We Need Good Cabinet Ministers

Effective governments require many things: leadership, ideas, structure and process, and communication, among other things. Yet when you boil it down to its essentials it really comes down to people; good, competent people are the key ingredient of good government. The same is true in business, which is why venture capitalists pay such close attention the founding team of start-ups. With good people you can navigate uncertain waters and recover from missteps, since good people will respond effectively in all situations, including bringing in others when needed to make up for skill gaps.

Those with long memories will remember the bumbling incompetence of Ontario's only NDP government under Bob Rae. Although that government was saddled with a massive deficit left over from the previous government, his real problem was a lack of good people. When it came to forming a cabinet there was little talent in the pool of MPPs in his caucus. It seemed at the time that, because up until around the time of the election call there was a poor prospect of an NDP victory, little attention was paid to getting strong candidates to run on the NDP ticket. Rae himself wasn't half bad as Premier, but his cabinet ministers... ugh!

With this thought in mind, I am just a little bit worried about the resignation this week of Jim Prentice from the federal government. From all accounts, even from the opposition parties, he is held in high regard and has striven to do some good things. While true that he also had the long form census file, which was arguably botched, as far as I can see this was far more likely to have been Harper's initiative. This also seems true of some of our more bizarre actions in international fora on the environment.

Nevertheless, I believe the evidence favours him being a strong talent and who has been conscientious about fulfilling his responsibilities within the bounds of the power he has been permitted by the Prime Minister. This is the nub of the problem as I see it. It is also visible elsewhere, such as with Tony Clement. A good manager or leader knows the importance of bringing strong talent onto his or her team. Once you have them, you set objectives and let them apply themselves to the job at hand. Harper is too often loathe to do so. Not being able to read his mind, I have no idea if Prentice resigned for the reasons he stated or he was disappointed in the control the PMO exercised over him and his cabinet colleagues.

I would think that anyone reading this can think of examples, perhaps many examples, of times when your boss micro-managed your activities and would not allow you to do what you knew to be the best thing to achieve the common objective. A penchant for excessive control is a common management flaw. Even if the manager does not trust an employee to do a job properly, that is also the manager's fault since they are responsible for hiring and firing people so that the team is composed of good, competent people, people who can get the job done.

Losing Prentice is unlikely to damage Harper's chances for re-election and may not even make a large difference in the government's performance. He still has some excellent bench strength to replace departing ministers. But if this turns into a trend where, when an election is eventually called, more unduly-restrained, talented ministers choose to escape the yoke and not run, he could have a problem. Or rather, we will have a problem. It is us who will have a less capable government running the country's affairs.

I am of course assuming that the Conservatives will win the election, which polls support and which I expect will happen unless the Liberals make some radical changes to either their leader, their policies or their public relations efforts.