OTTAWA — Canada’s senior spy bureaucrat becomes Canada’s top agricultural bureaucrat this week.
On May 31, Ray Protti took over as deputy agriculture minister after more than two years as director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
He replaces Rob Wright, who becomes High Commissioner to New Zealand after 19 months at the head of Agriculture Canada.
The transition took place in dramatic fashion.
On May 30, Wright represented Ottawa at a federal-provincial meeting of deputy agriculture ministers. On May 31 for the second day of meetings, Protti took the chair.
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Protti, a 48-year-old Alberta francophone with 20 years of service in the federal public service, has little direct previous experience with agricultural policy.
But he has a reputation as a skillful, no-nonsense bureaucrat. He worked for the cabinet as a social policy specialist and has been deputy labor minister.
Familiar with process
“He comes with a very strong policy background in government, someone that is familiar with the machinery and processes of government,” said agriculture minister Ralph Goodale.
“That should be a great strength in helping to work through the formidable agricultural agenda we have to work through in the next few years. I have no doubt Mr. Protti and I will get on very well.”
Richard Cleroux, an Ottawa-based author who wrote a book on CSIS, said Protti is seen as an aggressive, sometimes “brutal” administrator who will do what he has to do to implement policies and administer the department.
“He delivers the goods when he is asked to do something,” said Cleroux. “He could be ruthless. But he is effective. His interest is social policy and administration.”
Cleroux quoted one of his sources as concluding: “He’s a policy man, not a spy.”
The departure of Wright after less than two years on the job is related in part to his health. He was off the job for some months last year after suffering a form of stroke.
In his new job, Wright replaces former Canadian Wheat Board chief commissioner Esmond Jarvis, who is retiring.
