Baird’s business cards foreign to department

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This article was published 01/10/2011 (5411 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — John Baird has set a new gold standard for business cards.

The Conservative foreign affairs minister demanded — and got — gold embossing on his business cards shortly after being shuffled into the portfolio last May, contrary to government rules.

Baird then ordered the word “Canada” dropped from the standard design, also against federal policy.

He insisted that “Lester B. Pearson Building” be removed from the standard street address for Foreign Affairs’ headquarters in Ottawa, erasing the name of a former Liberal prime minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The controversial changes initially provoked resistance from the senior Foreign Affairs bureaucrats who are responsible for implementing policies on government branding.

But in the end, Baird won a temporary exemption from the rules — and got his way.

A gold-embossed Canadian coat of arms now glistens from his unilingual English business cards, which lack the wordmark “Canada,” a federal branding design that features a small Canadian flag above the last letter.

With the disappearance of the large “Canada,” the biggest type on the card now is “The Honourable John Baird, P.C., M.P.”

Emails, invoices, memos, letters and other documents detailing the gold-card caper were obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

In the House of Commons on Friday, Liberal MP Scott Brison asked why Baird broke the rules, “giving taxpayers the golden finger.”

The minister shrugged off the question as trivial. “I remember a time, Mr. Speaker, when the Liberal Party of Canada used to think big on foreign affairs… and now they’ve been returned to the time when they are dealing with $400 worth of business cards.”

The NDP’s Paul Dewar said later the minister shouldn’t make jokes about the matter.

“You know he was making fun of it and I guess that’s a way to maybe distract,” he said. “But the point is that you’re representing the country and when you start to put gold on your card and take off the Canadian flag and remove one of the official languages, that sends a message. And he’s our minister of foreign affairs.”

The released file shows Baird’s requests for revamped golden business cards had started by June.

The minister “is requesting to have his business cards in English only, as they have always been in the past,” says an email from Annik Lapratte-Goulet, personal assistant to Baird. “Also, the coats of arms should be embossed, with the gold ink, also at the Minister’s request.”

Baird’s insistence on removing “Lester B. Pearson” was quietly accepted, but his further request to remove “Canada” raised alarms.

“We are… concerned about the removal of the Canada wordmark,” said one official. “As mentioned before, this is a Treasury Board requirement.”

Said another: “The (gold) coloured coat of arms and the removal of the Canada wordmark is not a good practice.”

And another: “None of these additional requests follow the TBS (Treasury Board Secretariat) rules… Although we can certainly continue to advise and express our concerns, we will not be able to hold off on these for long.”

Nervous public servants went so far as to draw up a “disclaimer” sheet to be signed by Baird’s chief of staff that would formally acknowledge the minister’s office was advised against the measures.

 

— The Canadian Press