{"id":2150,"date":"2019-09-16T23:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T23:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/secteur-public-sector.ca\/?p=2150"},"modified":"2024-09-02T21:50:16","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T21:50:16","slug":"turbulent-times-for-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secteur-public-sector.ca\/en\/turbulent-times-for-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Wernick on turbulent times for Canada \u2013 and its Clerk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally posted<\/a> on 16\/09\/2019 | Updated on 17\/09\/2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Wernick, Canada\u2019s outgoing Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet, tells Matt Ross how the civil service is responding to an ever faster, more fractious world; maps out the big challenges ahead; and reflects on a stint in the top job that arrived unexpectedly, and ended abruptly<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ever since Michael Wernick joined the Canadian federal civil service nearly 40 years ago, the pace of life \u2013 and government \u2013 has been accelerating. \u201cThe feedback is faster; the reaction times are shorter; governments have to take decisions \u2013 politically and internally \u2013 with less time and less perfect information,\u201d he says. \u201cThe days of long studies and rumination are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as governments struggle to address the fall-out of rapid economic, technological and social change, recent years have seen a dangerous rise in public disillusionment. \u201cIn most countries, significant parts of the population have felt somewhat disenfranchised or alienated: they\u2019ve felt that the political system or the economy are not responsive to them, and not helping them to move ahead,\u201d says Wernick, who\u2019s just stepped down after three years as Canada\u2019s top civil servant. \u201cThere will always be dissatisfied people, but there\u2019s a danger of reaching a boiling-over point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when public anger boils over, democracy itself is in danger. In some countries, Wernick comments, we\u2019re seeing \u201cthe rise of a more autocratic style of leadership; attacks on democratic institutions, the free press, independent courts; the suppression of political dissent.\u201d These are \u201cvery troubling, and have taken down a number of democracies over the last few years \u2013 and put a number of the older democracies at some risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caught in controversy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Wernick\u2019s own country, public anger and populist autocrats have not yet derailed national politics. Canada is gearing up for federal elections on 21 October, after a four-year stint under Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau \u2013 currently polling neck and neck with the Conservative opposition. But Trudeau\u2019s popularity has taken a knock, thanks in part to the SNC-Lavalin affair: attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould quit in February, alleging that people within the PM\u2019s office \u2013 including Wernick \u2013 had leaned on her to offer a \u2018deferred prosecution agreement\u2019 to mining giant SNC-Lavalin, accused of paying bribes in Libya over a ten-year period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trudeau\u2019s longstanding aide Gerald Butts subsequently quit, while President of the Treasury Board Jane Philpott resigned in sympathy with Wilson-Raybould. And in March, Wernick \u2013 who postponed his retirement five years ago to take the deputy clerk\u2019s role \u2013 announced that he would retire<\/a>, after three years in the role of Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet. As clerk, he\u2019d been given \u201ca specific role with an umpire\u2019s jersey: to call out incidents of interference in the election campaign,\u201d he explains. And his involvement in this highly political battle had attracted criticism \u2013 leading him to conclude that \u201cit wouldn\u2019t be tenable for me to be in that role during the campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not the end to his civil service career that he would have wished. But Wernick looks back on his stint on the top job with pride: \u201cIt was a very busy, activist government at a very active time in the world, and we seemed to be firing on all cylinders,\u201d he says. \u201cA great deal got done, and the cumulative record shows a public service that was quite capable and responsive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glasnost & Perestroika<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Wernick, this responsiveness is key to addressing public dissatisfaction: the public, he says, want to \u201csee the institutions of government providing good services, responsive to the things they and their families and communities need.\u201d This in turn demands both an open, listening approach to policymaking and public engagement, and the pursuit of structural reforms to modernise and improve service delivery; and here, Wernick gives himself a mixed report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo use an imperfect metaphor, I think we did better on \u2018Glasnost\u2019 \u2013 open government, transparency, accountability \u2013 than on \u2018Perestroika\u2019: structural reform,\u201d he says. \u201cFuture governments will, I believe, have to look at some of the structural issues in the public sector. Our human resources model is basically the one we\u2019ve had since the 1970s. I\u2019m very proud that I climbed 15 rungs of the ladder to the top of the public service, but I\u2019m appalled that there were 15 rungs to climb; we should be flatter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On some structural issues, though, rapid progress was made during Wernick\u2019s tenure. Chief digital officer Alex Benay, for example, forged ahead on digital standards, procurement reform, data policy, cyber security and training, while overseeing a swathe of new digital services. \u201cThere is a foundation there, and a momentum which will serve the next government very well,\u201d says Wernick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delivering digital<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

