Canadian Government Executive - Volume 29 - Issue 01

www.canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca Publication Mail Registration Number: 40052410 THE MAGAZINE FOR PUBLIC SECTOR DECISION MAKERS SPRING 2023 INSIDE: 0 9 03 61399 70471 $5.00 Display until July 10 VOLUME 29 | NUMBER 1 HOW CAN TECHNOLOGY HELP SOLVE THE LABOR SHORTAGE IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT? BUILD CAPACITY AS CENTRES OF EXPERTISE A SHARED NATIONAL IMPERATIVE DIGITAL HEALTH

Spring 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 3 CONTENTS 6 The Canadian Health Care Budget – A Q&A with Dr. Lori Turnbull By J. Richard Jones 10 The new imperative to modernize justice systems By Rheanne Scott 14 Leadership development and workplace awareness in the Government of Canada By Dan Moorcroft 16 How can technology help solve the labor shortage in public procurement? By Thierry Jaffry 18 Elevating Online Government Services for a Digital-First Canada By Rodney Helal 20 MIDDLE MANAGEMENT Build capacity as centres of expertise By John Wilkins 22 GOVERNING DIGITALLY Digital Health - A Shared National Imperative By Jeffrey Roy 26 Securing Canada’s Data Supply Chain Now—and for the Future By John Slater 28 THE LAST WORD The Emergencies Act By Lori Turnbull 16 How can technology help solve the labor shortage in public procurement? CGE ONLINE: Letters We welcome feedback on articles and story ideas. Email lori@promotivemedia.ca About the Cover Digital Health - A Shared National Imperative It’s in the Archives Missed an issue? Misplaced an article? Visit www.canadiangovernmentexecutive.ca for a full archive of past CGE issues, as well as online extras from our many contributors.

OUR MISSION IS TO CONTRIBUTE TO EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC SERVICE MANAGEMENT EDITORIAL DEPUTY EDITOR | LORI TURNBULL lori@promotivemedia.ca MANAGING EDITOR | TERRI PAVELIC terri@promotivemedia.ca COLUMNISTS | RHEANNE SCOTT DAN MOORCROFT THIERRY JAFFRY RODNEY HELAL JOHN SLATER JEFFREY ROY 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 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 4 / Canadian Government Executive // Spring 2023 WEB EDITOR’S NOTE This issue of Canadian Government Executive features superbly written articles on how digital technology can make government and its services better. As always, we are grateful to our regular contributors, to those who are writing with us for the first time, and to our readers for making Canadian Government Executive a vibrant community where ideas, best practices, and lessons learned are exchanged. I want to take this opportunity to raise awareness about our upcoming conference: the DX Summit. This will be the third annual Summit and the first time that we can hold it face to face. The event will be in Ottawa this year, dates to be determined. The key themes for the conference include leadership and trust in government; the truth about government outsourcing; the transition to a greener economy; and the future of work in the public service. We sincerely hope you will join us at the event. Please stay tuned for details about registration and speakers. I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to acknowledge the debate happening currently on the issue of foreign interference in Canadian democracy. This topic is not new, though its prominence in political discourse has been heightened in recent weeks due to allegations of foreign interference in electoral processes in the Toronto riding of Don Valley North. The Liberal government has asked former Governor General David Johnston to act as a “special rapporteur” responsible for looking into foreign interference in the last 2019 and 2021 elections and make recommendations on how to improve and fortify democracy. His mandate is “wide”, according to the press release from the Prime Minister’s Office, and the government has pledged to follow his recommendations. Dr. Johnston’s appointment has been embraced by some and denounced by others. He is an eminent Canadian who has served his country in many capacities, including as Governor General – the highest office in the land. He is a constitutional law expert and was the Leaders’ Debate Commissioner. However, his independence from the Trudeau government is in question and, should those concerns continue to resonate, the whole exercise could be undermined. The Conservatives point to a personal relationship between Johnston and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and their families. Further, Johnston has been a member of the Trudeau Foundation, which received a donation with an alleged link to the Chinese government. There are many factors that affect an appointment like this, including the qualification, credentials, and integrity of the appointee. No one is disputing any of these in Dr. Johnston’s case. But questions around his independence from government could make these factors seem less relevant. All of that said, Dr. Johnston has been trusted by governments of different partisan stripes to offer independent advice. He was appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to set the parameters for the Oliphant Commission, which investigated the business dealings between former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and businessman Karlheinz Schreiber. This experience is germane to the task ahead of him now. Similar to the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, the issue of foreign interference is easily divisible into two phases. Johnston decided that the Oliphant Commission should study the facts of the relationship and, separately, the state of the political ethics regime in Canada. He could take a similar approach to the foreign interference issue and recommend a detailed analysis into the events of the 2019 and 2021 elections and, on a parallel track, a broader inquiry into the state of democracy in Canada and its capacity to fend off attacks. If the latter does not occur in some form, it will be a serious loss for Canada. We are long overdue for a national discussion on how our democracy does and does not work. Regardless of what form his relationship with Prime Minister Trudeau takes, Dr. Johnston is a very appropriate choice to lead this conversation. We need to talk about how to recognize disinformation and other forms of civic malfeasance so that we are a more mature democracy capable of standing up to threats, both foreign and domestic. This is an exercise for all of us. Dr. Lori Turnbull Deputy Editor, Canadian Government Executive

