Transferable skills

Edmonton Journal columnist Lorne Gunter has succinctly identified in his column today why Helena Guergis's airport tantrum is particularly obnoxious.  

Given her power position, too, her behaviour amounts to bullying.

Bullying has been much in the news the past week or so in the U.K., because of reports that some of the PM's staff sought counselling help for bullying treatment in Gordon Brown's office. There's been a bit of debate in Britain -- but not here, so much -- about whether bullying is just an occupational hazard in the realm of politics. Politics, the argument goes, is such a place of high drama and ego that you just have to expect that tempers will get out of control.  

I look at another way -- as yet more evidence of politics' increasing irrelevance to the lives of normal citizens. It doesn't resemble any workplace we recognize, at least not any functional workplace. Tantrums and bullying may be part of the ordinary working day here in Ottawa for some folks, but when those tactics are exported to the realm where most of us operate -- an airport lineup, for instance -- they are exposed for the sociopathy they are.  Ditto for when you try to use political-discrediting techniques on non-political people such as bank CEOs or public servants. 

This explains, and I don't say this lightly, why some people in government have a hard time finding jobs after politics. Employers in the private sector, for the most part,  actually have little use for folks with highly developed skills in haranguing, bullying and intimidating people. The "communications experts" who believe that you can  manage the media with threats, for instance, aren't so much in demand outside politics.  In short, the methods that some political people use to get their own way here  are not transferable to the private workplace, unless you  have career aspirations in the direction of  pro wrestling. 

The sad thing about Guergis's tantrum is that in Ottawa, it almost looks like business as usual.   Fifty yards away from Parliament Hill, as the old saying goes, it's a little harder to get away with this nonsense. 

Comments

[Ronald]

Bullying - In whose opinion?
Submitted by an unnamed airport employee - Anonymous letters are deemed useless at best.
Resign? Not on the radar, so move on folks, nothing to see here.
A non-story with wasted ink and space.
(Do you believe?)

[Jim Ott]

You are right on the money Susan. Harper's entire term in office has been about nothing more than bully tactics and smear jobs.

[OttawaHack]

Guergis is a history of bullying people - especially her staff. PMO is aware of her behaviour and the long list of staff who made their way through the revolving door of her office - often after dealing with her unprofessional and abusive behaviour. Yet the PMO will ignore this and keep her in the federal Cabinet.

With standards this high - it is no wonder the CPCs are no where close to winning the confidence of a majority of Canadians.

[Matt F.]

Ronald- this story came out on Thursday night. As of today, still no denial from Guergis. (and let's face it, her apology took 6 days, and then was only issued in light of an incoming media story) Why do you supposed that is? Is it because video doesn't lie? Because like all airports there would be lots of security cameras.

Why doesn't Ms. Guergis just demand the airport authority release the video? I think we know the answer.

[jackie ro]

it's disgusting behaviour !

she should be fired. period.

[Drew]

Ronald you've done a fantastic job of making sure you got the first comment.

Unfortunately you've failed to avoid an internet stereotype: the first person to respond usually has nothing intelligent to say.

Also particularly funny that your comment bashing anonymous letters was also done anonymously. Kudos for that.

Bonus points for also using your comment to prove the author of the stories thesis.

[Turtle's back]

Hey, if Ruby D. from the Liebrals didn't step down, why would you think Guergis should step down.

Besides the security knew she was in a rush and did it on purpose!!! It has happened to me........SO WHAT IS YOUR POINT.......get over it!!!

[John]

As an idividual she was very rude and the power she thinks she has is gone to her head.She should be punished by the PM only,not the hollier tha thou opposition.

[Northern PoV]

" Anonymous letters are deemed useless at best."
not when they get confirmation in the form a very public apology - likely cause she knows there are video-surveillance to boot

the PMO must be at the Olympics, as this troll has not yet had orders to stand down.....
even the Con pundits are calling for her head

[Insider]

What is actually surprising to me is that there has not been - as I had expected - a cascade of complaints about Guergis in her position as a junior Minister. The sad element to this story is that this is EXACTLY how she treats staff, public servants, consultants and underlings.

The Status of Womern Canada (of which she is the titular head) is as dysfunctional a group as exists in the entire government. As someone who has seen her antics up-close, I can assure your readers that her behaviour in PEI is "par for the course".

She loaths public servants, will not take advice and thinks her experience running a gift shop in a REAL hell-hole (has anyone here been to Angus, Ontario? Yecch...) makes her qualified to be a senior Minister.

I don't know why she hasn't been fired...she must have naked picture of the PM to have allowed her to last this long....

[Ontario Voter]

Susan: What about shutting down Parliament entirely in order to escape a certain vote of no confidence or from complying with a Parliamentary order? What about people making unscheduled appearances at committee meetings, demanding that they be heard and interrupting the meeting? Aren't those forms of bullying as well? If so, why are people surprised to see this type of alleged behaviour from members of this govt ?

What is surprising actually is that it would appear that only 2 out of 3 Canadians are sufficiently unhappy with this type of behaviour to vote for another party.

[Rob]

Yeah, I guess that's why she issued an apology as soon as the non-story went public.