However, Benay announced last month<\/a> that he was leaving the civil service; and Wernick notes that under Trudeau, the digital agenda benefited from \u201cair cover from a prime minister who\u2019s very interested in the issue.\u201d If the next government is less ready to push digital agendas, Wernick says, \u201cit would certainly be an opportunity for some of the stodgier forces of the status quo to roll things back\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benay was overseeing the replacement of Canada\u2019s dysfunctional Phoenix civil service pay system \u2013 using a fully digital, \u2018Agile\u2019 approach that, he told Global Government Forum<\/a> in February, sits awkwardly with the civil service\u2019s \u201cindustrial-age government and governance mechanism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benay argued that systems intended to minimise risk ended up undermining Phoenix\u2019s delivery \u2013 defining the project\u2019s nature, schedule and budget too early in the process, for example. But Wernick warns that Phoenix\u2019s failure may \u2013 ironically \u2013 lead officials to fall back on old, counter-productive habits: \u201cThere\u2019s great fear of a big IT cock-up,\u201d he comments. \u201cWe may see a return to a bit of risk-aversion for a while, if you don\u2019t have the kind of champions we\u2019ve had over the last while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delivering on delivery<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/
Wernick: \u201cWe want a more engaged and participatory public service that will help shape its own solutions. A more dynamic, self-learning, self-correcting organisation where people take charge of their own workplaces.\u201d (Image courtesy: Adam Scotti)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another structural reform involved the introduction of a central Delivery Unit, overseeing a departmental performance management system designed to keep civil servants and ministers focused on a set of key priorities and metrics. This \u201cdeliverology experiment\u201d was, says Wernick, \u201cabout being much more explicit about what you intend to achieve as a government, and transparent about reporting progress.\u201d And this transparency does, of course, invite observers to mark the government\u2019s scorecard: the National Post reported<\/a> that Trudeau had achieved about half of his goals, and completely missed about 10%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system\u2019s fate, Wernick suggests, will depend in part on whether its published results help or hinder Trudeau in the election campaign. But meanwhile, he believes it\u2019s helped departments to stay focused on implementation and effectiveness: \u201cI think they\u2019ve learned \u2013 and this is I suspect a permanent gain \u2013 that you\u2019re not done when the announcement is made; that it takes a lot of persistence and effort to make sure that initiatives are, three or four years later, doing something close to what you would have hoped for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the system to survive, \u201cthe government that we elect in October will have to show some interest,\u201d he concludes. \u201cIf they\u2019re going to govern one day at a time, responding to media and social media cycles, then the public service will adapt to that. If they take a longer view of what they\u2019re trying to accomplish, more of the momentum will carry on into the next mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wernick is also proud of his work to open up senior appointments to professionals from outside central government \u2013 bolstering diversity and bringing in specialist skills. But he notes a clear difference between the experience of those hired from provincial governments, and those brought in from business, academia and non-governmental organisations. The provincial officials, who are \u201cfamiliar with the basic software of ministers and parliamentary committees,\u201d have largely \u201cdone extremely well in the federal system.\u201d Appointments made from outside the public sector, on the other hand, \u201crarely work out well as long-term propositions, but they do often bring in a certain energy and expertise: people come in, make a contribution, then go back to their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Future challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, Wernick points to much bigger changes that he believes will be required. The civil service\u2019s \u2018Blueprint 2020\u2019 reform strategy is giving way to a \u2018Beyond 2020\u2019 agenda, built around the idea of an \u201cagile, inclusive and equipped\u201d workforce. \u201cWe want a more engaged and participatory public service that will help shape its own solutions,\u201d he comments. \u201cA more dynamic, self-learning, self-correcting organisation where people take charge of their own workplaces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to get there, he says, major reforms will be required to aspects of the federal government\u2019s operations \u2013 particularly in staffing and procurement, \u201cthe two areas that are the most encrusted and change-resistant and sclerotic and bureaucratic.\u201d On the staffing side, it\u2019s \u201ctime to take a look\u201d at civil service remuneration \u2013 adopting a \u201ctotal compensation philosophy\u201d that could boost salaries while reducing pensions, and benchmarking the civil service\u2019s offer against those of other employers. \u201cWe underpay senior leadership; we may overpay some of the lower tiers of the public service,\u201d he says. But given the complexities around issues such as pension portability and variable housing costs, any changes would require \u201cvery thorough examination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, he says, \u201cthe next government needs to tackle security of job tenure. It is excruciatingly difficult to fire anyone in the public service.