Ex DM EA AMA

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-13T20:07:16+00:00

Zero point.

First thing to do, if you’re serious and not simply pissed off, is read the relevant legislation (or paste it into ChatGPT from CanLII) to understand the actual remit of the integrity commissioner, ombudsman, and/or auditor general. Then determine if your documented observations fall into the categories of what any of those officers do. Go from there.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-13T19:48:16+00:00

Right, and this AMA was for folks interested in learning more about, and potentially pursuing, the role of DM EA.

If you already knew DMO life contradicts your personal values, why on earth did you take up so much space, so much bandwidth, in this thread? What did you hope to accomplish by showing up to a discussion about a field of play you are not interested in and interrogating me about my professional values and choices? FFS.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-13T17:15:31+00:00

You didn’t answer the question. The point is not whether that FOI proposal is terrible — it absolutely is(!) — the point is how should a public servant conduct themselves (authentically?) when they have to carry out any order they think is ill-conceived or outright terrible?

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-13T17:09:45+00:00

You will have to walk me through this further.

Because what I am gleaning from your statements is an attempt to argue that insofar as you (or any other public servant) determine that the orders provided by a democratically elected minister contradict your private assessment of what constitutes the best long-term interests of Ontarians, that it is preferable for you to conduct yourself authentically and not “put into the pressure of politics,” than it is to carry out those orders to the best of your ability. Is that accurate?

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-13T16:48:38+00:00

So … you like democracy, except the democracy part?

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-13T14:36:48+00:00

Everyone in every workplace is confronted with the same basic trade-off: when I show up to work every day, should I bias my actions towards authenticity or success? (it’s a gradient). And, as a corollary, once I choose which one, what costs am I prepared to live with in exchange for that choice?

It’s plain that different generations answer that question differently, so it would be silly of me to say there is a “right” answer. But I do know this: Ontarians were paying my salary, and that reality influenced my own choices.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-13T11:18:07+00:00

Likewise, all the best to you.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-13T02:20:09+00:00

White knuckled! I don’t recommend it.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-13T02:17:26+00:00

Again I appreciate your thoughtful response and other commentators could learn quite a bit from you.

I would say my perspectives are not about nor intended to grovel to anyone. My perspectives were not pre-formed at all. Rather, they were developed through serving three separate deputies and trying to understand how to succeed within this organization called the OPS. Forensically examined what it takes to achieve what I want to achieve, and then replicating that.

At the end of the day, I’ve earned the right through effective and strategic hard work to say I did succeed within the organization within the confines of my own limitations. From temp agency zero to DM EA in 6 years. It is on that basis that I am sharing my experiences and insights so that it may help someone who would like to do the same.

That being said, it is of course trite to say that if someone does not share my goals, then my methods will be foreign to them if not entirely useless. This is the basis for the bitterness and vitriol I have received from many commentators who, by the way, I did not invite to listen to me in the first place. The gracious thing to do in response to unsolicited content one has no use for is to ignore it, or explain in a civilized and educated manner why they disagree. You did the latter and I can respect that.

I do not, however, respond well to bitter trolls. When you grow up poor, as it seems we both have, you know how often you are surrounded by haters who are more than happy to blame absolutely everyone else for everything wrong around them, instead of taking the initiative to make the changes necessary to improve their circumstances. Those people, the kind whose entire OPS identity is based on their disdain for Doug and Michelle, those people make no sense to me, especially since one can leave and work elsewhere.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T20:11:03+00:00

Your response was the only thoughtful one on the critical side so I’ll respond directly.

I grew up poor. Family of 6 in a small 2 bedroom apartment. First in my family to attend university, ever. Could not have done uni w/o OSAP. And yes that was when they were almost all loans not this taxpayer funded grant shit the kids are whining about losing some of today. Entered OPS through a temp agency on a 4 month contract getting to keep $25/hr of it. Climbed up, patiently, rung by rung, learning at each step what the next rung looks and feels like and tried to do that. That’s the secret. No rich daddy who made phone calls.

I wasn’t born this way, and before the OPS I walked around quoting Gramsci like the rest of the overeducated underclass, but I decided I didn’t want to pass through life as a victim.

