Alex Himelfarb
Biographical information
Alex Himelfarb
For his contribution to the Canadian civil service, Alex Himelfarb received an honorary doctor of laws degree on Friday, May 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Himelfarb is a graduate of the University of Toronto where he obtained his BA, master's and PhD in sociology. He was a professor of sociology at the University of New Brunswick from 1972 to 1981.
Dr. Himelfarb joined the public service in 1981 with the Department of the Solicitor General of Canada. He has held a number of positions of increasing responsibility since that time. In June 1999, Dr. Himelfarb became deputy minister of Canadian Heritage, a position he held until his appointment as Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet in May 2002.
The Clerk of the Privy Council is the head of the Canadian civil service. Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently nominated Dr. Himelfarb as ambassador of Canada to Italy.
Oration honouring Alex Himelfarb, given by Shane O'Dea, Public orator
Let me provide a context for today's honorary degree. I ask you to imagine the office of the Prime Minister in another country. The cabinet secretary is explaining a difficulty with one of the PM's projects: "[Sir] It is clear that the committee has agreed that your new policy is really [most] excellent. But in view of the doubts being expressed, the considered view of the committee was that, while they considered that the proposal met with broad approval in principle and some of the considerations [were] so complex and finely balanced in practice that in principle it was proposed that the sensible and prudent practice would be to submit the proposal for more detailed consideration, laying stress on the essential continuity of the new proposal with existing principles, the principal of the principal arguments which the proposal proposes and propounds for their approval. In principle." As the secretary explains, "Prime Minister, in government, a clarification is not to make things clear. [Its role] is to put oneself in the clear."
Now do understand, Vice-Chancellor lest the hapless Public Orator be taken before a Memorial ethics tribunal for some academic malfeasance so unusual in these halls- that this little sketch was lifted from the BBC's, Yes, Prime Minister. Do also understand that such obfuscation would never happen in Canada. Yet not all will believe this. For many, to think of the Public Service is to think of the gun registry living proof that it is not guns that are dangerous, but public servants. After all, the registry did far more damage to public policy than ever guns did. Now that is a highly unfair characterization of the Public Servant and of the gun registry and even of the relationship between the two. What it does suggest is the terrible dilemma of the Public Servant who is forever caught between Principle and the Practical, between the Proposed and the Possible, between the Politician and the People. A wry but wise statesman, seeing the world through the knowing eye of a Public Servant, once observed that in politics, idealism proposes, reality disposes.
So this is the difficulty of those who seek to serve that what is good is not always workable or; if it is both workable and good, it is not acceptable to the majority; or if workable, good and acceptable to the majority, is rejected by a noisy or influential minority. Is it any wonder there are so many bars in Ottawa? But all is not despondency and gloom. In fact, Vice-Chancellor, our university is here today to celebrate the bridging of this dilemma in the person of Alex Himelfarb, Public Servant par excellence. And we do not have to rely solely on our own judgment to determine this for, in 2000, he was presented with the federal government's Outstanding Achievement Award, the highest accolade given in the public service.
With a PhD in sociology from Toronto, he began as an academic until the federal service drew him in. From 1981 on he worked at progressively more responsible tasks until, in 1999, he was made deputy minister of Canadian Heritage and then, in 2002, Clerk of the Privy Council the pinnacle of Canada's civil service. So let us examine Alex Himelfarb for this degree. Governed by a profound sense of the inter-relationship of people and place, and guided by a deep concern for the vulnerable, his career has been to put these principles into application. And their application affects all of us as Canadians for individuals: the Health Care Accord, child benefits, childcare, recognition of unpaid caregivers, support for the homeless; for community organizations: acknowledgment of the role of such groups in the development of the economy and society; for municipalities: the New Deal for Cities. But all this does not get done without much negotiation, examination and consideration. To each of these files, to his many portfolios, Alex Himelfarb brought a capacity to encourage collaboration, optimism, and the sense of the possible, and he got done what many would consider undoable. It is a measure of his capacity to work well with people that, having served under three quite different Prime Ministers, he was held in high regard by all, a regard demonstrated by his recent appointment as our Ambassador to Italy. Vice-Chancellor I present to you for the degree of doctor of laws, honoris causa, one who, gifted with an unusual capacity for wisdom, patience and diplomacy, has advanced the social development of Canada, Alexander Himelfarb.
