Tag: Elections
Letter from Ottawa: a new year begins quietly, but much lies ahead
2024 has begun relatively quietly in Canada but the ripples of the past couple of years are still being felt. It will be a year for public servants to put on their bifocals, says Michael Wernick – working on near-term pressures, but trying to look to the horizon.
The pay-as-you-go proposal on cutting federal spending not as simple as advocates say
Many politicians, advocates and pundits would like to discourage growth in federal government spending. Spending restraint (slower growth) or outright austerity (cuts) are legitimate paths that political parties can propose to voters. Ultimately voters choose between parties with different views on the appropriate size and role of government in the economy and society.
Diagnosing the elements of Tired Government Syndrome
Parliament has returned in Canada for what’s likely a final session before the election. If history is any guide, the government will find it hard to make progress before the election – and whoever wins will need to look afresh at public sector reform
If spending is out of control, why are important federal services underfunded?
Spending is just one tool in any federal government’s policy box. There are other ways to advance priorities. But spending is the most visible way to signal where the government’s prime concerns and values lie.
Stress testing Canadian governance
Across Canada, the public sector struggled to put in place pandemic public health measures, provide emergency relief to households and businesses, and continue to deliver a vast array of services to Canadians. These efforts are now going through after-action reviews supported by an extensive array of officers and agents of Parliament.
Letter from Ottawa: an exhausting year shows the limits of foresight
Accountability in government is important – but hindsight must be used to help build resilience and capacity in the public sector, not make politicians and public servants even more risk averse
Heading for the Rapids? – Canadian Government Executive
It isn’t too early to cast an eye to the far horizon and the scenarios for the period just before and just after the next federal election. About a year from now this kind of forecasting will move from providing filler for political pundits to serious planning by a myriad of associations and lobbyists, and…
Letter from Ottawa: The changing of the political seasons – and royal eras
Politics is gearing up again in Canada as summer turns to autumn. Michael Wernick, the former clerk of the privy council and secretary to cabinet, sets out the stakes in months – and years – ahead, and reflects on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II
Letter from Ottawa: After a winter of shocks, Canada’s Budget is the latest sign of stability
A political agreement that increased the durability of the government and a Budget that that launched a number of policy reviews indicate that the government in Ottawa is trying to think more long term.
LETTER FROM OTTAWA: Now is the winter of our discontent.
Opinion: the ongoing truckers’ protests against COVID-19 restrictions in Canada could be taken as a worrying sign of polarisation. But as Michael Wernick, former clerk of the Privy Council writes, things may not be as gloomy as they seem.
To change the trajectory of federal spending, start big and follow the money
Political parties don’t like to talk about spending cuts – except perhaps to insinuate that the other parties have some hidden agenda. They try to project to voters that they can be trusted to manage the finances of the federal government, but details will always be sketchy. Campaign promises tend to be specific about shiny…
Confronted with Canada’s grim history, we must strive to do better on inclusion
The discovery of unmarked graves of children near former Indian residential schools has created waves of shock and anger across Canada. Michael Wernick, former deputy minister for Indigenous affairs and clerk of the Privy Council, hopes that out of the pain will come a renewed commitment to reconciliation and social inclusion.
Talk of Scottish Independence sparks memories of Canada’s fight for national unity.
It must strike others as odd that Canadians strongly associate the arrival of warm weather with another comforting rite of spring – the culmination of the ice hockey season. Over the next two months the sport’s core audience will be joined by millions of fair-weather fans who only show up for the Stanley Cup and…
The growing friction between bilingualism and other forms of inclusion in Canada
In mid-April Canada’s attention is fully seized by the race to suppress an alarming third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by variants, through vaccination and another tapping of “emergency brake” lockdown measures. It will be a close run thing.