ETHICS AT HOME AND ABROAD

Thomas S. Axworthy

The sponsorship scandal and other revelations, such as the human resources scam, have corroded public trust in government as seldom before in Canadian history. In seeking accountability in these affairs, there is a recurrent pattern of plausible deniability among both politicians and public servants, who denied both knowledge of and responsibility for the waste and disappearance of public funds. Or worse, as in the case of Chuck Guité, the public servant in charge of the sponsorship funds, the end justified the means. Thomas Axworthy, former principal secretary to , begs to differ. “Necessity knows no law, the perfect Machiavellian argument,” he writes, noting: “We make our choices and our choices have consequences…Understanding the primacy of responsibility is the starting point of ethical conduct.” He endorses recommendations of a conference hosted by Seneca College and York University for putting responsibility and accountability back into the system, in Parliament, politics and the public service.

Le scandale des commandites et autres révélations, l’affaire des Ressources humaines par exemple, ont ébranlé comme rarement dans notre histoire la confiance de la population à l’endroit du gouvernement. Mais la quête de responsables se heurte aux dénégations répétées de politiciens et de fonctionnaires clamant leur innocence ou leur ignorance en ce qui a trait au gaspillage et à la disparition de fonds publics. Et les choses s’aggravent avec Charles Guité, le fonctionnaire chargé de l’attribution des fonds, pour qui la fin justifiait les moyens. Tom Axworthy, ancien secrétaire principal de Pierre Elliott Trudeau, ose diverger d’avis. « Nécessité fait loi, voilà bien l’argument machiavélique par excellence », s’insurge-t-il, avant d’ajouter : « Toute décision a des conséquences, et toute éthique repose sur la primauté accordée à la notion de responsabilité. » Il fait donc siennes les recommandations d’un colloque organisé par le Seneca College de York University, qui préconisait de renforcer l’obligation de rendre des comptes pour les dirigeants politiques, le Parlement et la fonction publique.

mploring the political leadership of his day to avoid war, been rocked by sexual scandal. In the media, Jayson Blair, a that rigorous 18th century moralist Immanuel Kant, reporter for the New York Times, was caught totally fabricat- I quoting Matthew 10, advised kings and princes, “Be ye ing stories and then had the gall to write a book to try to therefore clever as serpents and innocent as doves.” Kant rec- make money over his lying. The formerly expert and disin- ognized the never-ending competition between ethics and terested public service of Canada is deeply implicated in the politics and more generally how difficult it is, in a world of sponsorship mess and has scandals of its own. In sector after temptations, to apply a moral sense to our daily lives. sector, there has been a moral collapse. The critical issues are But if serpents and doves have to co-exist, these days the why has this happened and what is to be done? serpents are feasting. Politically, Canada is enduring one of To answer these questions, the non-partisan Ginger the worst scandals in our history with $100 million in feder- Group, mostly young progressives, joined forces with al sponsorship money gone missing in a blizzard of fake Seneca College and York University on March 26, 2004, to receipts and dubious accounting. In the corporate world, organize a day-long conference on ethics and citizen almost daily there are new revelations about the excesses of engagement. Ethicist John Dalla Costa told the conference Enron and WorldCom, and even such a household icon as that there has been a shrinking of trust in Canada, with Martha Stewart was caught in insider trading. Churches have eight in ten in a recent survey agreeing that