Address to convocation
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, the honourable the premier, madam chair of the Board of Regents, members of the Board of Regents, members of the Senate and faculty, members of the graduating class, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
First a couple of administrative matters, you'll indulge me if I keep sneaking a peek at my self on the screen. I look great don't I? It's awkward because Shane O'Dea stole my formal speech. It's very strange for a public servant to hear even a fictionalized oratory of his career. Our tradition in public service, and I've done this for 25 fabulous years, is to work for Canada and Canadians in obscurity. We work in the back rooms with the intent to allow elected officials and politicians to take the heat. This more public display for a public servant is kind of shocking and I must tell you I really like it. Also the mention of the Gun Registry and the capacity of public servants to obscure reality is a useful reminder that every silver lining has a cloud.
Let me indulge myself further by thanking some people for what is for me a singular honour. Let me thank the Senate for making this decision, a truly wise decision, but one that has great meaning to my family, to my wife who is with me and to me. Thank you so much, it really means something to me to be honoured by this distinguished institution. A key institution, a key symbol in Newfoundland but also a national institution it means a lot to me. It also means a lot to me to be honoured in the great province. I love this province. Today we took a few minutes my wife and I and stood at the eastern most part of Canada. I just love this province, go figure. So thank you for that great honour. Thank you to your President Axel Meisen for hosting us and being so gracious to both my wife and to me, and let me be unusual and a little bit personal, and thank the premier not only for his public leadership but for the countless personal kindnesses and support he has provided to me means a great deal.
I do realize today is not about me, though it should be. But, in my gratitude to you the graduates for sharing your day with me, and to your family and friends for sharing this day I will do a couple of things I will be brief as one expression of my gratitude but also talk a little bit about convocation and what it means to me. Convocation has been part of my life as a student, as a professor, and now as a parent and it's always special to me. At the very least it's a moment of liberation and relief, no more reports due, no exams scheduled. You've got the degree and you know they can never take it back, it's your now. But it obviously much more than that it is a celebration and so let me talk very briefly about what I think of the celebration of convocation. And first it is a celebration of your personal accomplishment, diligence, determination, hard work mixed in with some fun – I know a little late night cramming – but you got it done. You are achievers and this uncertain and changing world belongs to people who won't settle. This world belongs to people who insist on making their mark. This uncertain world belongs to people who go for gold, not just in curling but in everything we do.
This uncertain world belongs to people who are achievers, you have earned the right to be confident, you have earned the opportunity to be bold. As we say at Memorial, and I'm not part of Memorial: "Become." So this a celebration of your becoming and of your accomplishments, it's not bad, but it's more than that to it's a celebration of the whole idea of learning
.The 21st century is going to be driven by ideas and there application. It's going to be driven by a different natural resource people, people committed to learning, and you've shown the commitment to learning. The 21st century economy will be driven innovators, ideas and the application of those ideas. I read with some serious concern the newspapers in your city about traditional industries that are demanding new approaches. Traditional industries require as much innovation as the information and communications industries. The economy will be driven by learners. Equally the challenges globalization presents to us, the threats to our values, to our lifestyles, the challenges of globalization to the oceans, the water, the air we breathe, the climate, they, too, will require ingenuity, human creativity. They will require learners. You are learners, and as your president said that learning begins it doesn't end. Now if you doubt how much you've learned, I don't know about you but almost every graduate has moments of transparency, maybe they'll find out how much I crammed and how little I remember, but compare yourself to the freshman who is afraid that they wouldn't find the room that the class was going to be held in. Remember? That was you. Remember how nervous you were about the strangers sitting on either side of you because you were now not necessarily with your high school buddies but a whole new and more diverse group of people.
Remember when the professor looked you and asked you a question and you wished you were anywhere else. And, look at you now. You are learners and you've learned a lot, and you've surprised yourself a lot and your commitment ought to be to learn some more and keep surprising yourselves. So it's a celebration of learning, but it's more than that, too, because most of you or at least many of you if your lucky are here with family and friends and that's a huge reminder that you don't achieve anything alone, that you owe people that are in this room and who couldn't make it that nothing important in achieved alone. It's a reminder that a full life, full citizenship, a meaningful existence requires a careful balancing of the private interest in the public good, of personal ambition which is a good thing and social aspiration, which is a great thing, of responsibility for yourself, which is only right, and responsibility for others, which is only good. As you spend some time now, hopefully exciting times sorting out career choices and career options, as you sort out how to build a career, how to build a family, how to build a lifestyle, you also have an opportunity to think how you can make your community a better place, how you can help shape the direction of your province, of your country and beyond. You can ask yourself: 'how can I make Canada a place of achievement, a place of learning, and a place of conscience, as part of a full life, a balance life.' So this is a day of celebration and a day of gratitude.
Let me conclude my remarks by again expressing my gratitude to the university, Senate, president, the graduates and their families for this singular honour. And, let me wish you all the best going forward in a future confident and bold.
Thank you very much.