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The days of anonymous public servants invisible to Parliament, the media and Canadians are no more. Today, 24/7 cable news, social media and attack dogs happily bring both political and administrative missteps to life, which makes many public servants risk-averse. Senior public servants have become public figures, with their anonymity stripped bare by access to information legislation and new media.

Bureaucracy-bashing, which began in earnest in Anglo-American democracies in the 1980s, has had a negative and lasting impact on the public service.

Senior public servants, at the same time, have tried to answer the call to be more politically sensitive, not wanting to be left behind in shaping policy. They no longer enjoy a near-monopoly on the policy advisory function. They have to compete with political advisers, think-tanks, well-resourced associations and lobbyists. These groups are always at the ready to challenge the advice of senior public servants. Lobbyists are here to promote the interests of their clients and are paid to sell truth, or the truth as their customers see it. There are even lobbyists promoting the interests of the tobacco industry.

Senior public servants have demonstrated that they can be responsive to political will, and like their private sector counterparts, they can be entrepreneurial and able to push to aside obstacles in getting things done for politicians who hold power, starting with the prime minister. They launched various reform exercises, such as PS 2000, and added a new title to the job of the clerk of the Privy Council. The clerk is now also known as deputy minister to the prime minister, in addition to head of the public service and secretary to the cabinet.