\u201d Wernick has done a lot of work on mental health in the workplace, and worries about \u201cpeople with mental health issues being treated as performance issues.\u201d But employers must be \u201cable to deal with poor performers and bad behaviour more effectively: you get improvement across the service when people have to worry a little bit about being fired.\u201d Changes would be \u201cfiercely resisted\u201d, he notes, but the issue lies \u201cat the core of some of the structural reforms\u201d that he sees as essential to progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those structural reforms will need money, Wernick adds \u2013 and he makes a plea for government to invest in \u201cour internal service platforms: financial management, HR management, the pay system, information management and storage systems. The plumbing and wiring of the public service is very difficult to get attention and investment for, and that\u2019s why we\u2019ve had terrible rust-out problems\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Change at the top<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These agendas, though, will rest with Wernick\u2019s successor Ian Shugart: a highly-experienced official who\u2019s run three departments since 2008. In appointing him, Justin Trudeau may have had half an eye on Shugart\u2019s ability to weather a transition to a Conservative government in October: before joining the civil service in 1984, Shugart was policy director to the head of the Progressive Conservatives \u2013 leader of the Opposition to a government run by Trudeau\u2019s own father, Pierre. \u201cPrior to 2006, there was a channel through which people who had worked in political offices for ministers or other politicians could move into public service jobs relatively easily,\u201d explains Wernick. \u201cSome of our most distinguished public servants have that on their resum\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked whether he has any regrets about the way he\u2019s leaving office, Wernick replies that he wouldn\u2019t use that word: \u201cI\u2019m comfortable that I did my job to the best of my ability, with the constraints and the information that I had at the time.\u201d And does the SNC-Lavalin case reveal weaknesses in the government\u2019s systems? The government has sought advice on the role of the attorney-general, he says, but \u201cnone of the contacts between the company and the government went unrecorded. The director of public prosecutions said publicly that she and her organisation have never experienced political interference in any case, so the independence of the prosecution service was fully intact. Parliamentary committees did their work with great gusto. In many ways the institutional framework was strained and tested, but held very well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wernick is currently in a \u201ctime out\u201d \u2013 but some time after the election, he\u2019ll start considering his next move. \u201cI\u2019ve just turned 62, so I think I\u2019ve got a few miles left,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m very interested in governance and public service reform issues. I\u2019ve always had a personal commitment and interest in indigenous issues, and the quest for reconciliation and progress for indigenous people. And I\u2019m fascinated by the emerging world of digital government, artificial intelligence and so on. There are always new things to learn!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some ways, the last few years have been an unexpected bonus for Michael Wernick. In 2014, after eight years running the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, he was contemplating early retirement<\/a> \u2013 but then he was offered the deputy clerk\u2019s role, followed in 2016 by the top job. \u201cI\u2019m very grateful to have had the opportunity,\u201d he says: the SNC-Lavalin affair may have curtailed his period as clerk, but it hasn\u2019t soured it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve practiced a certain trade for more than 38 years, and to reach the very pinnacle of one\u2019s trade in one of the best public services in the world is a great source of pride,\u201d he concludes. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have traded the last three years for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may also wish to read our previous interview<\/a> with Michael Wernick, conducted in October 2016 shortly after he became Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global Government Forum: five thoughts for better government<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Wernick on learning from overseas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help our readers get the best out of Global Government Forum, we ask interviewees five standard questions \u2013 four seeking practical advice and opinions, and one to reveal something a little more personal. This is an edited version of Michael Wernick\u2019s answers \u2013 click below to hear his full answers in a GGF audio recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since our <\/strong>last interview<\/strong><\/a>, have you come across any ideas from abroad that you have found helpful?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of the work that was done on digital government in some of the smaller states like Estonia and Singapore was quite intriguing. The challenge in Canada will be how to scale it up to a bigger country, and one that has provinces, in the world of service delivery. Some of the work in Australia on integration of benefit systems is well ahead of what we have done in Canada. And work that was done in a number of public services on improving access for persons with disabilities to employment in the public service are things that we\u2019re happy to try and emulate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And are there any recent Canadian projects or innovations that you think might be valuable to your peers overseas?