The Role of a Policy Professional

Adapted from an OPS Policy Professional Guidebook

Policy professionals provide non-partisan, objective and strategic support, analysis and advice in support of a ministry’s mandate and priorities while participating in the day-to-day delivery of government services. Policy professionals apply various sets of skills and knowledge to support ministry programs and policy initiatives which may involve providing strategic advice, drafting policy documents - including correspondence materials; supporting / briefing senior officials; developing policy options and recommendations, identifying, researching and analyzing emerging policy issues and trends; and undertaking strategic planning, co-ordination, project management and stakeholder consultation.

Great Expectations

At this time of advent, Steven Curtis Chapman's song 'Great Expectations' particularly resonates with the expectant joy.

The morning finds me here at heaven's door
A place I've been so many times before
Familiar thougths and phrases start to flow

And carry me to places that I know so well
But dare I go where I don't understand
And do I dare remember where I am

I stand before the great eternal throne
The one that God Himself is seated on
And I, I've been invited as a son

Oh I, I've been invited to come and...
Believe the unbelievable
Receive the inconceivable
And see beyond my wildest imagination Lord,
I come with great expectations

So wake the hope that slumbers in my soul
Stir the fire inside and make it glow
I'm trusting in a love that has no end
The Savior of this world has called me friend
And I, I've been invited with the Son

Oh I, I've been invited to come and...
We've been invited with the Son
And we've been invited to come and...

Believe the unbelievable
Receive the inconceivable
And see beyond our wildest imagination Lord,
we come with great expectations

Decline of Small Town Ontario

Driving to Cornwall with colleagues earlier this week, we began to discuss the decline of small town Ontario. Ironically the next day the Ottawa Citizen ran a cover story about the uncertain future of small Eastern Ontario communities.

And that includes Cornwall.

“The Cornwall area, once the master of the seaway economy, has been the hit the hardest, losing more than 3,000 jobs. Domtar alone shed more than 1,000 jobs when its pulp mill finally closed in 2006.”

The Toronto Star published a similar article in today’s edition.

“Manufacturing in Canada was traditionally concentrated in urban centres, but that began to change in the 1980s, when rural and small-town Canada experienced more manufacturing growth relative to the country as a whole. In 1998, manufacturing was the No.1 industry in rural Ontario, employing 140,000."

Nicole Baute, “The death and life of small Ontario towns” The Toronto Star. 13 Dec 2008. Available http://www.thestar.com/news/ideas/article/552445

Mohammed Adam “Small town meltdown” The Ottawa Citizen. 8 Dec. 2008. Available http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Business/Small+town+meltdown/1046618/story.html

North Dakota

I love stories like this.

North Dakota's economy continues to grow - at least for now. And there's a worker shortage. I've known for a while that North Dakota is a bright spot in an increasingly gloomy country. So, I'm glad the New York Times has noticed this as well.

"North Dakota’s cheery circumstance — which economic analysts are quick to warn is showing clear signs that it, too, may be in jeopardy — can be explained by an odd collection of factors: a recent surge in oil production that catapulted the state to fifth-largest producer in the nation; a mostly strong year for farmers (agriculture is the state’s biggest business); and a conservative, steady, never-fancy culture that has nurtured fewer sudden booms of wealth like those seen elsewhere (“Our banks don’t do those goofy loans,” Mr. Theel said) and also fewer tumultuous slumps."

Monica Davey, "North Dakota Asks, What Recession?" The New York Times, 6 December 2008. Available:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/us/06dakota.html?em=&pagewanted=print

Aviad Kleinberg on Pride

The Toronto Star published a fascinating interview with Israeli author Aviad Kleinberg about his new book, Seven Deadly Sins: A Very Partial List.

Mr. Kleinberg is very insightful, and appears to ‘get it’ when it comes to explaining the sin of pride.

“Pride is defined by Christian theologians as the source and origin of all sins. Satan fell through pride, and so did Adam and Eve. It all begins with our daring to think that we may have our own will, our own desires, our own schemes. Yes, God is the only being that has the right to be proud. When He says he's the greatest, he is not vainglorious; He is simply stating a fact. Can we at least be proud of being God's obedient servants? St. Paul thought that we may not. He thought that attributing even our righteousness to ourselves is pride. We have nothing that was not given to us. Most of us find this hard to swallow. The ego, for many centuries the source of all evil, has slowly reemerged. We want to achieve things by ourselves and we want the right to be proud of our achievements. We want to pursue happiness, our happiness.”

Source: Iain Marlow, “How sins lost their sting” The Toronto Star. 6 Dec. 2008. Accessed 6 Dec. 2008. Available: 2008. Accessed 6 Dec. 2008. Available: http://www.thestar.com/news/ideas/article/548662

Calvin on Reverence for Civil Office

Whew! What a memorable week in Canadian politics. The level of engagement among Canadians was encouraging, yet the ditch-level discourse, both on the part of the elected and electorate, was appalling.

So, at this time of ego-fuelled scornful debate, I think we need to heed John Calvin’s call to respect the office of magistrate.

“The first duty of subjects toward their rulers, is to entertain the most honourable views of their office, recognizing it as a delegated jurisdiction from God, and on that account receiving and reverence in them as the ministers and ambassadors of God. For you will find some who show themselves very obedient to magistrates, and would be unwilling that there should be no magistrates to obey, because they know that is expedient for the public good, and yet the opinion which those persons have of magistrates is, that they are a kind of necessary evils. But Peter requires something more of us when he says, ‘Honour the king’ ( 1 Peter 2:17); and Solomon, when he says, “My son, fear though the Lord and the king” (Proverbs 24:21). For, under the term honour, the former includes a sincere and candid esteem, and the latter, by joining the king with God, shows that He is invested with a kind of sacred veneration and dignity. We have also the remarkable injunction of Paul, “Be subject not only for wrath, but princes and governors, are not to be influenced merely by fear (just as those submit to an armed enemy who see vengeance ready to be executed if they resist), but because the obedience which they yield is rendered to God Himself, inasmuch as their power is from God. I speak not of the men as if the mask of dignity could cloak folly, or cowardice, or cruelty, or wicked of flagitious manners, and thus acquire for vice the praise of virtue; but I say that the station itself is deserving of honour and reverence, and that those who rule should, in respect of their office, be held by us in esteem and veneration.”

John Calvin, The Institutes of Christian Religion, Peabody Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008, p 985.

Latin America

I know very little about Latin America. So I borrowed a book from the library. It's nice because it combines social and cultural history with military and political history. I also appreciate that the Christian missionary impulse is not vilified.

I was familiar with the diverse populations, but am surprised at the breadth of diversity.

"Latin American countries are highly multiethnic, and all sorts of racial combinations occur. Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Southern Brazil, like Argentina, have populations of mostly European extraction. Some countries, such as Mexico, Paraguay, El Salvador, and Chile, have very mixed, or mestizo populations of blended indigenous and European heritage. Other countries, such as Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Bolivia, have larger populations of indigenous people who remain separate from the mestizos, speak indigenous languages such as Quechua or Aymara, and follow distinctive customs in clothing and food. In many countries, black and white populations live in the costal lowlands, with a more indigenous and white mix in the mountainous interior regions." (p 18)

The great city (Buenos Aires) itself became a South American version of Chicago, with half of its population composed of European immigrants by 1914. In that year, 30 percent of the Argentine population was foreign-born, overwhelmingly Italian and Spanish but also Irish and Jewish (from Russia and eastern Europe), German, Austria, French, English and Swiss." (209)

Source:

John Charles Chasteen, "Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America," (New York: W.W. Norton & Company) 2001.