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people are less trusting than in the what is even more critical is that each this responsibility is denied by a pow- past. Information Commissioner John of us takes responsibility for our own erful tradition of governance — the Reid proclaimed the need for a robust actions. We make choices and our school of real politick. Practitioners of interpretation of the Access to choices have consequences. Organiza- real politick argue that one cannot Information Act based on the rationale tions or collectives don’t have moral apply individual moral standards to of Justice Brandeis that, “sunlight is responsibilities, only individuals do. state actions, that in government the best of disinfectants; electric light Understanding the primacy of respon- necessity knows no law. Niccolo is the most efficient policeman.” sibility is the starting point of ethical Machiavelli (1469-1527) is the patron Penny Collenette, senior fellow at the conduct. saint of real politick and “murderous Machiavel,” the original of Codes of conduct, integrity offices and structures are Iago, has a large following important, but what is even more critical is that each of us even today. takes responsibility for our own actions. We make choices and our choices have consequences. Organizations or collectives achiavelli argued that M because Christian don’t have moral responsibilities, only individuals do. virtue glorified the meek Understanding the primacy of responsibility is the starting and selfless, it allowed the point of ethical conduct. world to be dominated by the wicked. To survive in Centre of Business and Government at Ethics are central because it is val- the treacherous world of power, good , argued that, “our ues and goals that guide human action. leaders had to learn how to be bad. In brands and companies carry our pride Public sector ethics are the most impor- the Discourses he wrote, “When it is and flag as well as any Olympic ath- tant of all because representative absolutely a question of the safety of lete.” Jonathan Kay, of the National democracy functions on the notion one’s country, there must be no consid- Post, surprised the delegates by assert- that those to whom we have delegated eration of just or unjust, of merciful or ing that while the media was a watch- power will use their influence for the cruel, and praiseworthy or disgraceful; dog over the ethics of others, they had public good, not private gain. If that instead, setting aside every scruple, one no universally accepted code of their accountability chain is broken, then it must follow to the utmost any plan that own. The mayor of , David is everyone looking out only for him- will save her life and keep her liberty.” Miller, concluded with a town hall self. Trust withers. Civility declines. To Dostoevsky’s terrible question “Is meeting of students who made the Society crumbles. Applying ethical everything permitted?”,` Machiavelli point again and again that ethical norms is not easy. Immanuel Kant would eagerly answer, “Yes.” lapses in our public officials are one believed that, “out of the crooked tim- Isaiah Berlin, in his essay “The Orig- reason for the decline in youth partic- ber of humanity no straight thing was inality of Machiavelli,” carefully notes ipation in the political process since ever made.” Humanity may indeed the huge number of interpretations of no one wants to be associated with a often be crooked but the students at Machiavelli’s thought and the influence corrupt enterprise. Machiavelli argued that because Christian virtue glorified the hat delegates meek and selfless, it allowed the world to be dominated by the W found in common in recent ethical abuses wicked. To survive in the treacherous world of power, good across several domains leaders had to learn how to be bad...To Dostoevsky’s terrible was the absence of per- question, “Is everything permitted?” Machiavelli would eagerly sonal responsibility. answer, “Yes.” Alfonso Gagliano denied liability for his department because he lacked knowledge. His deputy minister Seneca and York devoutly believe that of his doctrine (including the Dosto- did the same. But if the minister and our only hope is to have leaders with evsky reference above). Philosophically, deputy minister were not running the backbones strong enough to take per- Hobbes and Hegel followed Machiavelli department who was? Max Weber, the sonal responsibility for their actions. in justifying immoral acts when under- inventor of public administration theo- The assumption of personal taken on behalf of the state, while polit- ry, would be aghast, because his whole responsibility by our leaders for their ically the practitioners of Machiavellian system depended on an ethic of respon- actions may be the expectation of stu- real politick are legion — Richelieu, Bis- sibility. Codes of conduct, integrity dents, and probably of Canadian pub- marck and Kissinger to name only a few. offices and structures are important, but lic opinion more generally, but in fact Frederick the Great cuttingly made a

