Canadian Government Executive - Volume 25 - Issue 02

Our mission is to contribute to excellence in public service management EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE EDITOR | J. RICHARD JONES john@promotivemedia.ca DEPUTY EDITOR | LORI TURNBULL lori@promotivemedia.ca MANAGING Editor | Marcello Sukhdeo marcello@promotivemedia.ca COPY EDITOR | James Brandon COLUMNISTS | JEFFREY ROY HARVEY SCHACHTER JOHN WILKINS EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD DENISE AMYOT, PENNY BALLANTYNE, Jim Connell, Michael Fenn, Lana Lougheed, John Milloy, Vic Pakalnis, Robert Shepherd, Andrew Treusch, David Zussman Sales & Events Vice President, Sales | Terri Pavelic 905-727-3875 x2 terri@promotivemedia.ca Director, Content & Business Development | David Blondeau 905-727-3875 david@promotivemedia.ca ART & PRODUCTION ART DIRECTOR | Elena Pankova elena@promotivemedia.ca Subscriptions and Address Changes Circulation Services | 905-841-7389 circulation@promotivemedia.ca General Inquiries 21374, 2nd Concession Rd, East Gwillimbury, ON, L9N 0H7 Phone 905-727-3875 Fax 905-727-4428 www.canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca corporate Group Publisher | J. RICHARD JONES john@promotivemedia.ca Publisher’s Mail Agreement: 40052410 ISSN 1203-7893 Canadian Government Executive magazine is published 6 times per year by Navatar Press. All opinions expressed herein are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher or any person or organization associated with the magazine. Letters, submissions, comments and suggested topics are welcome, and should be sent to george@promotivemedia.ca Reprint Information Reproduction or photocopying is prohibited without the publisher’s prior written consent. High quality reprints of articles and additional copies of the magazine are available through circulation@promotivemedia.ca . Privacy Policy: We do not sell our mailing list or share any confidential information on our subscribers. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. www.canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca 6 / Canadian Government Executive // April/May 2019 web We live in a time of economic turbulence that is quickly escalating to the point of throw- ing the global economy into a recession. As tension between the United States and China continues to tighten and countries adopt the “me first” strategy, trade between nations is moving to the point of conflict. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that trade war on a mas- sive scale is inevitable. As we continue to watch to see where this is headed, the Canadian Government Executive team decided to build this edition around trade. In January of this year, the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance hosted a distinguished panel discussion on Canada and the 2019 Trade Climate, featuring the Hon- ourable Darrell Dexter, Maryscott Greenwood, the Honourable Pierre Pettigrew, and Colin Robertson. The panel delved into the state of trade relations between Canada, the United States, the European Union, and China. Where does Canada stand on the new NAFTA; Chi- na, the next biggest economy in the world; trade with the E.U. and the turmoil of Brexit; and the future of global trade. Be sure to read this abridged version on the panel discussion to gain some insights as to what’s happening in trade today and where it is all leading. In his article, “Growing Canadian exports by growing our management skills,” Ed Ber- nacki addresses the question about what’s hindering Canadian companies from creating more profitable products and services. He writes that while focusing on STEM skills is nec- essary, what we lack is sufficient skills for innovation management. Deputy editor of CGE Lori Turnbull writes about how the 1988 general election is remem- bered as a referendum on the proposed Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Fast forward 30 years and we see Canada facing the same issue. But what is different today is that the relationship between the current leaders of the United States and Canada is less amicable. To add strain to an already strained relationship, President Trump is critical of the NAFTA agreement, whereas back in 1988, President Reagan was willing to work at find- ing a solution with Prime Minister Mulroney for the trade deal. With the changing global landscape and other nations and trade blocs rising, Canada has the opportunity to increase trade with these global players. But how is the current government faring? This will be top of mind for Canadians as they prepare to cast their votes in another general election this fall. John Glowacki, a former COO of Shared Services Canada and a regular contributor to CGE , returns in this issue with piece on partnerships and how they can help reduce risk in the Government of Canada’s digitization process. According to Glowacki, to make progress as a leader in this area, the government and public service need to fully embrace and leverage their partners in industry. We are excited to announce, commencing in this issue, a new section called the Millenni- al Outlook. This section will feature students and young professionals in public sector shar- ing issues they are dealing with to help us anticipate what the future of public service will be like. John Wilkins, an associate of public management at York University and a career senior public servant and diplomat, introduces this section on page 24. We hope that you will take the time to read the insightful articles that followed his piece. If you would like to contribute a piece for this section in the future, please send me an email at marcello@ promotivemedia.ca . Thanks for taking the time to read this issue. Marcello Sukhdeo Managing Editor Canadian Government Executive editor’s note