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THE CANADIAN HEALTH CARE BUDGET A Q&A WITH DR. LORI TURNBULL 6 / Canadian Government Executive // Spring 2023 CANADIAN POLITICS Health care has long been quintessential to Canada. However, gaps in Canada’s muchadmired system have been visible for some time. The COVID pandemic only made them worse. Does the latest budget introduced by the federal government meet the needs of the provinces? We dig in, dissect, and discuss with editor-in-chief of CGE magazine, Dr. Lori Turnbull.

Spring 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 7 CANADIAN POLITICS Q: What did you think of the health care deal that the federal government announced on February 7? So this has been long-awaited. This has been something that the provinces and the federal government have talking about a long time and the provinces have been indicating they don’t have enough resources to be able to offer the quality of health care and to fix the kind of gaps that have been clear in the system for a long time and have been made worse by COVID. This has been a point of contention for a long time now and the deal that that was announced by Ottawa yesterday does not come close, financially, to what the provinces were asking for. Now, that shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody in the sense that this is a back and forth between the federal government and the provincial governments and provinces are always going to ask big and hope they get something close to that and the federal government’s never going match it entirely but we’re watching to see where they land. What’s the midpoint between them or what’s the agreement point between them? And we can see that, financially, this deal, at this point, falls quite short of what the provinces have been asking for. I kind of wondered whether, at this point in Trudeau’s career, because he is a third term Prime Minister, he’s been there for almost eight years, he’s been leader of the party for almost 10 years, he’s got to be thinking about how he’s going to bring his political career to a close. This is a moment where he might want to do something transformative. But this deal is not something that really shakes the terrain of how we do health care in Canada. So, it’s interesting in the sense that they’re saying they’re going to bump up the Canada health transfer by five points if the provinces meet the requirements on data collection. And then they are also going to do bilateral agreements with the different provinces so that provinces can take a chunk of money and use it for things that they have deemed to be priorities in their own jurisdiction. There is some opportunity here for politics in a good way on the part of premiers to push the Prime Minister to say, “this is what we need.” But I think, at this point, there’s no slam dunk to this. There is no sense that, okay, we’ve got a deal, everyone’s signed, everybody’s happy or even everybody’s not happy. There’s no closure at this point. There’re just more questions about what forms the bilateral agreements will take. Q: You’re saying there’s a leadership opportunity, there may be an opportunity for a swan song, but right now, it’s not fixing health care. What needs to happen? What could be done to make this a good package? Is more money the answer? We’ve been throwing money at health care, arguably not anywhere near enough, for a long time. But the fact of the Constitution, which is that the federal government has, overwhelmingly, the greater fiscal capacity and then the provinces have jurisdiction over health care, which is the most expensive program we have buy a lot - if we continue down that road without any sort of change in responsibilities or fiscal capacity, it means that we’re always going to have this scenario where the provinces are responsible for this huge program, but they don’t have the money to deliver it and they need to go to the feds for that. And even if they decided they were going to somehow go it alone, it would be wildly different what one province could offer as opposed to another, because we have different physical capacities in different populations and different strains on our health care systems. It was always the case when it came to health care that even though we don’t have a national system, we have provincial systems, we wanted a national standard. We wanted nobody to be without just because of where they lived. I think that we’re seeing the strain on that system now. Maybe we’re thinking differently about what sort of role the federal government could play but as long again as we have It was always the case when it came to health care that even though we don’t have a national system, we have provincial systems, we wanted a national standard. We wanted nobody to be without just because of where they lived.