32 OPTIONS POLITIQUES MAI 2004 Ethics at home and abroad

CP Photo Chuck Guité, the man at the centre of the sponsorship scandal, leaves Parliament Hill after his unenlightening testimony to the Public Accounts Committee. Like Alfonso Gagliano, he denied personal responsibility for the scandal, and claimed the sponsorship program was a great success in fighting separatism. To the extent he knew what was going on, it was for a higher good — saving the country. point about public morality and private selected advertising firms with mini- ibility will encourage federalists and action when he joked about Marie mal paperwork. “When you’re at war, irritate separatists, so be it. (I have not Theresa of Austria and the partition of you drop the book and the rules and heard anyone make the argument that Poland that, “she cried but took.” you don’t give your plan to the opposi- flying the Canadian flag at sporting Canadians, too, are firmly within tion.” Messieurs Gagliano and Guité events would actually turn a separatist the real politick tradition, most notably denied personal responsibility for the into a federalist.) The key question is evidenced in the recent sponsorship scandal because either they didn’t who decides the ultimate ends? Or to scandal. Charles Guité, the civil servant know what was going on, or if they quote another ancient authority, what who headed the sponsorship unit of did, it was for a higher calling — the is the answer to Juvenal’s question, Public Works, while not referencing preservation of the country. Necessity “Who is to guard the guardians?” Machiavelli, made a Machiavellian knows no law — the perfect defence of his actions that would have Machiavellian argument. heologian Reinhold Niebuhr, in made the old Florentine proud. In tes- Ethics are codes of conduct based T Moral Man and Immoral Society, has timony to the Public Accounts on ultimate values sought after for one answer to Juvenal’s question — the Committee in July 2002, Guité said their own sake. For Machiavelli and for necessity for institutional counter- that he was “very proud” of his role in his Canadian supporters in the unity weights. He writes: “Any political philos- using sponsorship to promote fight, the survival of the Canadian state ophy which assumes that natural Canadian unity. “We were basically at is the ultimate value. Choices have to impulses, that is greed, the will-to-power war trying to save the country,” he told be made, and if bending a few account- and other forms of self-assertion, can members of Parliament as they asked ing rules is necessary to promote never be completely controlled or subli- him why he had directed contracts to sponsorships whose public vis- mated by reason, is under the necessity of

POLICY OPTIONS 33 MAY 2004 Thomas S. Axworthy

countenancing political policies which tive to parliament, or if the public serv- here: those that receive public attempt the control of nature in human ice had not been browbeaten to go monies should conform to public nature by setting the forces of nature along with retrograde political standards. against the impulses of nature...power is demands, then those who bent the ● The public service seems to be needed to destroy power.” rules might have thought twice. When hopelessly confused about respon- For Neibuhr, and most other I first went to work for Walter Gordon sibility and accountability. If there moralists, humankind is a cracked ves- as a very junior research assistant in is no clear delineation about what sel. One part of us is overwhelmingly the mid-1960s, one of the best pieces we expect from ministers and self-absorbed: We want to preserve, of advice he ever gave me was that from officials, then the issue acquire and dominate. Machiavelli in when I contemplated any action, I becomes muddled. Too many the Prince, for example, describes his should consider what it would be like hands means that no one pair of fellow Italians as “ungrateful, wanton, if it was reported in the Globe and Mail hands can be held responsible. false, and dissimulating, cowardly and in the morning. If I didn’t want it in Parliament (and the auditor-gen- greedy...arrogant and mean, their nat- the Globe then I shouldn’t do it. eral) demands pristine process ural impulse is to be insolent when The York-Seneca conference on standards while the prevailing their affairs are prospering and abject- ethics discussed a host of institutional orthodoxy of the new public ly servile when adversity hits them.” reform ideas on transparency and management theory of public No honey coating there. counterweight, all of which should be administration urges public ser- But human beings are more than implemented. The ideas included: vants to be entrepreneurial and animals: We also have the possi- take risks. It doesn’t scan. Civil bility of redeeming life by lend- Ethics are codes of conduct based servants will not take risks if ing to it beauty, clarity, dignity, on ultimate values sought after for Parliament holds them and not order and love. By developing their ministers accountable. Yet our moral capacities we can hold their own sake. For Machiavelli and while ministers offload their in check, if not completely elim- for his Canadian supporters in the responsibilities onto public ser- inate, the impulse to dominate. unity fight, the survival of the vants (“I didn’t know”), public Ethics are an intensely personal Canadian state is the ultimate value. servants must still adhere to matter, and ethical imperatives the convention of public will differ. Thus Machiavelli Choices have to be made, and if silence. They can be attacked extols the primacy of the state bending a few accounting rules is but cannot attack back. The while the Dalai Lama believes necessary to promote Quebec public service cannot function “compassion to be the basis and sponsorships whose public visibility if it is in limbo on such key supreme support of areas as their responsibility vis- humankind.” If we are bound to will encourage federalists and irritate à-vis Parliament: The result is disagree on ultimate ends, then separatists, so be it. stasis. Nothing happens. It is what is necessary is to have a not an exaggeration to say that process of debate and transparency so ● Better record management. No the combination of the sponsor- that one’s assumptions and values can one in Ottawa ever takes minutes ship scandal, the cost overrun of be measured. Secrecy is the greatest dan- anymore. The Cabinet may be the gun registry, and the well doc- ger in a democracy because if citizens the only body that still has umented problems at Human are kept in the dark by their leaders, decent record keeping. But how Resources Development Canada they have no way of judging if ends are can the offices of comtroller-gen- have thrown so much dirt into really ultimate. Therefore an answer to eral or auditor-general work as a the machine of government that the question who will guard the check if there is no paper trail? it has nearly seized up. There is a guardians is that we must all do so by Every decision-making meeting, desperate need for clarity: a com- ensuring the guardians do their guard- whether between officials or min- mittee of wise former politicians ing in sunlight, not in darkness. isters, should be minuted. and civil servants like Arthur ● The Access to Information Act Kroeger, Tommy Shoyama, Paul any dismiss ’s should apply to Crown corpora- Tellier, Monique Bégin, and Flora M emphasis on the “democratic tions. Among many surprises of MacDonald, chaired perhaps by deficit” as too little, too late, but insti- the sponsorship scandal was the Preston Manning, should be asked tutional reform is one concrete answer involvement of and to prepare a short statement of to the ethical dilemmas highlighted by Via Rail in the misleading accountability principles to gov- the sponsorship scandal. If there had accounting and invoicing trail. A ern the Parliament-minister- been real accountability of the execu- simple principle should apply official nexus. Parliament should

