Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Graham Whitmarsh - 'no chops for Finance'
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Noted in passing ... interesting information about the person chosen by Mr Real Estate to replace Chris Trumpy as BC's Deputy Minister of Finance. No need to emphasize that Finance is an especially significant Ministry in these troubled times. So why did Campbell choose Graham Whitmarsh for the onerous job as the new Deputy Minister of Finance?
A commenter, writing in The Tyee on 27 January 2009, tackles the subject:
" ... that whole thing about Campbell being 'green'--- where did that come from anyway?
Tyee link:
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2009/01/26/CampbellClimate/
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Noted in passing ... interesting information about the person chosen by Mr Real Estate to replace Chris Trumpy as BC's Deputy Minister of Finance. No need to emphasize that Finance is an especially significant Ministry in these troubled times. So why did Campbell choose Graham Whitmarsh for the onerous job as the new Deputy Minister of Finance?
A commenter, writing in The Tyee on 27 January 2009, tackles the subject:
" ... that whole thing about Campbell being 'green'--- where did that come from anyway?
Maybe some have forgotten that the guy leading Green GORDO's charge was Graham Whitmarsh ...
About which Sean Holman [Public Eye Online] said the following:
Quote:
"This should be a simple yes or no question"
The provincial government still isn't saying whether its new top climate action bureaucrat has any environmental credentials. Earlier this month, Public Eye exclusively told you the Western Canada Wilderness Committee sent a letter to Campbell administration asking for "biographical information…relating to Mr. (Graham) Whitmarsh's demonstrated policy understanding of key climate change issues and his track record on managing key cross-government projects." But, in his response to that letter, public service agency deputy minister James Gorman doesn't include any such information.
Quote:
Instead, he simply says Mr. Whitmarsh, prior to becoming the head of the government's climate action secretariat, demonstrated "a notable capacity for developing relationships across the ministries and a capacity to learn and understand the many complex and diverse issues pertaining to climate action." This, during his two-month stint as the premier's chief carbon trading advisor.
Quote:
Nevertheless, despite Mr. Whitmarsh's apparent lack of environmental qualifications, Mr. Gorman remains confident the former aerospace and airline information technology executive has the leadership skills "the Secretariat needs to be successful, and I have no doubt that both the Secretariat and the BC Public Service will be well-served by this appointment." So at least Mr. Whitmarsh has that going for him.
source: Public Eye Online July 26, 2007:
http://www.publiceyeonline.com/archives/002558.html
We now have the somewhat disconcerting result that a man with few credentials for the environmental file is now equally 'qualified' to be DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE.
Amazing what a few years in the Royal Navy can prepare you for!
Tyee link:
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2009/01/26/CampbellClimate/
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Comments:
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I've dealt with a couple of these nuclear submariner types. They opened my eyes to a whole world of arrogance I'd never dreamt of. They also make lousy leaders in business, sewing seeds of discontent and turmoil long after they themselves have been ushered out of the building.
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# posted by 
: February 2, 2009 at 10:20 p.m.
: February 2, 2009 at 10:20 p.m. << Home
In fact, not only was he unqualified and inexperienced as an environmental guru, the stillborn failure of the Campbell tax to actually address the environment in a positive way could have been surmised by anyone who did a little more digging into Mr Whitmarsh's CV.
Had one done so, one would have realized that Mr Whitmarsh's background is PR and sales and (although his Navy background was submarines) airplanes:
... after university Whitmarsh pursued a career in the Royal Navy as a warfare Officer in Nuclear Submarines.
...His 17 year 'international business career' included senior executive positions at Harmony Airways, Sabre Airline Solutions nota bene- Market, Sell, Serve and Operate...(at)
http://www.sabreairlinesolutions.com/, Mercury Scheduling Systems
Sales and Marketing http://www.rati.com/SULANDING_10135.htm
and British Aerospace Inc.
More from Sean Holman here:
http://www.publiceyeonline.com/archives/002494.html
Hard not to think that Mr Whitmarsh's 'in' with the Premier's Office has something in common with a certain former 'MINISTER OF FINANCE' who played an important role in the Basi Virk case and the Legislature Raids....funny how all the people Gordo promotes are friends or friends of friends.
As to his abilities to handle a technical job in the Finance Ministry...don't kid yourself, Vaughn Palmer has actually covered that one quite well:
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Bureaucratic+shuffle+prelude+cost+cutting+balanced+budget/1201422/story.html
Whitmarsh clearly has no chops for finance - he's been brought in to handle the Campbell version of the Bill BENNETT 'Massacree' which will begin the day after May 12 if the people of BC are so foolish as to re-elect the current Premier....
For anyone still wanting to get a clearer picture of the man the Premier thinks so highly of, here’s a bit of ‘stuff’ from the man himself – a little bit of fluff he prepared for Document Boss that talks about ‘teams and ‘team leaders’:
http://www.documentboss.com/article_teamleader.asp