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would like to think that there are things that we have done that are of interest.  I commend to people my spring report to the prime minister<\/a> on the state of the public service and the \u2018Beyond 2020\u2019 Agenda that we articulated around agile, inclusive and equipped \u2013 which is a rubric for a number of initiatives that are perhaps of interest. I\u2019m proud of the work we did on workplace issues such as mental health and harassment, and discrimination, and some of the initiatives we\u2019ve done to create a more open dialogue around those and to make some progress in making a better workplace for people. And some of the work that was done very recently in digital services I think also could be of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the biggest challenges facing Canada\u2019s federal civil service today?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike most public services, the challenge that\u2019s cutting across so many others is the shortening of time horizons: the need to be agile and responsive, to make decisions more quickly with less perfect information. So a certain degree of agility; we need to reach out and include as many voices as possible, but the pressures of time I think are going to become more inexorable on decision makers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And are there any particular major global challenges that you think face all major democracies?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s striking to me how much the world has been shaken up since we spoke three years ago, and how much issues from outside the country come in and intrude upon your economy, your society, your political life and so on. We seem to be living in turbulent times. There are many topics in there, they\u2019re probably going to last for a number of years, and so the ability for a country like Canada to adapt and respond and try to steer ahead in choppy waters is the overwhelming challenge in the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What book have you enjoyed recently?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing my best to keep up with the emergent world of technology, artificial intelligence and so on. I found a book called \u2018Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence\u2019, by a group at the University of Toronto headed by Avi Goldfarb, to be very helpful: it was a non-technical, non-jargon-filled book with some issues around artificial intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since Michael Wernick joined the Canadian federal civil service nearly 40 years ago, the pace of life \u2013 and government \u2013 has been accelerating. \u201cThe feedback is faster; the reaction times are shorter; governments have to take decisions \u2013 politically and internally \u2013 with less time and less perfect information,\u201d he says. \u201cThe days of long studies and rumination are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMichael Wernick on turbulent times for Canada \u2013 and its Clerk - Jarislowsky Chair in Public Sector Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/secteur-public-sector.ca\/en\/turbulent-times-for-canada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michael Wernick on turbulent times for Canada \u2013 and its Clerk - Jarislowsky Chair in Public Sector Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ever since Michael Wernick joined the Canadian federal civil service nearly 40 years ago, the pace of life \u2013 and government \u2013 has been accelerating. \u201cThe feedback is faster; the reaction times are shorter; governments have to take decisions \u2013 politically and internally \u2013 with less time and less perfect information,\u201d he says. \u201cThe days of long studies and rumination are gone.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/secteur-public-sector.ca\/en\/turbulent-times-for-canada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jarislowsky Chair in Public Sector Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-16T23:44:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-02T21:50:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/secteur-public-sector.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/aerial-view-no-border-e1724198694762.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"541\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jarislowsky_vzfcrx\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jarislowsky_vzfcrx\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/secteur-public-sector.ca\\\/en\\\/turbulent-times-for-canada\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/secteur-public-sector.ca\\\/en\\\/turbulent-times-for-canada\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jarislowsky_vzfcrx\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secteur-public-sector.ca\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9972a9224a6332534a533c6ba56f91cc\"},\"headline\":\"Michael Wernick on turbulent times for Canada \u2013 and its Clerk\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-16T23:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-02T21:50:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/secteur-public-sector.ca\\\/en\\\/turbulent-times-for-canada\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2862,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/secteur-public-sector.ca\\\/en\\\/turbulent-times-for-canada\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secteur-public-sector.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/aerial-view-no-border-e1724198694762.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/secteur-public-sector.ca\\\/en\\\/turbulent-times-for-canada\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/secteur-public-sector.ca\\\/en\\\/turbulent-times-for-canada\\\/\",\"name\":\"Michael Wernick on turbulent times for Canada \u2013 and its Clerk - 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