Last Thursday, as part of public service agency appreciation day, organization staffers were treated to a PowerPoint presentation narrated by labour and citizens' services deputy minister Gord Macatee. We're told many of those in attendance were bedazzled by the slide show. But more restrained and perceptive members of the studio audience noticed the presentation contained photographs of all the agency's executive members except for the woman in charge: Diane Rabbani.

Ms. Rabbani, who was recently made an associate deputy minister, is also the government's merit commissioner. But despite those twin responsibilities, our spies at agency headquarters tell us she hasn't been in the building since the previous week's re-structuring. Her name no longer appears on the government's online phone directory. And rumour has it associate deputy minister James Gorman, responsible for the public service operations agency, will soon be running the public service agency in an acting capacity.

When Public Eye contacted Ms. Rabbani at her home and laid out the above information, she said "I would happy to be talk to you. But I'm still in the process of settling things on my front. And I probably need to do that first. But you're quite right about a number of things. The world is unfolding in strange ways for the merit commissioner and the deputy." Ms. Rabbani added she would able to speak further on this issue in a couple days.