Universities wrong to accept so many foreign medical students, leave us holding the bag when they leave
The tension between Canada and Saudi Arabia has exposed backroom deals by universities with rich foreign nations for admission to medical schools that didn’t put Canadians’ interest first. As a result we are now left in limbo, and lives could be put at risk due to the possible shortage of medical professionals in hospitals if […]
Poverty, homelessness, inequality: a few causes that might outweigh cheaper beer
OTTAWA—Populism scrambles a lot of markers, so maybe nobody cares that Ontario Premier Doug Ford is making a big deal, using government promotional incentives no less, to prioritize in the early days of his administration a possible slight decrease in what Ontarians pay for beer. It’s an amateur move, to be sure, and would seem […]
Expect more deputy minister retirements as the pre-2019 transition machine rumbles to life, say insiders
With a little more than a year until the next election, civil service insiders say there will likely be an increase in deputy minister retirements in the coming months before the bureaucracy starts its process of preparing for a potential change in government in 2019. No one wanted to guess who was leaving or how […]
#DMsSoWhite: so few visible-minority senior public servants, feds won’t release stats
Fewer than 10 of 84 top-level public servants identify as visible minorities: so few that the federal government won’t pinpoint exactly how many there are. That means fewer than 12 per cent of top federal managers say they are people of colour. By comparison, that’s less than the 14.5 per cent of bureaucrats as a whole who […]
Bill C-69: Is anybody thinking about how to implement it?
In a recent piece for The American Interest, political scientist Francis Fukuyama laments that public policy schools are failing because they train students to conduct policy analysis, but completely ignore implementation. The kids are designing ever-more elegant policy proposals, but not how to actually implement them. One wonders if Bill C-69, the federal government’s sweeping […]
Number of top-level public servants rising under Trudeau
The number of top-level federal public servants has gone up by more than 15 per cent in the last decade, with the sharpest increase in the last couple years under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, according to the Privy Council Office. In July 2008, there were 72 positions classified at the level of deputy minister or associate […]
Trade, agriculture, innovation bureaucrats are most lobbied
The country’s most-lobbied federal bureaucrats so far this year have their hands on trade, agriculture, and innovation files, according to statistics from the federal lobbyists’ registry, with top officials at Trade, Environment Canada, and Innovation, Science, and Economic Development the most in demand. With NAFTA negotiations underway, lobbyists say it’s no surprise that Frédéric Seppey, the […]
Senate report on Phoenix ‘failure’ calls for strong public oversight of feds’ spending, future payroll plans
The Senate Finance Committee is calling for Parliament to have a keen eye on what the federal government is doing to stabilize the “failed” Phoenix pay system and how it will move away from the platform going ahead. Published July 31, the Senate’s report on the Phoenix pay system is the latest study in recent […]
No new departments will be created in wake of cabinet shuffle: PCO
The government will not be creating any new departments in the wake of last week’s cabinet shuffle, Privy Council Office spokesperson Paul Duchesne has confirmed. “Arrangements have already been put in place to ensure nimble and cost-effective support for ministers,” he said in an emailed statement. The cabinet shuffle last week increased Prime Minister Justin […]
Northern Ontario offers insight into Canadian paradox
SAULT STE. MARIE, ONT.—For the past two weeks, I have been fulfilling a longtime dream, to cycle from Dryden, Ont., in the province’s northwest, to Toronto. When I arrive in the Toronto area at the end of this week, I will have cycled 1,700 kilometres. But it will also signify the last link in my […]