34 OPTIONS POLITIQUES MAI 2004 Ethics at home and abroad

then debate it and pass a motion ties are more than flagships of forth we need dikes to stop the sludge. that the principles are those of convenience for whoever hap- More charitably, but in the same direc- the House. Not a law necessarily pens to be leading them. Parties tion, Isaiah Berlin, the philosopher of but a clear moral guide. should stand for ideas and these pluralism, argues that since we have ● If the public service is confused, ideas should compete in the mar- competing concepts of the good, there- Parliament is stretched. ketplace of public opinion. But fore we need a system that ventilates Committees of Parliament do not ideas don’t just happen. Thought and throws open the debate. do their oversight functions and research are preliminary to because Parliament does not have idea formation. We must put our ut if one response to ethical abuses the staff resources of even one parties back into the thinking B is that they are part of human department, let alone the business. Most of the finances of nature and therefore we should design a Government of Canada. parties will now come from the system to cope with them, another per- Parliament has the will but not the When I first went to work for Walter Gordon as a very junior capacity. While the Privy Council Office research assistant in the mid-1960s, one of the best pieces of or the Department advice he ever gave me was that when I contemplated any of Finance have action, I should consider what it would be like if it was reported hundreds of skilled in the Globe and Mail in the morning. If I didn’t want it in the officials to advise ministers, the Globe then I shouldn’t do it. Library of Parliament has less than 100 researchers to serve all public purse after Jean Chrétien’s spective is that we should not ignore 300 members. Without a major reform of electoral financing. the possibility that humankind can be addition to the budgets of the With such bounty should come educated to keep our darker impulses at House of Commons and Senate, conditions: a fair and transparent bay. If the protestant theologian rhetoric about “improved legisla- method of choosing candidates Reinhold Neibuhr is a pessimist, or a tive oversight,” will remain only and leaders (flagrantly not fol- self-described “Christian realist,” then words. Yet one should not despair lowed in the recent leadership Catholic theologian Hans Küng is an about the potential impact of contests in the Conservative and optimist, a believer that individuals can House and Senate committees, Liberal parties where the block find something greater than themselves given the proper resources. The buying of memberships was com- by consciously making ethical behav- Senate Committee on Defence, mon) and a portion of the iour the centre of our existence. In for example, chaired by Colin resources to be devoted to Global Responsibility, Küng asks, “Why Kenny, has done outstanding research foundations as in the not do evil?” and argues that: “We need work on national security and German party system. If parties reflection on ethics, on the basic moral emergency planning. The Martin had the capacity to develop ideas, attitude of human beings: we need an government’s reorganization of that too would be a counter- ethical system, a philosophical or theo- our national security and emer- weight to the executive. logical theory of values and norms, to gency preparedness machinery on direct our decisions and actions. The December 12, 2003 is almost yes tend to glaze over when institu- crisis must be seen as an opportunity.” entirely due to the public atten- E tional reforms of Parliament, party The starting point for Küng is that tion the Senate brought to this and the public service make their rare an ethic of responsibility should issue. We will be serious about appearance on the public policy agen- replace our current fascination with restoring Parliament’s ability to da. But only a transparent process and success. An ethic of responsibility “is control the executive only when robust set of institutions can prevent the opposite of an action for which the we give it the tools to do the job. the secret abuses and moral laxities of end sanctifies the means and for ● If the public service needs to the recent past. In Canada, ethical which whatever functions, brings prof- maintain its integrity, and action demands institutional reform. it, power, or enjoyment, is good. This Parliament needs to acquire some A strong system of institutional in particular can lead to cross libertin- capacity, our party system needs counterweights is based on the assump- ism and Machiavellianism. Such an to get back into the ideas busi- tion that humankind will inevitably sin. ethic can have no future.” ness. The volunteer base of par- We are “children of light and children of Küng has not just written about ties can be another counterweight darkness” according to Reinhold ethics, he has worked diligently to per- to the executive but only if par- Niebuhr, and when our dark side bursts suade the world’s leaders to do some-

