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Ram Mathilakath

Bringing investment banking rigour to Ottawa

  • Unlike the private sector, senior public servants are rarely removed for persistent underperformance. And tone from the top, however well calibrated, cannot substitute for
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | February 25, 2026
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s career has been shaped by disciplined risk management, institutional credibility, and respect for independent challenge. That gives Ottawa a credible path from chronic underperformance to reliable delivery, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Bringing investment banking rigour to Ottawa

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | February 25, 2026
  • Unlike the private sector, senior public servants are rarely removed for persistent underperformance. And tone from the top, however well calibrated, cannot substitute for

Bringing investment banking rigour to Ottawa

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | February 25, 2026
  • Unlike the private sector, senior public servants are rarely removed for persistent underperformance. And tone from the top, however well calibrated, cannot substitute for
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s career has been shaped by disciplined risk management, institutional credibility, and respect for independent challenge. That gives Ottawa a credible path from chronic underperformance to reliable delivery, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Bringing investment banking rigor to Ottawa

  • Ministers must be equipped to interrogate advice with the same skepticism, financial scrutiny, and risk discipline that any serious investor would demand before committing
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | February 4, 2026
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s career has been shaped by disciplined risk management, institutional credibility, and respect for independent challenge. That gives Ottawa a credible path from chronic underperformance to reliable delivery, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Bringing investment banking rigor to Ottawa

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | February 4, 2026
  • Ministers must be equipped to interrogate advice with the same skepticism, financial scrutiny, and risk discipline that any serious investor would demand before committing

Bringing investment banking rigor to Ottawa

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | February 4, 2026
  • Ministers must be equipped to interrogate advice with the same skepticism, financial scrutiny, and risk discipline that any serious investor would demand before committing
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s career has been shaped by disciplined risk management, institutional credibility, and respect for independent challenge. That gives Ottawa a credible path from chronic underperformance to reliable delivery, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Canada’s fiscal pivot: Budget 2025 marks a capital reset

  • The real change is architectural. It’s less about trimming fat than resetting the bones of fiscal management, turning Budget 2025 from a spending list
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | November 6, 2025
Mark Carney
Mark Carney
Capital allocation is disciplined and deliberate in Prime Minister Mark Carney's budget, write Ram Mathilakath and Greg MacDougall. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Canada’s fiscal pivot: Budget 2025 marks a capital reset

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | November 6, 2025
  • The real change is architectural. It’s less about trimming fat than resetting the bones of fiscal management, turning Budget 2025 from a spending list

Canada’s fiscal pivot: Budget 2025 marks a capital reset

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | November 6, 2025
  • The real change is architectural. It’s less about trimming fat than resetting the bones of fiscal management, turning Budget 2025 from a spending list
Mark Carney
Capital allocation is disciplined and deliberate in Prime Minister Mark Carney's budget, write Ram Mathilakath and Greg MacDougall. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

An austerity-driven federal budget is a necessary evil

  • Cuts should focus on non-essential administrative or back-office functions that don’t directly contribute to service delivery.
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | November 3, 2025
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government must base its austerity measures on data and a clear analysis of the true costs of service delivery, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

An austerity-driven federal budget is a necessary evil

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | November 3, 2025
  • Cuts should focus on non-essential administrative or back-office functions that don’t directly contribute to service delivery.

An austerity-driven federal budget is a necessary evil

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | November 3, 2025
  • Cuts should focus on non-essential administrative or back-office functions that don’t directly contribute to service delivery.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government must base its austerity measures on data and a clear analysis of the true costs of service delivery, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Billions spent, little delivered: we need results-based budgeting

  • Rather than chasing headlines or diplomatic distractions, we should focus on delivering value—exporting food, medicine, energy, and innovation to the world’s fastest-growing markets: China, India,
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | August 14, 2025
Prime Minister Mark Carney, pictured Aug. 7, 2025, in Ottawa. The federal government should stop measuring success by how much is spent. Government funding should be judged by results, not receipts, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Billions spent, little delivered: we need results-based budgeting

