Time to tear down walls between domestic and foreign policy
JAKARTA, INDONESIA—Foreign and domestic policies are generally considered two distinct areas of expertise within Canada’s federal government. In the 1990s, there were debates in the public service about career paths of senior personnel, and the experience executives should accumulate to climb the ladder. Canada’s situation has changed considerably in the 20 years since, leading up […]
Politics This Morning: Another look at Bill C-4
The Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities will meet to study Bill C-4 again today. The meeting is from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in room 228 of the Valour Building. The bill is formally called An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations […]
Federal public service unions not satisfied with Trudeau government’s first budget
The unions representing federal public servants say there were some welcome investments and gestures in the Trudeau government’s first budget released two weeks ago laying out how it will spend $290-billion this year, yet they also found it fell short on several fronts. The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), which represents about 140,000 federal employees, […]
Wernick planning to stick around PCO for a while, push on for ‘nimbleness and agility’ in PS
Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick says he’s in no rush to help establish a process for picking his successor since he doesn’t expect to be leaving the job any time soon. In January, Mr. Wernick was announced as the new clerk in a press release from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.), which highlighted, as […]
Natural change occurring in ‘Ottawa ecosystem,’ as PM shuffles DMs
Recent changes to the top ranks of the federal public service represent a natural evolution of government operations and are not surprising given the recent election of a new Liberal government and the age of many senior public servants. In two separate announcements this month, the Prime Minister’s Office outlined changes to 11 different senior […]
Ailing Grit MP Bélanger gets turn in House Speaker’s chair, MPs cry
Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger got the chance last week to temporarily do the job he wanted before dropping out of the running last year after learning he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrigh’s disease. His House colleagues gave him the chance to be acting Speaker for about 30 minutes on Wednesday […]
Public servants flock to PCO’s first-ever behavioural economics briefing
Hundreds of public servants took in the Privy Council Office’s conference on behavioural economics for the public sector last week in Ottawa to learn how to better influence public behaviour. It was the first conference of its kind in Canada. “The use of behavioural economics is an emerging tool for governments seeking to improve the programs and […]
Canada Post shouldn’t distribute Your Ward News, Foote needs to step up
TORONTO—Does Judy Foote care about racism and Holocaust denial? She must. She’s a veteran of politics and has been in the game for a couple decades, both in Ottawa and in her home province of Newfoundland. She won re-election in 2015 with 82 per cent of the vote. She has clearly been effective, or she wouldn’t […]
Short-term work assignments stymie federal public service renewal: union leaders
Union leaders are calling on the federal government to provide younger employees with clearer paths to long-term careers as a way of making the public service a more attractive place to work for millennials. As government officials, such as Treasury Board President Scott Brison (Kings-Hants, N.S.), wrestle with the problem of large cohorts of public […]
Survey shows 58.3% among government departments unsatisfied with Shared Services Canada
A Shared Services Canada internal survey of 42 federal departments reveals that 58.3 per cent of respondents are unsatisfied with the embattled department’s services, according to a recent internal survey obtained by The Hill Times. The results of the “customer satisfaction questionnaire” were included in an internal newsletter to Shared Services Canada employees and sent to staff the […]
