Revolving Door

n. A government organization whose personnel frequently accept high-ranking positions within private enterprise (and vice versa)

Recent examples: “Not a public issue” is what the Klein government said of the four-month transition that took Peter Elzinga from Ralph’s right hand and into a lobby job with oilsands leviathan Suncor. If that’s the case, then Klein’s former chief of staff has quite the juggling act ahead of him this month. Not only will Elzinga co-chair the Tories’ re-election campaign but, in a completely unrelated matter, he must ensure the post-election governing body pays Suncor a disputed royalty sum of $250 million. Alberta’s ethics law does not cover the postgovernment activities of its officials and that’s how another former Klein chief of staff, Rod Love, got the job with NEATCor, the oil sector group urging the province to levy a rail link to Fort MacMurray.

Federally, the Liberals’ past follies may be fading from the public consciousness but the Martin government still stands behind its mantra of keeping the regime untainted by cronyism, and it’s off to a fine start. Four former Martin strategists who negotiated the handover of power from Jean Chrétien are back on Parliament Hill, this time as powerful private industry reps. John Duffy was the first transition team member through the revolving door. He counts failing steelmaker Stelco, stadium-seeking Toronto Argonauts and regulation-sensitive Bell Globemedia among his roster of clients. Other former Martin strategists now represent organizations that run the gamut from pharmaceutical companies to genetic-engineering firms. The one-year “cooling-off” period that applies to most federal employees who leave their government jobs did not cover these particular positions.

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