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | August 14, 2025
  • Rather than chasing headlines or diplomatic distractions, we should focus on delivering value—exporting food, medicine, energy, and innovation to the world’s fastest-growing markets: China, India,

Billions spent, little delivered: we need results-based budgeting

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | August 14, 2025
  • Rather than chasing headlines or diplomatic distractions, we should focus on delivering value—exporting food, medicine, energy, and innovation to the world’s fastest-growing markets: China, India,
Prime Minister Mark Carney, pictured Aug. 7, 2025, in Ottawa. The federal government should stop measuring success by how much is spent. Government funding should be judged by results, not receipts, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Fixing feds’ fiscal plumbing takes more than tinkering  

  • HR teams have grown into sprawling bureaucracies, often mirrored by similar functions hidden within other branches. These duplications add cost, complexity, and confusion.
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | July 24, 2025
François-Philippe Champagne
François-Philippe Champagne
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has launched pre-budget consultations. The government’s expenditure management is invisible by design, which even parliamentarians struggle to understand, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Fixing feds’ fiscal plumbing takes more than tinkering  

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | July 24, 2025
  • HR teams have grown into sprawling bureaucracies, often mirrored by similar functions hidden within other branches. These duplications add cost, complexity, and confusion.

Fixing feds’ fiscal plumbing takes more than tinkering  

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | July 24, 2025
  • HR teams have grown into sprawling bureaucracies, often mirrored by similar functions hidden within other branches. These duplications add cost, complexity, and confusion.
François-Philippe Champagne
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has launched pre-budget consultations. The government’s expenditure management is invisible by design, which even parliamentarians struggle to understand, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Feds’ spending review to-do list: rethink regs, Crown corps, and costly consultants

  • Too often, well-meaning restructurings don’t have the right execution plan, or reforms add complexity. If the Carney government is serious with this spending review,
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | July 9, 2025
Liberal MP Shafqat Ali
Liberal MP Shafqat Ali
On July 9 Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali launched a ‘red tape review’ of regulations across federal departments and agencies. It’s one of several ways the government can make operations more efficient as the Liberals launch a broad spending review, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Feds’ spending review to-do list: rethink regs, Crown corps, and costly consultants

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | July 9, 2025
  • Too often, well-meaning restructurings don’t have the right execution plan, or reforms add complexity. If the Carney government is serious with this spending review,

Feds’ spending review to-do list: rethink regs, Crown corps, and costly consultants

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | July 9, 2025
  • Too often, well-meaning restructurings don’t have the right execution plan, or reforms add complexity. If the Carney government is serious with this spending review,
Liberal MP Shafqat Ali
On July 9 Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali launched a ‘red tape review’ of regulations across federal departments and agencies. It’s one of several ways the government can make operations more efficient as the Liberals launch a broad spending review, writes Ram Mathilakath. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

F-35 audit a costly reminder to make bureaucrats accountable

  • The public service needs a culture of outcomes, not optics. That means making executives accountable, and, yes, having the courage to dismiss those who
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | June 25, 2025
Karen Hogan
Karen Hogan
One of Auditor General Karen Hogan’s latest reports found that the F-35 procurement jumped $8.7-billion over the budget outlined two years before. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

F-35 audit a costly reminder to make bureaucrats accountable

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | June 25, 2025
  • The public service needs a culture of outcomes, not optics. That means making executives accountable, and, yes, having the courage to dismiss those who

F-35 audit a costly reminder to make bureaucrats accountable

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | June 25, 2025
  • The public service needs a culture of outcomes, not optics. That means making executives accountable, and, yes, having the courage to dismiss those who
Karen Hogan
One of Auditor General Karen Hogan’s latest reports found that the F-35 procurement jumped $8.7-billion over the budget outlined two years before. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Canada Post is a dying dinosaur, Parliament must lead a strategic exit

