Not Quite Home Sweet Home

Emerson gets on-the-road briefings while weathering political storm in Vancouver

Published: Wednesday, February 22, 2006

OTTAWA (CP) - A handful of civil servants have been dispatched to Vancouver in an unusual move that allows Trade Minister David Emerson to receive transition briefings while he weathers a political storm in his riding.

At least seven high-ranking bureaucrats from the Department of International Trade have joined Emerson since he left Ottawa while under fire for switching parties immediately after the election, The Canadian Press has learned.

Emerson had been avoiding the national media for days and went home while many of his constituents clamoured for a by-election.

Government officials could not put a price tag on the travelling transition briefings.

Emerson has received briefings in his regional office from deputy minister Rob Fonberg, as well as several assistant deputy ministers and other top-level staff.

"It will cost something, I'm sure," one government official said.

But another government official said the final bill would be modest.

Almost none of the bureaucrats have been lodged overnight in Vancouver and several have only made same-day stops while travelling back and forth from events in Asia, he said.

Trade spokesman Andre Lemay said transition briefings are exhaustive and must be done in person. Given those constraints, he said the cost will be reasonable.

"You can't do this over the phone," Lemay said.

"The senior managers that were going out or coming in were basically asked to stop in Vancouver to meet with the minister.

"So it's not like we sent seven people from Ottawa."

The official reason given for Emerson's departure to Vancouver was that he needed to work on regional files. His ministerial portfolio includes the Pacific Gateway and the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Olympics.

"Since the House (of Commons) is not sitting, he has to tackle those files in B.C., obviously," said one government official.

"It would be awkward if he was getting briefed in Halifax, or in Parry Sound-Muskoka while he was vacationing.

"The minister is not on vacation."

Federal officials couldn't say whether any other ministers had such similarly sized contingents following them home.

But one admitted his own skepticism that Emerson needs to be in B.C. to work on provincial issues.

"I suspect he is meeting his constituents because there's a lot of flack coming out of there."

The Opposition Liberals have their own theory: that Emerson was asked to avoid microphones and cameras for a while, and it's now costing taxpayers money.

"It could be perceived that he's hiding from the national media," said Liberal spokeswoman Susan Smith.

"It's a pattern from Mr. Harper. It's a pattern from Mr. Harper's ministers."

Under the Liberal government ex-trade minister Jim Peterson got all his transition briefings done in Ottawa, said former aide Jacquie Larocque. And when he travelled he would prefer holding conference calls instead of displacing even two bureaucrats, she said.
But Lemay said it's easy to get briefings done on a same-day trip while ministers work in their ridings.

He said the sessions each last several hours while a revolving door of experts delivers lessons on the finer points of a minister's file.

Peterson, for instance, got five separate briefings on softwood lumber alone during his tenure as trade minister.

One was a blow-by-blow chronology of the Canada-U.S. dispute. One described key provincial players on the file. Another listed important contacts in Washington.

"Briefings aren't given for days and days on end by the same people. They're not all in the same room at the same time," Lemay said.

There were also separate briefings on free trade: How is NAFTA working? What about Canada's other free-trade agreements? What other trade deals is Canada seeking?

Peterson also sat in for a briefing on science and developing technologies.

Lemay noted that Emerson has already had a strong head-start learning his files and knows them well for a rookie trade minister.

He was a leading softwood-lumber executive before entering politics. That was 20 months ago, when he was named minister in Paul Martin's Liberal government.

© The Canadian Press 2006