8 / Canadian Government Executive // Spring 2023 CANADIAN POLITICS this division of responsibilities and fiscal capacity, we’re never going to get around this back and forth, passing the buck between the feds and the provinces. Q: What country, in your opinion, is doing this well right now? Is there any? How about Norway? Is there any other country we could learn some best practices from? It’s hard to compare to be honest, because we are a geographically big country, but population-wise, not a huge country. We are dispersed over a lot of land. We are a federal system as opposed to a unitary system. I know one thing that drives Michael Wernick crazy is when we compare ourselves to Estonia. We can’t replicate that. It is completely different world. So, I’m not sure it’s terribly useful to compare ourselves. Even if we could think of countries that we could compare ourselves to in terms of GDP or population or whatever, the fact that health care is so quintessential to the Canadian political identity, that’s a big issue. People think about this, and this is what makes us different from the Americans. We hold this program, we hold this so, so close to us, the idea that you could go to a hospital and not be seen, and you won’t be able to get the healthcare you need is like a gas light to everything we’ve ever been told about what it is to be Canadian. It’s not just about the program and the money. It’s also very dear to people. Even if we could find an administrative structure somewhere else that maybe provides better outcomes, and you could look at the money and all the rest of it, there’s still the fact that we’ve always made the promise to ourselves and each other, that you don’t have to pay for healthcare here. You don’t get to jump the line because you have money. Even if people are willing to permit more private involvement in delivery, there is no public tolerance for any kind of multi-tiered system where if you pay you get better health care. Q: Do you think the provinces are going to go for this? I think it depends. There are some provincial premiers like Doug Ford, for example, who is in a very powerful position because he won a big majority government within the last year and he’s also the premier of the largest province with the largest population. So, if Doug Ford has a problem with the deal, that’s a problem for Trudeau because so many people in Canada live in Ontario. If Doug Ford and Premier Legault don’t like the deal, that’s a big problem for Trudeau again because there’s so many people. Those are the two most populous provinces, and they represent so much with respect to the national consensus. But I don’t think it’s the end of the world for Trudeau if everybody doesn’t agree. He’s got some people who are probably going to oppose, like Danielle Smith of Alberta, like Scott Moe in Saskatchewan. If that’s the case, he can withstand Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chairs a working meeting on health care with the First Ministers of Canada’s provinces and territories. Photo by Adam Scotti (PMO), February 7, 2023, Ottawa, Ontario.

