Continuing the Tradition of John Tait

For the 1996 Tait report, see A Strong Foundation, Task Force on Public Service Values and Ethics, John C. Tait, Chair, on the Canada School of Public Service Website.

For a brief discussion on the utility, strengths, and limitations of codes of ethics, see Ethics Practitioners' Association of Canada Magazine, Vol. 4, no.1, Summer 2004.   For a discussion of compliance-based, values-based, and outcomes-based codes of ethics, see Marc Saner, Ethics Codes Revisited: A New Focus on Outcomes, Institute on Governance, Policy Brief 20.

For information on the new Office of the Ethics Commissioner, see its Web site; see also Luc Juillet's "The Office of Ethics Commissioner, Accountability and Public Trust" in How Ottawa Spends, 2004-2005 for a discussion of the pros and cons of creating such an office and whether or not the office is likely to improve public trust in government.  

For the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service and an accompanying guide with some exemplary ethics cases, see the Office of Public Service Values and Ethics Web site.

Two Items for Further Reading

Item 1.   Review of Michael Ignatieff (Director, Carr Center of Human Rights Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and author of a number of books on human rights) The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in the Age of Terror, Penguin Canada, 2004 by Margaret MacMillan (provost of Trinity College, University of Toronto, and author of Paris 1919), in The Globe and Mail, May 8, 2004, D6-7.

According to MacMillan, at the core of Ignatieff's book is the idea that while democracies are founded on liberal values such as respect for the dignity of the individual and core freedoms, those values are guidelines that in specific circumstance must be worked out by successive generations.   Democracies must also defend themselves and in doing so may be forced to adopt, hopefully temporarily, lesser evils that run counter to those liberal values.   In war, for example, democracies kill their enemies without compunction and curtail freedoms such as speech and movement for their own citizens.   Ignatieff, however, argues that every exception to liberal values must be justified and limited.   In the suspension or violation of liberal values we cannot pretend that our hands are clean.   We may have to resort to evil measures, but only when we have no choice.

Item 2.   Earl Shorris, "Ignoble Liars:   Leo Strauss, George Bush, and the Philosophy of Mass Deception", Harper's, June 2004, 65-71.

Shorris's article is about the influence of philosopher Leo Strauss on neo-conservative advisors of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, among whom are Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, and Irving and William Kristol.   According to Shorris among other ideas promulgated by Strauss is the idea (deriving from Plato) that wise and noble men can and should tell noble lies in the name of good order, virtue, the State, and the defence of the State.   Shorris concludes that putting one's faith in the ideas of great men and fearless leaders, however purportedly wise and noble they may be, is a grave and anti-democratic mistake.

References

Applbaum, Arthur Isak (1999) Ethics for Adversaries: The Morality of Roles in Public and Professional Life, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.

Chenier, John A., "The Auditor General and sponsorship: a commentary", Optimum Online, Vol. 34, Issue 1, April 2004. See www.optimumonline.ca/archives.phtml.

Ethics Practitioners' Association of Canada (EPAC-APEC) Magazine, Vol. 4, no.1, Summer 2004.   See www.epac-apec.ca.

Government of Canada, Task Force on Public Service Values and Ethics, John C. Tait, Chair (2000) A Strong Foundation / De solides assises.   See the Canada School of Public Service publications at www.myschool-monecole.gc.ca/Research/themes/ethics_e.html.

Government of Canada, Office of Public Service Values and Ethics (September 2003)   Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service with accompanying guide including some exemplary ethics cases.   See www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca/veo-bve/vec-cve/vec-cve_e.asp.

Juillet, Luc (2004) "The Office of Ethics Commissioner, Accountability, and Public Trust" in G. Bruce Doern, ed., How Ottawa Spends 2004-5: Mandate Change in the Martin Era, Kingston and Montreal, McGill-Queen's University Press.

MacMillan, Margaret, Review of Michael Ignatieff, The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in the Age of Terror, Penguin Canada, 2004, in The Globe and Mail, May 8, 2004, D6-7.

Paquet, Gilles, "The $100 million mirage: a cautionary note", Optimum Online, Vol. 34, Issue 1, April 2004.   See www.optimumonline.ca/archives.phtml.

Office of the Ethics Commissioner.   See http://www.parl.gc.ca/sites/ethicscommission.

Saner, Marc (June 2004) Ethics Codes Revisited: A New Focus on Outcomes, Institute on Governance, Policy Brief No. 20.   See www.iog.ca/view_publication_section.asp?area=10&sideNav=28 - pub_197.

Shorris, Earl, "Ignoble Liars:   Leo Strauss, George Bush, and the Philosophy of Mass Deception", Harper's, June 2004, 65-71.

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