[Ron Wood]

If she does leave cabinet, pushed or otherwise, and if the reports are accurate, she should audition for a grey power auto insurance commercial. She could replace that other woman in that car.

[MyThought]

Non-story Rob? Are you kidding?

The Cons are supposed to be standing up for those hard working folks who pay their taxes - not attacking them.

Amazing how Con supporters "lower" their standards when it comes to their party. Pathetic.

Afterall, Guergis is a public servant, paid for by taxpayers.

[Dave P]

She probably was as mad as hell and wasn't going to take it any more. We are, in the new world order, "guilty until proven innocent". Given the fact she goes through the indignity of what goes on at any public transport facility way more than any of us do, I am certain it got under her skin and she blew a gasket. As time goes on look for more situations like this. The ultimate solution will be to shut down the industry. Bin laden has won.

[Elaine]

Too bad she didn't pull off the stunt at a Quebec airport, calling it a "shithole".

The Quebec media would have been all over it and guess what Harper would do then !

[Peter]

Post the video surveillance on CBC and CTV from the airport security video ( oh, I bet it has mistakenly been erased already ) and let the general public decide about her behaviour. If there is'nt a video camera in the airport, why not, are'nt we paying big bucks for airport security no matter which airport ?

[Neil]

There was a young lady during the Olympic who apologized in public (in tears) for letting her country down. One would think we ordinary folk would hear about the Minister of the status of women sending that young lady a note of support as being a proud representative of our country. Instead this Minister utters four letter expletives in a sterile area in an airport departure lounge against people who are just doing an ordinary job.
Funny though, her boss is in attendance giving his support to those very young athletes who are representing our country.

[Robin]

Please! Please! Please! Post the video!!

[Jason Cherniak]

Agreed, Susan. I still hold out hope, though, that it is possible to get ahead in politics without being a bully. Perhaps the problem is that those of us who understand that this is a problem are too quick to put up with it from people who we otherwise like.

[Colin]

I think former PM Chretien set the gold medal standard in bullying when he used the National police force to invade the home of a banker and seize his computers and suggest some sort of criminal activity, all for refusing a loan request.

Nobody bullied like the thug from Shawinigan.

[Turtle's back]

Why do some of you idiots want the video on CBC or CTV, so you can post it on You Tube, Face book and such the likes of Twitter............if this person needs to be disciplined the video will be brought as evidence, then maybe you will be allow to see it. SO PLEASE GET A LIFE

I blame the media for some stuff that goes on, especially petty stuff. Either report it once or not at all but over and over again it gets boring, then you wonder why people TURN YOU OFF!!

[Jenny]

so she had a bad day. if MPs got fired for yelling at people, most of the male MPs would be gone. I feel a bias. I have witnessed a male Cabinet Minister be a "bully" before. No one complained. Is Gergis getting "special treatment" because she's a woman?

[ConEd]

I think some people want the video made public because of the Conservative commentators that are saying the incident didn't happen. If it didn't happen, then by all means make the video public. If it is indeed a "non-story" (curious that Guergis apologized for a "non-story") than nothing like a picture, it's worth a thousand words, right?

[Peter]

Guergis (how many of you actually knew she even existed before this story?) clearly shows that she has absolutely no sense of reality. The fact that she believes that she is more important than 'the little people', combined with the fact she has done absolutely nothing since being in government underscores the fact it's time for her to move on and make room for someone who might actually get it.

[Jayee Flecker]

Mr. Harper's attitude of 'get-away-with-everything-that-you-can' is bullying at the highest level. The tone is set at the top, as anyone working in any kind of organization can tell you. Not surprising really, behaviour like Guergis' - and that may be the saddest part of all. We're coming to expect that. Easier to just shrug our shoulders than actually do anything about this attitude of entitlement in the Conservative party. I keep hoping that we'll act when the opportunity comes, to show them that we have higher standards of behaviour and we won't put up with this #%^@ any more!

[Wascally Wabbit]

Forget the gift shop in Angus. Helena's REAL claim to fame (and astonishing really considering she is now the Minister for the Status of Women) is her coming runner up in some local beauty contest many moons ago...
Her other claim to fame is to have half of her Riding Association executive resign after she was first elected. Rumour had it she demanded that the riding executive pay for her clothes and "hairdoes" out of association funds....
I wonder if the Tory rank and file members were happy to continue to turn up at rubber chicken events knowing that their contributions were going to make Helena look spiffy?

[G]

Lisa Raitt must think this story is pretty sexy

[Frank Docherty]

Cabinet Ministers' Offices regularly interfere in ATI ( Access to Information ) Requests: Tory Staffer. ( http://fairwhistleblower.ca/content/cabinet-ministers%E2%80%99-offices-regularly-interfere-ati-requests-says-tory-staffer )... Talk about bullying in the workplace! PMO urged staffers to pare down Access to Information documents before release.

[Frank Docherty]

Joanna Gualtieri's 15-year-old ordeal has all the hallmarks of abuse of office and abuse of institutional power. ( http://fairwhistleblower.ca/cases/gualtieri.html ) When it comes to bullying, Ottawa owns the podium. (same post with proper link )