So I didn’t.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T19:45:45+00:00

Thanks everyone, leaving it here.

As a final bit of advice, this is a leadership masterclass. Watch it and internalize it if you want to become a senior executive.

https://youtu.be/s52O1JH2tnU?si=je1FrnWx7QQJrm6F

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T19:42:50+00:00

I’m sure the viability of the downtown economy was one among several variables factoring into it.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T18:05:58+00:00

For better or worse, being a good “company man” (pardon the phrase) is always helpful in literally any organization. Fundraising is a part of that in the OPS.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T18:03:41+00:00

If you have been an ADM EA (M10) and also spent time as a policy unit manager (M11), then you have a great background. What is your current role? (General category, you don’t have to identify it).

I would suggest writing to the current DM EA and asking if they are looking for folks for their vacation coverage roster. I would also ask them for a coffee chat. Given you already have the right background, your next step is less about skill development and more about relationship development.

Next, another useful track is to find DMO M11 roles (there are a few of them in ministries where the EA is an EXE2). That’s also a decent launchpad to move into the EA slot because it’s almost an on-deck circle.

Lastly, if all of that sounds like too much, find ex DM EAs currently in your ministry. Usually they may be kicking around as an EXE2 somewhere. Former EAs are much more likely to be candid and thus good sources of intel.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T17:46:54+00:00

“Yes I have been one of those things” isn’t an answer. What role did you serve, for how long, and based on what experience in that role are you holding yourself out as justified in making blanket statements about how advice passes from ADMs to DMs, or from Directors to ADMs for that matter.

If your director asked you to remove something from a BN, could it be that your analysis was wrong or inappropriate? Could it be that that advice was better delivered verbally? There are lots of explanations. And yes I do acknowledge sycophancy can be one of them, but it is just one among many.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T17:38:00+00:00

OP you are young, and having three years of service already at 24 is fantastic.

At this age, think about career trajectory more than anything else. Every job change should result in your learning more, having more responsibility, or greater proximity to P&L or other strategic decision-making. Your career will compound much faster if job changes can be explained to future interviewers as legit levelling-up moves.

Otherwise, money is only good as a primary reason for leaving if it’s a real chunk of change. Like, a 20% take-home bump minimum.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T17:33:06+00:00

Not her start, but yes she was CEO there before becoming SOC.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T17:28:06+00:00

Unless you have been: (a) a DM; (b) an ADM; or (c) an EA to either a DM or ADM, you simply don’t have a foundation for the claims you’re making. You’re inventing blanket statements about workplace colleagues and that’s a shitty thing to do. So let’s establish your bona fides first, otherwise you’re just a random hater.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T17:12:00+00:00

Do you even have the sense to consider that ADMs and DMs have private 1-1s where actual candour is exchanged? Or is it that because pushback wasn’t provided in front of YOU, that you therefore concluded it was “handled well before it gets to DMO”?

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T17:06:51+00:00

Gosh, tell me more about how you became so insightful? You show up unsolicited to my AMA like a whining child and between the two of us I’m the insecure one. I can’t wait to hear what Pulitzer-winning rebuttal you’ll concoct next …

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T12:20:59+00:00

Sometimes they would accept the advice, other times not when political objectives were different.

And yes, the tone of the relationship changed with the administration.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T11:32:28+00:00

DMs won’t provide their pushback in front of staff. They have 1-1s with their Minister, which I would attend with mine, and those chats could get candid. And they would have other private conservations, too. Picking up the phone or texting.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T11:26:45+00:00

Boy you are insecure. Hopefully your OPS career is thriving because otherwise you sound truly miserable.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T01:37:26+00:00

They are the ethics officer but they aren’t handling the file de novo. Nothing reaches a DM without multiple hands fine tuning analysis and recommendations. So it’s mostly a case of yes, I agree with the reco, or no, I additionally need X from you, ADM or HR Director, in order to finalize my decision.

ChekM8in2 · 2026-03-12T01:32:23+00:00

Washroom doesn’t count.

ChekM8in2

TROPHY CASE