Canadian Government Executive - Volume 26 - Issue 01

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 | 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 lori@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 // January/February 2020 web Y2K! Many of us remember the “Millennium bug” that was anticipated to cause severe disrup- tions and errors in computers, networks, and IT systems. This highly predicted issue was a global concern in the last few years leading up the year 2000. Before the turn of the current century, storage on computers was expensive and as such date format was written in six digits (MMDDYY) including just the last two digits of the year (for example, 97, 98, 99). This was done to reduce the cost of storage. The perceived problem arose when programmers and computer scientists realized that the rollover from 99 to 00 would cause a worldwide system failure as computers were not programmed to compute the year 00. Committees were set up by governments and orga- nizations to oversee the remedy of operating systems to ensure that there was a smooth transition over to the new millennium. Today, we are 20 years on since Y2K. What was it like living through that period and being thrust into leading the IT division of a province? Stuart Culbertson knows what it was like. He was the CIO of British Columbia during Y2K. Appointed in 1998, he quickly realized that the bug represented a unique public sector project. He talks about this problem in this issue of CGE, sharing with us what transpired during that time and some of the lessons we can take to face other potential technology threats that are emerging today. Governing Canada with a minority Parliament is a new reality that the Trudeau govern- ment is facing. To deal with this latest situation, the Liberals senior House leadership team is holding a high-stakes “tactics meeting” daily when the House is sitting to plot strategy for the Commons and committees. Abbas Rana from The Hill Times writes about these meet- ings and how the Liberals see this as a crucial step to work with opposition parties so as to succeed as a minority government. It is common knowledge that it takes governments years to pass a change in law. This time-delayed obstacle can block innovations and the quick adoption of new technologies. Keeping with the pace of technology can help solve many social and environmental chal- lenges and aid citizens’ engagement. To get there, governments need to embrace a more ag- ile approach to regulation so as to take full advantage of new technologies. Lisa Witter and Jaee Samant provide 10 points on how regulators need to adapt to meet this new practice. Automation is rapidly changing the nature of the work environment. Led by AI and other digital technologies, the workforce is being transformed with the automation of tasks that were once done by humans. On one extreme this is seen as negative. But it’s not all “doom and gloom” writes Lori Turnbull, Deputy Editor of CGE in The Last Word . Politicians and educational institutions have a major role to play to ensure that future public servants have the skills to navigate the new world. To round off this issue, be sure to check out Harvey Schachter’s review of The Sponsor Effect , a book about being a better leader by investing in others. In Middle Management , John Wilkins writes about the importance of humility in leaders, especially public servants. Also, a piece on some tips on how to handle questions effectively in your next job interview. Thanks for taking the time to read this issue. Marcello Sukhdeo Managing Editor, Canadian Government Executive marcello@promotivemedia.ca editor’s note