HOM Appointments (continued)

Diplomatic Appointments

(No. 229 - August 15, 2011 - 2 p.m. ET) John Baird, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, today announced the following diplomatic appointments:

Yves Brodeur becomes Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council (NATO), in Brussels.

Gordon Campbell becomes High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Sanjeev Chowdhury becomes Consul General in Rio de Janeiro (Federative Republic of Brazil).

Glenn V. Davidson becomes Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Elissa Golberg becomes Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Office of the United Nations at Geneva and to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, in Geneva.

Benoît-Pierre Laramée becomes High Commissioner to the Republic of Cameroon.

Gary Luton becomes Ambassador to the State of Qatar.

Guillermo Rishchynski becomes Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in New York City.

Ivan Roberts becomes Ambassador to Burkina Faso.

Mario Ste-Marie becomes Consul General in Sydney (Australia).

Roman Waschuk becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia, with concurrent accreditation to Montenegro and to the Republic of Macedonia.

John and Doris Lancaster

A belated notice. Lancaster, Doris and John
LANCASTER, Doris Rosalind & LANCASTER, John Evan Paterson Doris Rosalind Lancaster passed away peacefully on July 9, 2011, at age 93. Born in Toronto Ontario, Doris worked as an occupational therapist during the Second World War and then travelled the world with her husband John Evan Paterson Lancaster and was an integral part of his career as a Canadian diplomat. John passed away at age 91 on October 5th, 2008. John served for four years as a Lieutenant on the North Atlantic in the Canadian Navy during WW2. They will be lovingly remembered by their daughter Antonia Lancaster and her partner Larry Reid. The family is grateful for the loving care given to both by the people of the Perley Rideau. A memorial service will be held to celebrate both John and Doris' life on Thursday, August 11, 1:30 p.m., at Lupton Hall, The Perley and Rideau Veterans' Health Centre, 1750 Russell Rd, Ottawa. Doris & John, goodbye, we miss you both...

HOM Appointments -- 2011

Minister John Baird recently announced the following diplomatic appointments:

Sylvia Cesaratto becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Panama.

David Chatterson becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Korea.

Geneviève des Rivières becomes Ambassador to the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria.

David Devine becomes High Commissioner to the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

Douglas George becomes Ambassador to the State of Kuwait.

Heidi Kutz becomes Ambassador to the Portuguese Republic.

Troy Lulashnyk becomes Ambassador to Ukraine.

Tim Martin becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia.

Robert William Peck becomes Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic and High Commissioner to the Republic of Cyprus.

H. David Plunkett becomes Ambassador to the European Union.

Hugues Réal Rousseau becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Guatemala.

Rob Mackenzie Retirement Symposium - August 4, Heart & Crown

I am winding down my 3 year Raleigh assignment this month and I have applied for early retirement. I think my request will be accepted despite having only joined the federal government with the Trade Commissioner class of June 1973. We were told back in those days that we might be asked to spend half of our career outside of Canada. I graduated from the Ottawa training year then duty stations followed in San Juan, Chicago*, Prague, Ottawa, London, Buffalo, Ottawa, Beijing, Shanghai, Ottawa and now Raleigh. 28 years "abroad" and 10 at HQ. I don't think anyone needs me in Ottawa for 18 years to balance the equation. (Sorry for the digression.)

I am told that several of you might want to buy yourselves (and me) a drink to celebrate that I won't be trying to hang around at Pearson for 18 additional years. Instead count on me to join (or maybe create) the St. Catharines chapter of the FPP (Federal Pension Panthers).

The Black Rose Pub at the Heart and Crown in the market has been booked and we would welcome the chance to tip a glass with old comrades and friends.

Thursday 04 August from 3pm on.........

Heart and Crown // Black Rose Pub // Clarence Street, Ottawa

See you then I hope. Rob Mackenzie

Gary Scott bids adieu

Dear All:

Having read a ton of these messages over my 39+ years, I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Friday, July 15 will be my last day in the office. The years have gone far too quickly but it's been a lot of fun along the way. In effect, I've had the privilege of two careers--one as a Trade Commissioner in places like Nairobi, Cairo, Helsinki, Chicago and Rome--and one in security where I've been ensconced for the last seven years. Both have been highly enjoyable but, believe you me, they are truly different.

Je me rappelle bien ma première réunion d'équipe ici à CSR - je n'avais pratiquement aucune idée de ce qui fut discuté (je me souviens bien du moment où je me suis demandé: c'est quoi un SL 24????) Mais ensemble, nous avons réussi à faire en sorte que nos gens et nos missions soient sains et saufs. Vous me manquerez beaucoup mais ce n'est qu'un au revoir...

I've learned a lot, mostly due to the people I've worked with and hopefully have been able to impart some of that knowledge to others. A big thank you is due to those who guided and trained me (especially our hardworking and patient LES) as I came new to each job along the way--we worked hard but had some fun through it all.

No great words of wisdom to impart, just a fond farewell as I rotate once again to a new beginning.

Best to each of you et au revoir,

Gary.

Gary P. Scott
Director/Directeur
Security Operations and Personal Safety Division (CSR)
Direction des opérations de la sécurité et
de la protection du personnel (CSR)
e-mail address: gary.scott@international.gc.ca

DFAIT a Pain in the Posterior?

Lorne Gunter, NP, May 18 wrote:

Moving John Baird to Foreign Affairs means, more than anything, that Mr. Harper sees that department as a pain in the posterior. Mr. Baird is a fixer. Wherever there is trouble in government, he goes in to root out the deadwood and turn the department around to the government’s way of thinking. He did this for Mike Harris when he was part of the Ontario Tory government in the 1990s and he has done it since 2006 for Mr. Harper. Does his appointment signal a foreign policy shift for Canada? Probably not. Rather, it likely means that troublesome diplomats and bureaucrats who have obstructed the government’s initiatives for the past five years will soon find themselves in charge of federal office supplies north of the Arctic Circle.

Steyn on Diplomatic Reportage

Your Tax Dollars at Wik May 13, 2011 12:54 P.M. By Mark Steyn Now that Wikileaks has leaked all the shocking surprise stuff (the Saudis are duplicitous snakes! Berlusconi has an eye for the ladies! the Pope is Catholic!) they’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel. The other day I myself turned up in their latest hold-the-foot-of-page-37 stunning revelation. In a cable to the State Department from the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, some diplomat named Jacobson explains Canada’s free speech battles. ---- Even if (unlike yours truly) you’ve no interest in the subject of the cable, it’s a fascinating glimpse of the level of expertise you get from America’s lavishly remunerated foreign service. Almost every single fact in that paragraph is wrong... Read it all here.