
In the final weeks of the 2015 federal election that would sweep Justin Trudeau to power, the Liberal leader penned an open letter to Canada’s federal civil servants promising that if he were elected, government workers would be a lot better off than they were under the last guy. “I have a fundamentally different view than Stephen Harper of our public service,” he wrote. “Where he sees an adversary, I see a partner.”
By the time throngs of cheering, selfie-snapping bureaucrats mobbed Mr. Trudeau days after he was sworn in as prime minister, it was clear the dynamic between the federal government and its hundreds of thousands of employees was about to shift dramatically after years of acrimony and cuts.
The Liberals are creating a ruling class.
