A ‘wonk’ is someone who ‘takes an enthusiastic or excessive interest in the specialized details of a particular subject or field…’ Today, the main topic of public administration wonks (and there are not a lot of us: the odd former Clerk of the Privy Council, academics, op-ed journalists, a politician or two and think tanks such as the Institute on Governance) relates to the role of government following the pandemic.
The future and appropriate role of government should matter to all citizens rather than just public administration wonks. Canadians are starting to contemplate a world following the pandemic, and if government gets it wrong and does not match citizen expectations or achieve much-needed results, public trust in its value proposition will continue to fall, putting social cohesion and economic growth at risk.
The future role for government can be explored with a relatively narrow focus (e.g. when and where can my family get vaccinated; is the vaccine safe? how will my job or business survive?) or more broadly (e.g. what is the appropriate role of public government in a democratic society going through considerable change and turmoil?). The two are clearly related, but given the context we face today, the focus needs to be on the latter.
No one knows what the future will bring, but there is consensus on one thing: its challenges will be great. The Millennium Project lists 15 challenges ranging from global ethics to the need for better global decision-making. An IPSOS report called Shaping 2025 and Beyond offers three scenarios for the future, noting that ‘the power of the state remains dominant’ in each one.
It can be argued that ‘big government’ is needed to address the challenges we face. A Globe and Mail article by Kevin Lynch, former vice-chair of BMO and former Clerk of the Privy Council and Paul Deegan, CEO of Deegan Public Strategies and former deputy executive director of the National Economic Council at the White House argues that the return of big government is as a result of ‘(p)ublic angst about globalization, climate change, inequality, digital giants, data privacy and geopolitical threats’.
Another argument for big government’s return argues that it proved its value during the pandemic crisis. Certainly, in the early days of COVID-19, Canadian governments were credited with working together with common purpose and with moving quickly and taking risks in order to achieve results. The bloom has gone from this rose-coloured analysis. The inability to follow models and to coordinate vaccine acquisition with distribution among levels of government, with different approaches coming from just about every province, has exposed real weaknesses in the operation of Canadian federalism. That being said, few Canadians would have wanted to leave their fates in the hands of an unaccountable private sector when it came to achieving the goals of buying (at the time unknown) vaccines, creating and spending billions on pandemic-mitigating income-replacement programs, determining priority needs, setting up clinics, and, in short, preparing to return to normal.
Questions about the role of government in our lives go back to Plato and his view that political order, built on justice, is required to manage diversity and resolve conflicting interests. Today with the rise of populism and the growing influence of the political right, there is a growing belief that any intrusion of government that limits personal freedom – even if for the collective good – is too much: consider the protest placard reading ‘My Body, My Choice, No to Mandatory Masks’.
If we are to counter growing populism, renewing trust will be key. The OECD defines trust as “(h)olding a positive perception about the actions of an individual or an organization.” It then lists five indicators of trust in government: reliability, responsiveness openness and inclusiveness, integrity, and fairness.
The gold standard of trust measurement, the Edelman Trust Barometer, tells us that in Canada, after a blip in March 2020, trust in all institutions, including government, is down. It also tells us that there is a ‘trust inequality gap’, with a 9-point trust differential between the informed public and the mass population, the latter being those who increasingly see government as irrelevant to their needs.
Why does all this matter? If citizens do not trust government, its ability to act is compromised. Confidence in its ability to address the multiple, interrelated, and complex problems we face, such as recovering after the pandemic, rebuilding the economy, providing services efficiently, bringing together different viewpoints fairly and openly, adding value to society and the economy and, above all helping citizens adjust to rapid change is diminished.
That loss of trust gives credence to those, including politicians, who believe in the ‘deep state’. It provides licence to begin the vicious cycle of government defunding that weakens government’s capacity to act, and replacing public government with private sector delivery agents. It leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy of government irrelevance and ineffectiveness. In governance language, citizens’ faith in government’s legitimacy to make decisions and its relevance to them collapses, diminishing the credibility and effectiveness of its public institutions and eventually putting democracy itself at risk.
While loss of trust is an obvious threat to effective government, governments themselves are not merely innocent bystanders to external forces. They too play a part. Trust must be earned and maintained.
We cannot forget that the public sector protects the public interest, and in a democracy, is accountable to citizens as part of the electoral cycle. In an increasingly polarized yet interrelated world, exacerbated by social media, determining collective interest in a way that includes marginalized and minority views is increasingly difficult, yet is in fact doubly important if democratic stability and our societal values of inclusion, fairness, and diversity are to be maintained.
What does building back trust in government look like? What investments are needed to build back citizen trust in government and confidence in what it does?
First, Canadians need to know that their governments are prepared for, and have the capacity to act, in order to address 21st century challenges. Second, public sector leaders need to be heard; their knowledge and expertise needs to become part of the national public debate over the future of the country and the role governments will play in getting there. Third, governments need to understand the impact of extreme social media on their ability to implement policy.
On the first, the IOG is launching an initiative called CanGovBetter to investigate the key forces enabling and hindering good public democratic governance in Canada today. We will explore areas of potential or actual democratic backsliding through engagement with governments, citizens, private sector, media, and civil society organizations, and develop proposals for action for healthy and vibrant democratic governance for Canada in the 21st century. Three key questions will be asked: How can our political institutions strengthen trust in Canadian democracy? How do the rapid advances in digital technology inform, transform, and enable public governance? How can engagement with citizens, media, private sector, and civil society organizations enhance democratic decision-making?
Second, as Canadians think about their future and the role government has to play in getting there, they need to hear from those who, on a daily basis, manage the challenges, develop the policies, implement the programs and respond to the ever-changing political, legal and public opinion winds. Public sector executives and their organisations are responsible for nearly 40% of Canada’s GDP and an estimated 20% of the country’s workforce. The IOG is launching a study called Top of Mind to gain their frank and candid insights into the challenges, concerns, and anticipated future trends facing Canada and its public institutions, knowledge critical to any debate about the future of the country and its public institutions.
Third, the IOG is examining the impact of social media views, including extremes from the right and left, on trust across major policy areas. We will be interviewing senior public sector leaders to understand how the public sector perceives social media views and we will work with them to develop appropriate engagement and response strategies.
Canadian democracy is not in crisis mode. Yet. But the signals are there. Now is the time to ensure that we maintain trust in our public institutions in order to preserve social cohesion, economic growth, and the Canadian values we cherish.