Spring 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 9 CANADIAN POLITICS that. He doesn’t have to have everybody come to the table. There’s a lot of pressure on the provinces to take the money and the strings that go with it because people are so afraid that the health care system is going to go under. It’s going to be, politically, very difficult for a premier to explain why there was money on the table and they left it there because they didn’t like the terms. Q: What would happen if they didn’t go for it? What would be the impact? I think what’s probably going to happen is that you’re going to see agreement on the bump to the Canada health transfer in exchange for best practices and data collection. I think that’s an easy one. I think the provinces will go for that even if they huff and puff and say that the federal government should not be putting strings attached to health care money. Where you’re going to see the back and forth in a critical way is going to be the bilateral exchanges between the federal government and the provincial governments. There, you’ll see premiers walking out of the room, being upset about what they got, and that could be worthwhile for them, not only politically, but financially, if they show the Prime Minister that they’re going to be pushed around. On the other hand, if the Prime Minister is saying, look, we’ve got money in our hand here and you can come and get it if you do these reasonable things, then that puts some weight behind the Prime Minister’s position that they’re offering reasonable parameters in exchange for a significant transfer of funds, but of course the provinces will say it’s not enough. So, I think I think you’ll see widespread consensus on the Canada health transfer increase and the data collection strings that go with it. I think we’ll see the breakdown on the bilateral. Q: Governments don’t usually plan in 10-year cycles. So, is this deal going to last even if the government’s change hands? I think from a federal perspective, it’s interesting how the other parties are circling around this. Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives don’t want to give the Prime Minister any credit for anything. They come out and say, look, this isn’t that much money. You haven’t given the provinces what they asked for. But when we form a government, we’ll hold on to this and we’ll honor these commitments. Therefore, they’re taking the wind out of Trudeau’s sails and saying we’ll do this. It’s not that much to begin with and we’ll follow it up. They’re not saying they’ll give anymore. They’re saying, sure, we’ll hold on to this, no problem. In other words, if you’re thinking about voting for Trudeau because you’re afraid to lose this package, don’t worry. We’re fine. But over a 10-year cycle with 10 provinces in it, all of them on different electoral cycles, those are a lot of variables. That’s a lot to manage. Over time, are the feds in? Yes. Are all 10 provinces going to stay in, even if they’re in now? Probably not. You’re going to see a lot of fluctuation as governments change hands. The first test of it all is going to be Daniel Smith going to the vote in Alberta in May, because Rachel Notley is a much more obvious partner for the Liberals. They might be thinking, look, if Danielle Smith wants to blow this up, go ahead. If Danielle Smith wants to go tell Alberta that she’s leaving federal money for health care on the table after they have been trounced by COVID, that might be something that’s really good for Rachel Notley on the campaign trail because she’d find a way to take the money. It might be really good politics in the end. Q: Let’s look at some timelines. What are the milestones that we should be watching for that are going to be critical to this? The federal government will issue a budget in the spring that will show some chunk of this. We’ll get some sense at least of the Canada health transfer aspect of it and maybe even more than that. Where they want to break down in terms of the provincial negotiations, you know, provinces are going to want to be able to put that money in their budgets fairly expediently, I would think. They’re not going to want to wait forever. On the one hand, a province might want to go back and forth a couple of rounds with the Prime Minister to make sure the feds know they’re not just going to take the first crappy offer you give us. The rules of negotiation apply here as they would in any other circumstance. However, a province is also keen to get the money in pocket, so you don’t want to dance around too long. I would say, over the next few months we might see some provinces who are inclined to participate and be on board. But, if I was a smaller Province, and I am from a smaller province, I’m from Nova Scotia, I would not be in a rush to side. I would hang back and see what Doug Ford gets and see what Legault gets and then say, “I’d like a piece of that, and our province is a smaller population, so surely if you can provide that benefit for them, you could provide it for us.” If I was a small province, I would hang back and see which way the wind is blowing.” There are some provincial premiers like Doug Ford, for example, who is in a very powerful position because he won a big majority government within the last year and he’s also the premier of the largest province with the largest population.

