Canadian Government Executive - Volume 22 - Issue 3

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The early version of the Trudeau model
suggests a more de-concentrated
approach, potentially with several units
associated with major national priorities.
We have yet to learn about the size,
budget and planned trajectory for
instituting the new capabilities.
March 2016 // Canadian Government Executive / 9
of extraordinary multi-faced talent in
PCO’s Results and Delivery Unit, and per-
haps beyond. It probably does not matter
that its leaders have not run large depart-
ments or analytic shops in the Canadian
Public Service. From afar, my sense is
that the Trudeau government will not
long countenance resistance, and it will
promote executives to DM and ADM po-
sitions keen to work in new ways.
The Trudeau’s introduction of deliver-
ology might be a wedge for more wide-
spread change and shifting the culture
of the Canadian Public Service. Barber’s
approach calls for initially having a se-
lective but intensive focus on delivery
priorities, building momentum to take on
more priorities and to have more minis-
ters and departments build deliverology
into their repertoires. One could imag-
ine that, in the context of generational
change underway in Ottawa, this might
lead to a modified version of what the
public service is about and how it can
serve any government. Barber’s approach
is not alien to how management initia-
tives have been rolled out in Ottawa: cen-
tral agencies have increasingly relied on
a ‘vanguard’ approach, where willing de-
partments lead the way, diffusing learn-
ing and expertise to departments less
able to initially leap-in. The difference
with this initiative is that the vanguard
departments will not volunteer but in-
stead be designated according to the top
priorities of the government and where
key irritants exist.
Concern has already emerged about
whether the early model favoured by
Trudeau’s advisors (which, in fairness, is
a distributed model) will be a new way
of centralizing power, reinforcing previ-
ous trends in Canadian governance. Oth-
ers worry about whether this is another
layer a top the already convoluted over-
sight and reporting in the Government
of Canada. In this view the delivery re-
forms are only the latest in a long series
of government-wide initiatives, serving
short-term political needs, demonstrat-
ing the responsiveness federal public
service leadership, and moving along the
goal-posts a bit, but not fundamentally
changing broader trends and institu-
tional trajectories. Such views, however,
downplay that a critical purpose of deliv-
ery units is to identify blockages and is-
sues, and address problems and remove
barriers, much like what was done for the
previous government’s Economic Action
Plan but simultaneously on several dif-
ferent fronts.
Strategy
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Much will depend on the initial selec-
tion of delivery priorities and perfor-
mance with the first wave of initiatives. As
Ottawa’s version of deliverology proceeds,
the government will be judged about how
transparent it is about progress and the
degree to which it has developed allies
and won over ministers and departments
eager to protect programs. It will be inter-
esting to see how assiduously the Prime
Minister maintains his commitment to
deliverology and evinces interest in the
details of delivery, and whether he incor-
porates it as a central part of his govern-
ments’ overall brand.
Evert A. Lindquist is Professor,
School of Public Administration, Uni-
versity of Victoria, Editor of Canadian
Public Administration. He edited a spe-
cial issue of the Journal of Compara-
tive Policy Analysis (Dec 2006) on cabi-
net implementation units.