Canadian Government Executive - Volume 21

October 2015 //

Canadian Government Executive /

engagement and participation — annu-

ally releases “Democracy 360,” a report

card on the state of Canada’s democracy.

The 2015 report awarded Canada’s de-

mocracy a grade of “C”, meaning Canada

is not at par with what would be deemed

an acceptable level given its wealth.

A good example of our D2DD’s ap-

proach is the UK’s National Health Ser-

vice “Change Day” and the subsequent in-

ternational “Change Days” that followed.

“Change Day” is a collective grassroots

social movement that is facilitated by

ICT, which was supported by the top and

led from the bottom up. When change is

introduced in large-scale organizations,

it is often welcomed with resistance. It

is a unique example of how a change ini-

tiative can be successfully implemented

within a large-scale organization. The

lesson learned from “Change Day” is that

successful long lasting transformational

changes can be achieved when managers

actively involve and value the insights

offered by an entire organization across

horizontal and vertical boundaries.

Although the primary objective of

“Change Day” is to attract pledges to

improve organizational performance,

the point of D2DD is to reconnect citi-

zens and public servants in a dialogue

of democratic participation. Citizens and

bureaucracies are deeply intertwined:

Change Day serves to attract public ser-

vants and citizens to effect positive policy

change. It also creates a pool of prospec-

tive participants for government con-

sultations that can be tailored to those

individuals and group preferences and

interests. As such, the e-consultations

process becomes one in which govern-

ment solicits input from ordinary Cana-

dians directly through such vehicles as

Facebook and Google whereby ads are

matched to user preferences.

D2DD is an opportunity to improve or-

ganizational performance and the e-con-

sultations process. Once in place, D2DD

can demonstrate to Canadians how their

voices matter, i.e., via a democratically

accessible transparent digital platform. It

also reconnects public servants with each

other and the public they serve.

D2DD can also address the blockage

in administrative reforms present in the

post 1982-era (Robert P. Shepherd and

Lori Turnbull shed light on that reality

Innovation

in their CGE article last November). If

administrative reforms can be modeled

around activities such as D2DD they may

offer the possibility of reconnecting the

public service with ministers and ac-

cordingly lead to more effective reforms.

D2DD aligns itself naturally with the

four guiding principles of the federal

Blueprint 2020 exercise, but it would

have the impact of making e-consulta-

tions far more substantive. Canadians

would feel that their voices matter, and

public servants would have the opportu-

nity to be better engaged with the public.

This is our vision for a better Canada: a

public service that is more engaged with

the public and effective at strengthening

citizens’ democratic ethos.

Additional Reading:

Robert P. Shepherd and Lori Turnbull,

“Public service reform: It’s about leader-

ship”, CGE, 20, 9, Nov 2014. http://www.

canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca/lead-

ership/item/1696-public-service-reform-

its-about-leadership.html

This essay was the winner of the

Institute of Public Administration of

Canada (IPAC), and the Canadian Asso-

ciation of Programs in Public Admin-

istration (CAPPA) National Student

Essay Competition on the future of the

Public Service. The two authors are

MA students in the School of Public

Policy and Administration at Carleton

University Ottawa, Ontario Canada.

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

CANADIAN OWNED

AWARDS

DEPUTY MINISTERS

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT & EVALUATION

GREAT SPEAKERS

PUBLIC SECTOR EXECUTIVES

PROVEN

DIALOGUE

LEADERSHIP

CANADIAN MADE

ACANADIANEVENT

A CANADIAN EVENT

LEADING FOR RESULTS

JOHN SCHERER

PAUL NIVEN

LATEST THINKING

LESSONS LEARNED

DONALD FARMER

LESSONS LEARNED

THE RIGHT EVENT

BALANCED SCORECARD

PUBLIC SECTOR EXCELLENCE

BALANCED SCORECARD

TECHNOLOGY

REGISTER

BIG DATA

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

DONALD FARMER

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE – 20 YEA OLD BRAND

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE – 20 YEAR OLD BRAND

CGE BRANDBRAND

A BRAND YOU CAN TRUST

QUALITY AUDIENCE

ROI

WE REACH PUBLIC SECTOR EXECUTIVES

THOUGHT LEADERS AND INFORMATION SESSIONS

THE INSIGHTS YOU WANT

2015

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE

ANNUAL SUMMIT

JOIN US NOVEMBER 18TH, 2015

WESTIN HOTEL, OTTAWA

WWW.RIGHTCROWDEVENTS.COM/EVENTS/CGE/SUMMIT/