BY RHEANNE SCOTT GOVERNMENTS HAVE LONG BEEN WORKING TO TRANSFORM JUSTICE SYSTEMS BY IMPLEMENTING PROCEDURAL REFORMS AND INTEGRATING NEW TECHNOLOGY — WITH THE GOAL OF IMPROVING EFFICIENCY, QUALITY AND INDEPENDENCE. 10 / Canadian Government Executive // Spring 2023 PERFORMANCE The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated these plans while also underscoring the need for greater progress, especially to better meet the needs of vulnerable and marginalized groups in society. Now, in this next wave of reform, justice systems need to become more citizen-centric, ensuring access for all in a rapidly evolving world of pervasive inequality and declining trust in institutions.. Leaders must apply the lessons learned during the pandemic to set a new baseline expectation and build momentum. Reverting to traditional ways of working is not an option. Over the past year, professionals in PwC’s Justice practices around the world interviewed leaders working in prosecution, courts, legal aid and justice-related organizations across six countries. Based on that research, we believe that the imperative for change towards a building modernized justice system that puts citizens at its heart and increases trust rests on three key enablers: • Collaborative leadership, in which officials serve as strategic thinkers and work with other justice and non-justice partners to better meet the needs of citizens and achieve more effective outcomes. • Prudent use of technology, with new tools to increase innovation and efficiency and reduce costs while building public trust and increasing access. • Modernized financial models, to ensure organizations get the resources they need to deliver high-quality services focused on outcomes while still remaining accountable. Here, we offer an analysis of the current state of justice systems and challenges within these three enabling areas informed by the perspectives gained through our interviews. We also present a vision for the future to make sure that the transformation momentum and ground gained during the pandemic is not lost. Collaborative leadership Current state and challenges A key element of reform is creating the right structure and mechanisms for effective collaboration among prosecutors, judges, lawyers, police and litigants. Collaboration was important before COVID-19, but the JUSTICE SYSTEMS THE NEW IMPERATIVE TO MODERNIZE

Spring 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 11 PERFORMANCE pandemic made it even more of a priority. Simply accessing and adjusting to virtual services and proceedings, with participants in multiple remote locations, has required coordination (and patience). More consequentially, successful collaboration is essential for fair, accessible, transparent and trustworthy proceedings. An interviewee from a Canadian provincial Ministry of Justice and Attorney General states: “Maintaining the collaborative relationship across the different parts of the sector was one of the best results of the pandemic, and now we need to keep that in place. Future state An important role for leaders is fostering collaboration in order for all stakeholders within justice systems to have access to the information they need when they need it, an aspiration that requires robust IT systems. Several interviewees highlighted the importance of collaborating with citizens in planning modernization programs as a way to strengthen trust and improve public attitudes toward justice systems. “We need to think about ways to serve citizens, rather than just digitizing what we previously had,” says an official in a Canadian provincial Ministry of Justice and Attorney General. Understanding the needs of citizens and users is critical to provide more citizen-centric, accessible justice services. For instance, at British Columbia’s Civil Resolution Tribunal, an online platform was designed to be user-friendly and accessible, resulting in increased adoption rates. “By giving citizens a service they like, in a way that suits them, you can build far more trust than just standing on tradition. We need to make sure we have all parties, not just legal professionals, in the room to provide input,” says the Canadian official. Leaning into technology Current state and challenges The pandemic forced justice systems worldwide to shut down most in-person court proceedings and legal services in early 2020 and shift to online alternatives, with very little notice. Most interviewees cited investments in technology during the pandemic—such as laptops, routers, expanded access to internet and public web portals—to assist legal professionals and citizens in pivoting to remote work, digital hearings and online services, while keeping all information and proceedings secure. Now, organizations are returning to inperson and/or hybrid proceedings and wrestling with how this will change operations yet again. Technology can support hybrid processes, but leaders must think hard about how it can be used to build trust, rather than detract from it. Understanding the positive outcomes technology has enabled for legal professionals as well as participants (citizens) is a critical factor to also consider, so that they can be preserved, continued and expanded. “Some people are nostalgic and want to go back to the way things were,” a deputy attorney general in Canada says. “Our concern is about retrenching to the old ways. We want to sustain the movement forward.” Leaders must consider whether a return to long-established practices works to preserve tradition or best serves the needs of citizens and legal professionals. Future state Advanced technology, including AI and machine learning, can be harnessed to improve the efficiency of legal processes and services. For instance, AI can be used to recognize patterns in digitized legal documents and files or in complex cases that contain massive amounts of data. At the same time, professionals must remain cognizant of unintended consequences from advanced technologies, including AI. These might include depersonalization of legal proceedings conducted virtually, inadequate protection of individuals’ data privacy and security, and the erosion of institutional trust and equitable access to justice systems. In short, modern tools need to be used ethically alongside the expertise and humanity of justice professionals. This powerful combination creates a human-led,tech-powered approach that can help justice systems fulfill their purpose while delivering sustainable, citizen-focused outcomes. In our interviews, a clear consensus emerged that in-person contact between litigants and courts should not be completely eliminated. Clear criteria need to be in place to determine which cases are suitable for the virtual realm versus in-person. Additionally, virtual proceedings have highlighted the need for reliable internet access and digital literacy to guarantee that citizens, including those in remote and rural areas, can fully participate.

