OTTAWA — According to the National Post, deputy ministers usually avoid the limelight. But it’s almost impossible to stay in the shadows when you’re the deputy minister of Transport Canada. That federal department and Margaret Bloodworth, its deputy minister, have had to deal with the flood of stranded air passengers after the Sept. 11 terrorist bombings in the United States; the post-Sept. 11 security crackdown at airports and borders and the creation of new anti-terrorist rules; the merger of Air Canada with Canadian Airlines; and an overhaul of grain transportation rules for Canada’s railways.
“Over the last five years Transport has been in the news far more than I would have liked. That’s certainly not a goal of a public servant,” says Ms. Bloodworth, who has run the department since October, 1996.
There’s no doubt about the most important event she’s had to manage. “There’s no question Sept. 11 had a huge impact on the department … I don’t think you can ever be prepared for something like that but overall I’d say we did very well,” she says.
So do bureaucracy-watchers, who have marked Ms. Bloodworth as one of the most powerful and upwardly mobile women in the federal government. She is one of 23 federal deputy ministers but few have had to tackle the hot files she has been handed since 1996. Most agree she has handled them, and her department, admirably.
“She is an extremely competent manager who handles her staff well and has a very positive working relationship with her minister, David Collenette,” says one senior public servant who has worked with Ms. Bloodworth.
She says that any government department forced to respond to a major event like the terrorist attacks requires three elements: a clear sense of direction and values, a culture that rewards flexibility and trust, and a skilled and dedicated staff. “We were fortunate that we had all three,” she observes.
In fact, some Transport Canada staff were so immersed in the crisis they were working round the clock for weeks — a work ethic not usually associated with federal public servants. “I had to actually step in and send some people home because they had been working night and day for weeks at a time in the fall,” recalls Ms. Bloodworth. “I can’t afford to let those people burn out and these are very dedicated people.”
Her staff’s reaction to the Sept. 11 emergency was gratifying. “We saw people responding in ways they perhaps didn’t know they had in themselves to do. That’s one of the rewards of leadership. There are some tough sides, but the good side is seeing people actually blossom in circumstances they didn’t know they were capable of managing.”
David Bradley, CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, says Ms. Bloodworth is always ready “to put her oar in the water” on issues affecting the industry. “I go to lots of meetings with lots of deputy ministers on a lot of issues. But I find that in my dealings with Margaret she’s very engaging, she likes a good debate. She’s up for the challenges and she likes to spice things up.” Even when the decisions the department makes aren’t the ones the association wants, he knows the deputy minister considers the issues, he says.
Ms. Bloodworth, born in Winnipeg in 1949, has spent her entire career in the public service. She received her bachelor of arts from the University of Winnipeg and her bachelor of law from the University of Ottawa, and almost immediately after began working as a lawyer with the Canadian Transport Commission. She has been director general (dispute resolution) with the National Transportation Agency; assistant secretary to Cabinet (legislation and House planning, and counsel) with the Privy Council Office; deputy clerk (security and intelligence, and counsel) at the PCO; associate deputy minister of Transport; and currently, deputy minister.
A deputy minister, in her analysis, has two jobs; to run his or her department and to provide advice to the minister who, along with other Cabinet ministers, sets public policy.
“The ultimate responsibility for policy decisions has to be with the Cabinet. Our job is to supply the ministers with the best advice they need to make their decisions,” she says.
Her most pressing job is to make sure Transport Canada attracts skilled young people to supplement the public servants due to retire.
“We face in the public service a huge turnover of people in the next five to eight years as the baby boomers reach retirement age,” she says. That’s true in the private sector, too, “but for us it’s aggregated by the fact that we basically did not hire for a period of eight to 10 years. So when you look at the age group of 35 to 40, there’s a real shortage in the public service. And those ages are usually where you look to find your next leaders.
“My job has to be to think beyond our response to Sept. 11 or immediate events, and make sure we are going to be able in five years to respond to whatever the shock is then. And the only way we’ll do that is if I and my colleagues act today.”
Her own career path wasn’t as planned, but Ms. Bloodworth says she has always believed in taking opportunities as they arise. “You have to be ready to take some risks. Some don’t work out, but most do. And you need to put yourself in places where you’re not sure whether you can do it or not. Because that’s, in the end, what you learn from.”
She believes the public service has allowed promotion of women more readily than the private sector because it made a deliberate decision to do so, because the public service is expected to set the example.
She says organizations in both the government and private sector need to recognize that there are times in everyone’s career when they’re not ready to take on challenges because of family responsibilities. But those periods shouldn’t preclude them from promotion in the future. “Organizations need to respect that as a choice at a particular time, not a choice for life. And I think organizations are still not very good at doing that,” she says.
“But overall, I can’t complain that I found things harder for me. Certainly it was much tougher for those women 10 years ahead of me. I was never the only woman around.”
Ms. Bloodworth says she believes Sept. 11 and the aftermath has reminded people of the important role government plays in citizens’ lives. That, she hopes, will remind people that the public service can offer a relevant and varied career.
As for her own children — two daughters, one a 25-year-old law student and the other a young teenager — all she asks is they accept their responsibility as citizens to make a contribution in whatever career they select.
“I believe that is the responsibility of all of us, to make a contribution,” she says. “And I hope they get personal satisfaction in what they do and they devote sufficient time and energy to their personal life.”