HOM Appointments

The Honourable David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced the following diplomatic appointments over the course of this past summer.

Philip Baker becomes High Commissioner to the Republic of Mozambique.

Mark Bailey becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey, with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Georgia and Turkmenistan.

Anna Biolik becomes Ambassador to Mongolia.

Peter M. Boehm becomes Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany.

G. Daniel Caron becomes Ambassador to Ukraine.

Joseph Caron becomes High Commissioner to the Republic of India, with concurrent accreditation as Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal and the Kingdom of Bhutan.

David Collins becomes High Commissioner to Malaysia.

Abina M. Dann becomes Consul General in São Paulo (Federative Republic of Brazil).

Glenn V. Davidson becomes Ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic.

David Fransen becomes Consul General in Los Angeles (United States of America).

Jonathan Fried becomes Ambassador to Japan.

John Gero becomes Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization, in Geneva.

Scott Heatherington becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia, with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Lithuania.

Reid Henry becomes Ambassador to the State of Kuwait, with concurrent accreditation to the State of Qatar.

Deanna Horton becomes Ambassador of Canada to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Ferry de Kerckhove becomes Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Patricia Langan-Torell becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Panama.

Charles Larabie becomes Consul General in Rio de Janeiro (Federative Republic of Brazil).

Anne Leahy becomes Ambassador to the Holy See.

Richard Lecoq becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Peru.

Martin Loken becomes Consul General in Minneapolis (United States of America).

Louis de Lorimier becomes Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium.

Peter Lundy becomes Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark.

Robert McDougall becomes High Commissioner to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

Leeann McKechnie becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Guatemala and High Commissioner to Belize.

Graeme McIntyre becomes Representative of Canada to the Palestinian Authority.

Randolph Mank becomes High Commissioner to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

John Morrison becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia, with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Montenegro and to the Republic of Macedonia.

Martial Pagé becomes Ambassador to the Lebanese Republic.

Claire A. Poulin becomes Ambassador to the Republic of El Salvador.

Barbara Richardson becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Zimbabwe, with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Angola, and High Commissioner to the Republic of Botswana.

Gilles Rivard becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti.

François Rivest becomes Consul General in Guangzhou (People’s Republic of China).

Geneviève des Rivières becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia.

Jules Savaria becomes Ambassador to Burkina Faso.

David Sevigny becomes High Commissioner to the Republic of Singapore.

Doreen Steidle becomes Consul General in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (People’s Republic of China), with concurrent accreditation in the Macao Special Administrative Region (People’s Republic of China).

What's in a Title?

A message to all DFAIT staff was sent by:

James Fox,
Chief Political Economic Officer
and Assistant Deputy Minister for
Europe, the Middle East and Maghreb (GEM).

So, has years of Chief Trade Commissioner envy finally been resolved?

Canada-EU Free Trade Deal

Election campaigns are no time to discuss policy, someone once said. Perhaps that's why none of the candidates has mentioned a topic just broached by Doug Saunders in the Globe. This is a big deal. Negotiations begin October 17. According to Saunders, Trade Minister Fortier has been engaged in preliminary talks for months on the subject of “deep economic integration".

"If successful, Canada would be the first developed nation to have open trade relations with the EU, which has completely open borders between its members but imposes steep trade and investment barriers on outsiders."

Boris Stipac - RIP

Boris Stipac, July 27, 1936 - September 6, 2008, father of Michael and Stephanie Stipac, served as an immigration officer in Germany, Portugal, France. and the US (L.A.). He will be missed by friends and colleagues. A service was held at the Croatian Church, 170 Hinchey Ave., Ottawa on Friday, September 12th at 7pm.

DFAIT Re-0rg: more news

DFAIT announced on September 2 that the new Geographic Group had formally started work. The new Group is one integrated branch that re-incorporates the functions split asunder during a previous re-organization. An exerpt from the announcement circulated to DFAIT staff follows.

-----

By bringing together our bilateral political and commercial expertise under one geographic roof our goals are to provide: enhanced service to Canadians; more integrated intelligence, service, advice and options on country and regional issues to Ministers; increased policy capacity and responsibility of our missions; more equitable, aligned allocation of resources to foreign policy and international commercial interests; better horizontal coordination, including with functional branches; more coherent advice to clients within and outside the Government of Canada.

We are already working to put these goals into practice. A number of actions have been taken over the past two months to get the Group up and running:

1. Governance: The co-management leadership of the new Group has been established and announced [see previous post]. Our responsibilities as ADMs for the Group will be to ensure integration is implemented, to set and monitor overall strategic direction, and to act as the senior link to stakeholders and to the Department's corporate governance boards; and for each of us to have responsibility for a geographic portfolio. Equally important is the relationship that must exist with the ADM of the Afghanistan Task Force at both the strategic and operating level. The ADM of the Afghanistan Task Force will participate in collective leadership but, as head of the Afghanistan Task Force, he will be exclusively responsible for managing its operations.

   Geographic Group bureaus have been created and Directors General identified and appointed as follows: North America Commercial Affairs (Deborah Lyons), North America General Relations (Kim Butler); South, Southeast Asia and Oceania (Peter McGovern), North Asia (Phil Calvert); Middle East and Maghreb (Kerry Buck), European Union (Dan Costello), Europe and Central Asia (Bob Hage); Latin America and Caribbean (Jamie Lambert), and Geographic Strategy and Services (Pam LeBlanc). An announcement concerning a change with respect to the DG Africa is expected shortly.

   The Directors General's roles have also been more clearly defined. They will act as chief operating officers for their regions and ensure the integration of people and programs. They will be responsible for: developing, implementing, tracking and reporting on plans for their regions based on the Department's priorities; providing advice to Ministers, Deputies, and stakeholders; handling emergencies and crises in their regions; anticipating and resolving operational issues; financial and operational plans, and human resource strategy and management.

   We are finalizing Director level appointments and will announce these shortly.

James Joachim McCardle - RIP

Those who knew James McCardle will be saddened to learn of his passing on August 29. A memorial gathering will be held at Hulse, Playfair and McGarry, 315 McLeod St., Ottawa on September 12 from 7-9 pm.

The Globe and Mail obituary is here.

EX-05 Promotions

C'est avec grand plaisir que nous annonçons le nom des candidats qui se sont qualifiés dans le cadre du processus permutant EX-05.

Les candidats ci-dessous ont été jugés qualifiés à la suite d'un processus exhaustif d'entrevue et de vérification des références. Ils sont présentés en ordre alphabétique :

Stewart Beck
Ian Burney
Gerald Cossette
Elaine Feldman
James Fox
Guillermo Rishchynski
Pierre Sabourin
Guy Saint-Jacques
Michael Small
Don Stephenson
Colleen Swords