese dialogue and high-octane quippery that was laughable even back when we could have believed government folks were geniuses.
Was Zelensky and his government generally considered competent before the invasion? I genuinely don't know, I only ask because sometimes people really can surprise you under pressure. In both directions I guess, and "they might rise to the occasion" is not a good strategy. But it also seems hard to know who actually will be good under pressure. Who would have guessed Zelensky was going to stay and put himself at such risk? Would Carney do that? He's a serious guy with a serious background, but that might mean nothing. Serious people can crack under pressure and comedians can become heros.
Very insightful comment!
Zelensky is no general.
That's why he has generals. He is a leader though.
He's a nice guy who doesn't deserve to have his country conquered by a psychotic dictator.
I have no faith in the government and after the last election in canada and the U.S.A no faith in the people that elected them.
The Covid years should have taught us that, given governments' actual ability to do something constructive and net beneficial (especially Canada's governments), it is very often the case that, as with Covid, "do nothing" is the right response - because it will give a better outcome than doing "something" in practice.
Every government action should be preceded by "what makes us think that this particular action is highly likely to be better than inaction, when viewed in hindsight."
And that is why all government hiring should be exclusively merit based. When the dirt hits the fan we need the very brightest and most competent people in control of the wheels of government. The safety and security of every citizen depends on it.
In theory, the law mandates that federal government employment is based on merit - in theory. "Appointments...to or from within the public service shall be made on the basis of merit and must be free from political influence." - Public Service Employment Act, section 30(1) https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/P-33.01/section-30.html
I like the thesis, but suggest that the government does a fabulous job on its own without need for Hollywood. Almost everything they enthusiastically publish or promote are intentions and most people do not differentiate between results and intentions.
The field of emergency management is very similar, in that the gap between actual capabilities and capacity of all levels of give and the expectations of Canadians is wide and deep. This should be the inspiration or at least a catalyst for building individual resilience, but alas, as I see it from both being a professor in the field and as an entrepreneur, assuming someone will rescue them is the plan for most Canadians. They just want to be taken care of, vice assuming personal responsibility.
Matt is correct. And what he says makes me wonder if he secretly wishes that we had a different government than what we have now. Because what we have now is a smoke-blowing mirror-flashing version of the Trudeau regime that is even more expensive than the previous lot.
Great read Matt. The point you made about health care seemed to be a (perhaps unintended?) parallel for me. A friend of mine had been extolling the reliability of our health care system that resided at the top of the pile in the world until she had to access it for more than the typical ER visit. The health care professionals absolutely care and exhibit competence but there is only so much they are able to do with the systemic constraints prebuilt into that system. The convey was another wake up call for all of us at just how unprepared we collectively are for any situation that arises that isn’t covered in the “manual”. I chuckled at the pothole remark as well as I’ve used that line many times when governments regardless of size trot out grandiose solutions to repair an entire planet while simultaneously lacking the wherewithal to literally fix potholes and replace broken stop signs. Your concerns are definitely well founded.
Okay, Matt, I agree with you.
Now, why do we (the public) believe that?
I strongly believe that when something / bloody anything goes wrong, we start of with the beseeching cry of, "Someone otta do something!" ["someone" defined as "the government" and "something" defined as "fix this damned thing"]. That beseeching cry is actually a totally unreasonable EXPECTATION/UNREASONABLE BELIEF that the "something" will actually be done by the "someone" which is, of course, stupid. Not unreasonable but stupid.
Of course, "we" [the electorate] are led to believe that governments are omniscient and benevolent by our politicians and "we" are too stupid [that word again] to think through the implications and limitations of what the politicians are saying.
Cynical? Certainly. Correct? You decide.
Or, put differently, "we" keep proving that we get the government that "we" deserve.
I wonder how much the presentation of history affects expectations. Curveballs and horrific events have come at us in the past. By looking in the history books it would appear our success was a given. For an event like WWII it’s easy to sit here today and forget the amount of time between action (invasion) and reaction (build up of troops and material then actual counter-invasion). Also so much else happened, such as on the home front, that isn’t regularly spoken of. Nazi rallies in New York. General accepted antisemitism in everyday society. And the fact our leaders are human that can still make the worst of choices believing they are doing the best for their country. And on and on.
We need to get the little things right to get the big things on track, most definitely. I think the hardest thing to get right is to truly understand, and not just intellectually, that the most beneficent outcome is not guaranteed.