POLICY OPTIONS 35 MAY 2004 Thomas S. Axworthy

thing about it. Küng was the principal on the interfaith charter. The result of committee, after all, that broadened author of “A Universal Declaration of this ethical inquiry is the Universal and improved Mr. Trudeau’s Charter of Human Responsibilities,” a charter that Declaration whose basic premise is “to Rights. Once a consensus is reached, aims to complement the Universal aim at the greatest amount of freedom Parliament should adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted possible but also to develop the fullest Declaration, and then the government by the United Nations in 1948. sense of responsibility that will allow should introduce the Responsibility The “Universal Declaration of that freedom itself to grow.” As the Charter to the United Nations. Canada Human Responsibilities,” is the key Council rightly declared in 1997 after should champion the ethic of respon- project of the InterAction Council, an endorsing the work of the religious lead- sibility today as fervently as we sup- organization of retired leaders created in ers, “it is time to talk about human ported human rights in 1948. 1983 by of Germany responsibilities.” Canada needs both an ethical gov- and Takeo Fukuda of Japan. For many Canada played a large role in the ernment at home and an ethical inter- years Pierre Trudeau was an active mem- drafting of the 1948 Universal national policy abroad. Such a cause ber of this group and played a special Declaration of Human Rights. John would make Machiavelli smile but I role in championing the Responsibility Humphrey of McGill wrote the first say along with Robert Browning that, Declaration. The men and women who draft of the Declaration that Eleanor “A man’s reach may exceed his grasp make up the InterAction Council know Roosevelt eventually brought to the or what’s a heaven for?” power, and now they speak truth. It is a United Nations. Today Canadians melancholy thought that we would all should play the same role with the Thomas S. Axworthy, former principal be better off had truth been more cen- Universal Declaration of Human secretary to Prime Minister Trudeau, is tral to their days in the sun. But the Responsibilities. A parliamentary com- the chairman of the Centre for the Study Council, nevertheless, has done impor- mittee should take the InterAction of Democracy at Queen’s University. tant work by convening religious leaders Council document and hold public More information about the Ginger from all faiths — Christian, Islam, hearings to refine and strengthen the Group conference can be found at Buddhism and Confucianism — to work document. It was a parliamentary www.gingergroup.org ✂ POLICY OPTIONS SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM

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