Stephen Harper

Harper asked Tory staffers for list of ‘enemy’ lobbyists, bureaucrats and reporters: documents

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office asked Conservative political staffers to develop lists of “enemy” lobby groups, as well as troublesome bureaucrats and reporters to avoid as part of preparations for incoming ministers named in Monday’s cabinet shuffle, according to leaked emails sent to Postmedia News by an unidentified source.

National Post,

13 July, 2013

The leaked documents, also sent to other media outlets, appeared to provide a “check list” for outgoing political staffers to provide as part of a briefing package for new ministers.

The list proposed 10 categories required for each portfolio, including immediate and long-term issues, as well as warnings about “pet bureaucratic projects” and a list of “who to avoid: bureaucrats that can’t take no (or yes) for an answer.”

The list also suggested the ministers would require information about “who to appoint” or “hot prospects” for patronage posts as well as “who to engage or avoid: friend and enemy” lobby groups, and summaries of issues that could be raised in the daily question period in the House of Commons.

Although Postmedia News confirmed that the emails were real, Harper’s office declined to say whether the messages, apparently written by Erica Furtado and Nick Koolsbergen, two of the prime minister’s advisers responsible for issues management, on July 4, were authentic.

“While we don’t comment on internal communications, we are collaborating with our ministers, especially new ministers, to ensure they are fully briefed so they can continue their work on behalf of Canadian taxpayers,” said Harper’s spokesman, Carl Vallee, in a statement Monday.

One of the emails from Furtado said that the written list of troublesome bureaucrats was “no longer required,” apparently following protests from staffers in the office of at least one minister.

Newly appointed ministers regularly receive transition briefing notes, prepared by the public service, introducing them to their portfolio that often include a list of key bureaucrats and representatives from lobby groups for them to engage with. But it isn’t common for these briefings to divide people into lists of friends and enemies.

Harper’s government had previously distanced itself in 2012 from another internal strategy document, released through access to information legislation, that listed environmental and First Nations groups as “adversaries” and the National Energy Board – an independent regulator – as an “ally” in federal efforts to promote expansion in the oilsands sector, the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.

Harper said Monday that his new cabinet would signal a “generational change” in his government.