  • The choice before Parliament is binary: strategic reinvention or fiscal drift. It's time to stop pretending this business model can be modernized with enough public
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | May 30, 2025
Aurelia Arcaro, a Canada Post worker from Rigaud, Que., pickets outside the head office in Ottawa on Nov. 28, 2024. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
Aurelia Arcaro, a Canada Post worker from Rigaud, Que., pickets outside the head office in Ottawa on Nov. 28, 2024. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
Aurelia Arcaro, a Canada Post worker from Rigaud, Que., pickets outside the head office in Ottawa when Canada Post was on strike Nov. 28, 2024. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Canada Post is a dying dinosaur, Parliament must lead a strategic exit

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | May 30, 2025
  • The choice before Parliament is binary: strategic reinvention or fiscal drift. It's time to stop pretending this business model can be modernized with enough public

Canada Post is a dying dinosaur, Parliament must lead a strategic exit

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH | May 30, 2025
  • The choice before Parliament is binary: strategic reinvention or fiscal drift. It's time to stop pretending this business model can be modernized with enough public
Aurelia Arcaro, a Canada Post worker from Rigaud, Que., pickets outside the head office in Ottawa on Nov. 28, 2024. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
Aurelia Arcaro, a Canada Post worker from Rigaud, Que., pickets outside the head office in Ottawa when Canada Post was on strike Nov. 28, 2024. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Shrinking the bureaucratic behemoth

  • The old playbook of trimming travel budgets and giving departments arbitrary cut targets won’t cut it.
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | May 28, 2025
Mark Carney
Mark Carney
With a focused plan, $40-billion in savings in year one isn’t a fantasy—it’s feasible. But it will take a handful of sharp due diligence experts embedded in the Prime Minister Mark Carney and his key ministers’ offices, write Ram Mathilakath and Greg MacDougall. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Shrinking the bureaucratic behemoth

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | May 28, 2025
  • The old playbook of trimming travel budgets and giving departments arbitrary cut targets won’t cut it.

Shrinking the bureaucratic behemoth

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | May 28, 2025
  • The old playbook of trimming travel budgets and giving departments arbitrary cut targets won’t cut it.
Mark Carney
With a focused plan, $40-billion in savings in year one isn’t a fantasy—it’s feasible. But it will take a handful of sharp due diligence experts embedded in the Prime Minister Mark Carney and his key ministers’ offices, write Ram Mathilakath and Greg MacDougall. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

The missed opportunities of public procurement

  • Why are billions in public funding flowing offshore instead of helping to develop Canadian industries and foster intellectual property ownership?
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | May 21, 2025
Government Transformation, Public Works, and Procurement Minister Joël Lightbound has been getting briefed on his new job. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

The missed opportunities of public procurement

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | May 21, 2025
  • Why are billions in public funding flowing offshore instead of helping to develop Canadian industries and foster intellectual property ownership?

The missed opportunities of public procurement

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | May 21, 2025
  • Why are billions in public funding flowing offshore instead of helping to develop Canadian industries and foster intellectual property ownership?
Government Transformation, Public Works, and Procurement Minister Joël Lightbound has been getting briefed on his new job. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Getting government to work by putting Canada first

  • If Canada can’t turn its economy around—can’t match the AI-driven global economy with productivity and economic growth—it won’t just lose its seat at the
Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | February 3, 2025
François-Philippe Champagne
François-Philippe Champagne
Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne. For the government to extract the benefits of AI, the traditional incremental thinking of cost cutting must change, write Ram Mathilakath and Greg MacDougall. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Getting government to work by putting Canada first

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | February 3, 2025
  • If Canada can’t turn its economy around—can’t match the AI-driven global economy with productivity and economic growth—it won’t just lose its seat at the

Getting government to work by putting Canada first

Opinion | BY RAM MATHILAKATH, GREG MACDOUGALL | February 3, 2025
  • If Canada can’t turn its economy around—can’t match the AI-driven global economy with productivity and economic growth—it won’t just lose its seat at the
François-Philippe Champagne
Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne. For the government to extract the benefits of AI, the traditional incremental thinking of cost cutting must change, write Ram Mathilakath and Greg MacDougall. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
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