Every federal minister has a group of bureaucrats that work to produce and co-ordinate the paperwork that the Minister must deal with and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is no different. When David Emerson was sworn in as Minister of International Trade, he was given the lowdown on his “Briefing and Correspondence Services” unit, what they do, and how he’s supposed to help. This info comes via an Access-To-Information request and was current at the beginning of 2006:
- About 37 briefing books are prepared by the Department each year for the Minister. Each briefing book requires 22 business days’ notice from the Minister’s Office. Minister Emerson has the reputation, incidentally, as a policy wonk who likes nothing better than settling into his seat for those four-hour flights home with a pile of briefing books and notes.
- The bureaucrats at International Trade prepare about 1,000 meeting notes, information memos and decision memos each year for the Minister — known around DFAIT headquarters as MINT. (The Foreign Affairs Minister is referred to in departmental internal correspondence as MINA). Any meeting note requires 6 business days notice from the Minister’s Office.
- In 2005, the Minister received over 7,000 letter, including 1,000 invitations. The Department answers all correspondence, including e-mail, that is addressed to the Minister.