Top line - it's probably good to have people with actual experience of the thing involved as government minister.
Second line - but I wonder at the potential for these individuals to arriving in government having been institutionalised in to some paradigm or sectionalism.
A doctor may know a lot about medicine. Is that the same as knowing a lot about running a health care system? Might they be overally interested in the role of doctors and less interested in the role of janitorial staff?
Not saying it's a bad thing, just that it might not be as good a thing as it first appears.
(On the other hand compare the above with about half of what Chris Dillow has written - the half on the cult of managerialism, not the half about what an utter tool Osbourne is.)
Consider that a previous minister of science and technology was a YOUNG EARTH CREATIONIST CHIROPRACTOR. The bar for "better" is THAT LOW.
"I am an expert in the field covered by my ministry, even if I am not an expert at running a ministry" is a huge fucking improvement, even if it's not perfect.
(I have a picture of myself with the Astronaut Minister of Transport. He signed my undergrad degree![1])
[1]: Because he was chancellor of the university at the time. Not because, y'know, I hounded MARC FUCKING GARNEAU to sign my degree, although I probably would have.
The minister for science has a Nobel Prize because they were on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which shared the Peace Prize with Al Gore, not because they have a Nobel prize personally.Still, it is one up on the UK that they have an actual scientist as minister for science.
*bounce bounce bounce*querida_bonbonNovember 6 2015, 17:40:14 UTC
I am totally enthralled with the change we have seen in Ottawa in a few short days. I am very excited to see everyone more engaged in what our government is working on than we have been in the last 10 years.
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Top line - it's probably good to have people with actual experience of the thing involved as government minister.
Second line - but I wonder at the potential for these individuals to arriving in government having been institutionalised in to some paradigm or sectionalism.
A doctor may know a lot about medicine. Is that the same as knowing a lot about running a health care system? Might they be overally interested in the role of doctors and less interested in the role of janitorial staff?
Not saying it's a bad thing, just that it might not be as good a thing as it first appears.
(On the other hand compare the above with about half of what Chris Dillow has written - the half on the cult of managerialism, not the half about what an utter tool Osbourne is.)
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"I am an expert in the field covered by my ministry, even if I am not an expert at running a ministry" is a huge fucking improvement, even if it's not perfect.
(I have a picture of myself with the Astronaut Minister of Transport. He signed my undergrad degree![1])
[1]: Because he was chancellor of the university at the time. Not because, y'know, I hounded MARC FUCKING GARNEAU to sign my degree, although I probably would have.
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Yeah, it's better. Probably, but it's not automatically hugely better.
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(At least Scotland got to the gender-balanced cabinet thing first. The UK as a whole, not so much ...)
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Trudeaumania has returned!
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