Efforts to make House Standing Orders more user-friendly underway, House clerk Robert says
The House Standing Orders, or the rules of the game, are being revamped to be more user-friendly, but MPs will be consulted throughout the process and will have final approval over any updates, House clerk Charles Robert told members of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee last week. NDP MP David Christopherson (Hamilton Centre, Ont.) […]
Budget contains new ‘reconciled’ expenses for first time, good step for fiscal accountability, says Page
The 2018 federal budget broke new ground in fiscal reporting by including a projection of what departments would spend in the upcoming fiscal year, a move former parliamentary spending watchdog Kevin Page calls a “positive first step” towards improving the estimates process. The nine-column chart, tucked into the back pages of the expansive spending blueprint, attempts […]
MPs skeptical of releasing House attendance, but they have no ‘right to confidentiality,’ says democracy watchdog
With no formal roll call in the House of Commons, it can be a bit of a guessing game for anyone who wants to keep track of MPs’ whereabouts, which isn’t good enough when Parliamentarians are being supported by taxpayers’ money, says an accountability advocate. MPs themselves have mixed feelings about whether to make their […]
Liberals embark on spending-cycle shakeup with this year’s early budget
The Liberals’ third budget, tabled this week, came a month earlier than their previous two financial plans to give Treasury Board President Scott Brison “a win” in his push to realign the federal spending cycle, says an opposition MP. This is the first fiscal year in which the government is testing out a new way of […]
The government’s ‘air traffic controller’: peeking behind the curtain of the PCO
It’s the department that never sleeps. The Privy Council Office could be described as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s department, and Clerk Michael Wernick as his deputy minister. One of the most important government bodies, it advises Mr. Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) and his cabinet, and co-ordinates the public service to implement the government’s agenda. Housed within […]
#MeToo movement creating a ‘transformational change’ on Hill, inappropriate sexual conduct to be dealt with quickly and finally, say MPs, pundits
MPs say a “transformational change” is happening on the Hill, spurred by the recent “avalanche” of allegations of sexual harassment, harassment, and misconduct in Canadian federal politics, and some say they’re “terrified,” by the culture shift. “We’re certainly in a transformation moment, and to see it in the sports world, to see it in the […]
Treasury Board’s top bureaucrat to retire, likely to trigger larger DM shuffle, say observers
Expect deputy ministers to be on the move in the coming weeks, say observers, after longtime DM Yaprak Baltacıoğlu, secretary of the Treasury Board, announced her retirement last week. Ms. Baltacıoğlu, who’s been a deputy minister for almost half her 29 years in the public service, is leaving April 3. Thought to be one of the […]
Good grievance! Treasury Board wading through more than 4,000 Phoenix-related complaints
The Treasury Board Secretariat has been hit with more than 4,000 individual complaints from government employees related to the Phoenix pay system, an amount that a labour relations expert says could be a slog to wade through. Kevin Banks, a Queen’s University labour relations law professor, said payroll grievances are “pretty straightforward” but the amount […]
Public service needs better data to measure diversity, says task force
Planning the future of diversity in the public service is not possible with out-of-date data, leaving certain groups unintentionally sidelined, a joint task force studying equity initiatives found, after a months-long examination of inclusion and diversity in the public service. In its final report released Dec. 11—Building a Diverse and Inclusive Public Service—the joint union-management […]
Oft-critiqued Liberal mandate tracker to become ‘more useful,’ says government ‘deliverology’ chief
The government’s oft-maligned online mandate letter tracking tool will be more comprehensive in the next six months, according to the Liberals’ “deliverology” expert, allowing users to track the government’s progress in more detail, more frequently. During a sit-down interview with The Hill Times last week, Matthew Mendelsohn, deputy secretary to the cabinet for results and delivery, said […]