12 / Canadian Government Executive // Spring 2023 PERFORMANCE volume, funding should be more directly linked to the broaderobjectives of reform and outcomes. Citizen satisfaction levels can be another outcome linked to funding. For all outcomes, organizations need to establish clear metrics, collect accurate data and analyse that data on a regular basis. Then, leaders can identify areas for improvement and report to the public about the performance of justice systems. As with other aspects of reform, collaboration is crucial. It’s vital that everyone works together to get financing right, that citizens’ interests are at the core, and that solutions in one place don’t create bottlenecks in another. Forming a citizen-centric community of solvers Two main themes run through these aspects of modernization. The first is trust. Justice systems around the world are currently struggling to maintain their citizens’ trust, yet trust in the rule of law is a cornerstone of free societies. For any modernization initiative under consideration, leaders must ask themselves whether it will fundamentally improve citizens’ trust and confidence in the system. Citizens should believe that if and when they participate in the justice system, it will be understandable, accessible, responsive, respectful of needs, and affordable. They should feel that the system is supporting them through a fair and transparent process, and not serving its own requirements. The second—related—theme is the need to put citizens at the centre. Citizens are the group most impacted by judicial processes, yet often the least involved once the justice system gets rolling. The needs of citizens should be at the heart of the justice system, with modernization efforts focused on outcomes rather than ticking off items on a checklist. Few initiatives, no matter how well thought out, will succeed without citizens’ full participation and buy-in. Modernization is more than simply changing court processes or implementing new technology; it is a means to rethink longstanding traditions of how and where justice is administered, to and for whom; and to improve transparency, access and perceptions of fairness. In other words, these measures are about more than justice. They’re about creating stronger societies overall. Rheanne Scott, National Director of Justice, Director, PwC Canada rheanne.scott@pwc.com Modernized funding models Current state and challenges Funding models for many justice organizations are based on outputs—typically with a focus on processing as many cases as possible. These basic types of financial models don’t stimulate innovation or collaboration. They aren’t citizen-centric, and they don’t incentivize important outcomes, such as increasing access to justice and public trust. Many investments made during the pandemic failed to address this issue, as they were focused primarily on rapidly standing up technology out of necessity. Consider a recent progress report of a justice reform program in the UK that examines investments made during COVID-19. It states, “The most resilient services are those where there has been investment, where we have introduced digital options for users, and new technology to facilitate alternative ways of working.” Future state Rather than focusing on outputs like case Questions to consider • Which mechanisms are you putting in place to gauge citizens’ levels of trust in public institutions? • How can you identify and harness existing and emerging technologies as part of justice modernization programs, particularly regarding case backlogs? • How do you know whether investments made in justice system reform are achieving their intended outcomes?

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LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND WORKPLACE AWARENESS 14 / Canadian Government Executive // Spring 2023 BY DAN MOORCROFT WORKFORCE in the Government of Canada Our federal government departments and agencies continue to embrace a culture of leadership development notwithstanding the programming challenges they have faced in the past few fiscal years. Through targeted initiatives, mentorships, coaching and skill-building opportunities, public servants have been provided with the tools they need to become more effective leaders. In addition, an increased understanding of the importance of workplace awareness now provides a focus on connecting with leaders with their people. Effective leadership development starts with education and training. Initiatives such as the Executive Leadership Development program (ELDP) are characterized by targeted learning and development opportunities. ELDP focused topics include organizational leadership, team dynamics, negotiation and communication, and problem solving. These

