Canadian Government Executive - Volume 24 - Issue 07

12 / Canadian Government Executive // February/March 2019 This article is adapted from Canada Next: 12 Ways to Get Ahead of Disruption, a Public Policy Forum series of 12 papers on disruptive challenges and opportunities facing Canada. Disruption By Edward Greenspon and Drew Fagan Canada Next Getting Ahead of Disruption is Key to our Future An Introduction to I n the past 18 months or so, new gov- ernments have taken power in three of the four largest provinces: British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. The fourth, Alberta, will go to the polls this year, as will Canada as a whole. Regard- less of the result of the federal election, much of the country is under control of governments new to office and rethinking things in light of new mandates. They have plenty to ponder. The world is changing at a pace akin to the Indus- trial Revolution. Decision makers in all fields face intense challenges to even keep up – from geopolitical transformation, in- cluding a rising U.S.-China rivalry, to the new concentrations of power and wealth caused by the sweeping innovations of the digital age, to the impacts on auton- omy and the world of work sparked by artificial intelligence, to the catastrophic effects of climate change. Phenomenal powers of insight are re- quired not just to grasp the pace and impact of these changes, but also to an- ticipate and respond in timely fashion or, better yet, to get ahead of things and shape the future we want. It falls primarily to two groups to rep- resent the public interest in shaping the future: elected officials and the public ser- vants who advise them. Planning is one of the key functions of a non-partisan public service as exists in Can- ada and other countries that operate under the Westminster system. Many govern- ments have cabinet committees focused on priorities and planning, and corresponding units in the public service to support them. The priorities part gets most of the at- tention because it is about delivering on a government’s programs and responding to events of the day. It’s the bread and butter of government. Planning is different. Planning entails lift- ing one’s eyes from the messy table of daily government functions to look around the corner or out to the horizon. In some circles, the word ‘foresight’ is used to describe this long-term thinking. No one can divine the Decision makers in all fields face intense challenges to keep up with geopolitical transformation, the sweep- ing innovations of the digital age, the impacts on work sparked by artificial intelli- gence, and the catastrophic effects of climate change. Edward Greenspon and Drew Fagan introduce the challenges that Canada Next addresses.