Good God so many pearls of wisdom in this article. And no I’m not calling anybody a swine (although the term heifer would apply to some Liberal ministers, but I digress). The one pearl that I got from Hollywood is the scariest statement of all. “Hi we’re from government and we’re here to help you”
The one approach I’ve found to be the most successful is to listen to Government statements and assume the opposite to be true. Government is the descendant of the robber barons in medieval times- control the population through force and tax it to cover the cost of this control through taxes. This is still true today whether it takes the form of African warlords, elite Canadian families, or senior civil servants .
The author Isaac Asimov some 80 years ago in “I Robot” formulated the three laws of robotics. The first one being do not harm a human, the second being obey human instructions, and the third being avoid situations or actions that cause it to harm itself. The only one that the Government of Canada seem to be obeying is the third one. (A constitutional Monarchy thing?)
Having been condemned to Canadian house arrest for daring to overstay (according to Canada) in the US during Covid times, I was subjected daily to at least 3 threats of fines and imprisonment by my presumed helpful government. I may be assuming this but it seems to me that even a Mafia loan shark wouldn’t have the dedication or resources to harass his/her clients to that extent.
I have nothing but admiration for first responders (AKA “Trauma Llamas” - look it up) who are on the cutting edge of expectations and who manage in spite of failed political promises. Please make their job possible or at least easier by doing the best you can to avoid needing their services through lifestyle, training, whatever you can. And thank them for their service.
I disagree with this, partly because my experience has been the opposite of what you write here. People tend to assume that our government and public service have basically no capabilities, no agencies dedicated to emergencies, and *definitely* no expertise about anything. A lot of people tend to point to a news story about a natural disaster or some other emergency, and then just assume it wouldn't have happened or been nearly as bad if those bumbling bureaucrats and politicians hadn't been so stupid and lazy. I get the compulsion, and being critical of these institutions is important, but I think it's often simplistic and dangerous in high doses. It's much harder to imagine how things could have been worse, but weren't.
"Public administration? Never heard of it! Let's just run government like a business, and then everything will be better."
I was in the army reserve briefly, and I remember how baffled people were at what I was doing every Thursday and one weekend of every month. They couldn't even fathom that our soldiers actually train for things outside of boot camp, ever, and accordingly had some really weird ideas about what soldiers do at work. It seemed telling to me. Maybe there's no secret team, but public awareness of what exists in the open is pretty bad, and I don't think that's just a communication problem on the government's part. Maybe it is, though. I do wish people would make more of an effort.
I also don't think it's particularly useful to compare something like having some potholes around the neighbourhood to emergency response. I get that it's frustrating in the "We can put a man on the moon, but we can't (XYZ)," sense, but again, I don't think public policy is a straight line like that. It's like saying modern medicine has failed because we can't eradicate the common cold.
Anyway, I'm (mostly) proud of this country and happy to live here, and I think that's largely because the government is competent at least some of the time, including in emergencies. It can get so much worse. Anyway, just my two cents.
As I was trying to come up with a pithy rejoinder, I found myself thinking that all of your assessments were bang on.
Except maybe the one about why we fail to see that there is no “hidden A Team” waiting in the wings to make things right when everything appears to be going wrong.
I don’t think this was Hollywood’s fault. This is our fault, because we fail to see that when we ask for this and that, we encourage a certain type to reflect our supposed “needs” back at us, and we simply lap it all up.
Why we fail to think more about “the big issues” is puzzling to me. Is it that the next hockey game (or th next party or pub crawl) is more important?
Be that as it may, our inability to correct the flaws that give us the governance we so hate is a big issue.
Thank you for writing this op-ed.
While I agree with your general thesis, it is important not to conflate state capacity, with the courage to use it when necessary.
Recall the campus occupations at universities in Quebec, at U of Toronto and in BC that went for weeks?
Whereas in Alta they were gone in a day, when it was made clear that such trespassing would not be tolerated.
Similarly, there were no convoy problems in Toronto either.
And once it was politically politically impossible to refuse to use force in Ottawa, it was fairly easy to mobilize police resources to disperse the crowd.
Carney wouldn't seriously appoint Melanie Joly as our alien envoy would he? The aliens wouldn't even find her attractive. Yikes. An actual Canadian Hollywood actor would be more suited for that work than friggin Melanie Joly.
This is an excellent and much needed dose of reality. Faith in institutions is in decline for a bunch of reasons, but I am totally on board with your thesis that expectations derived from Hollywood rarely survive contact with the real world. Look at the show The West Wing, with the inanely brilliant Sorkin-ese dialogue and high-octane quippery that was laughable even back when we could have believed government folks were geniuses.