Spring 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 15 WORKFORCE opportunities provide the key tools and resources needed to grow and develop people as good leaders, and to achieve results within leaders’ organizations and their careers. To augment the benefits of ELDP, mentorship and coaching remain important aspects of leadership, emotional quotient (EQ), and cognitive development within the federal government EX community. Through a variety of channels, public servants can now connect with mentors and coaches who have a wealth of experience in their fields and provide valuable guidance and support as leaders progress and grow within their careers. These mentor/mentee arrangements often develop into strong working connections that naturally become long-term professional relationships that deliver many benefits on multiple levels. The most vital element of workplace wellness are our resources, our people, and how we communicate effectively with them. Leading with empathy and kindness will continue to reduce barriers, ensuring strong, effective, and honest communication. Being a good leader means developing an awareness of the importance of expressive communication and concern for your people. Nurturing and growing these capabilities takes learning, patience and practice as you expand your awareness of people and hone your abilities to connect with them. These skills are practiced every time you meet with colleagues, whether virtually or in person. Workplace 2.0 and the renewed common hybrid work model policies represent another challenge for leaders. These policies have been designed to ensure that employees can work in a safe and secure environment regardless of their location. They’re also predicated on the value of shared in-person experiences that are essential to cohesive, collaborative, and high-performing organizations. The notion is that working together in person supports collaboration, team spirit, innovation and a culture of belonging, and ultimately, trust. Central to Workplace 2.0 is the requirement for a strong narrative that drives consistency in how hybrid work is applied. Central to driving consistency is the need to standardize services across all levels of government and across the country as whole. As with the introduction of any change, there will be countless questions and lessons learned. Leaders should keep in mind the value of building team culture, collaboration, inclusion, belonging and trust for one another as we seek to meet and exceed our organization’s programming requirements. As has been mentioned, even with the programming challenges that departments and agencies have faced, significant strides have been made towards developing leadership resources. From offering targeted educational initiatives and mentorship opportunities, to implementing modern technology solutions to support program delivery, government departments and agencies have not lost sight of the obligation to provide world-class leadership development opportunities, and the resources needed to access these opportunities. Keep in mind, many retired executives of the federal government have found great satisfaction in helping to build leadership capacity and capability within departments and agencies, working through organizations such as QMR Consulting & Professional Staffing. As we move forward into the future, the federal government will continue to learn lessons from leadership coaching, mentoring and capacity building. Together, we will build a strong and sustainable workforce with an empathetic and kind workplace culture. Leveraging ELDP and Workplace 2.0, the federal government maintains it’s focus on providing support to public servants who occupy leadership positions and those with leadership aspirations to further their careers. Dan Moorcroft, co-Founder, President/ CEO, QMR Consulting & Investigative Services Central to Workplace 2.0 is the requirement for a strong narrative that drives consistency in how hybrid work is applied. Central to driving consistency is the need to standardize services across all levels of government and across the country as whole.

Government procurement is bound to have an impact on everything we do, or aspire to do. These past few years have only fortified the significance of robust and flexible supply chains. That said, attracting the right talent and keeping them motivated is posed as one of the biggest challenges for all businesses in North America, from a small business owner to a multinational conglomerate. The pandemic drove a lot of Americans to retire early— over 3 million in the first 18 months of the pandemic, according to the Economic Research by Federal Bank of St. Louis. According to a Brookings Institution 16 / Canadian Government Executive // Spring 2023 WORKFORCE report in December 2022 referring to Bureau of Labor Statistics projections, “silver tsunami” is going to hit the infrastructure sector with 1.7 million workers expected to retire or leave their jobs every year between 2021 and 2031. Moreover, state and local governments are also facing talent crunch, with federal employment rising ever so slightly. Government agencies’ ongoing struggle to recruit new employees: Public sector has long struggled to compete with the private sector for top talent and to retain workers—a trend that has only intensified in the past few years. A new hire comes with additional expenditure and time investment. It can take up to six months or more for a government agency to break even on its investment in a new hire. There are various potentially high costs involved in recruiting, ranging from advertising the opening to the time cost of an internal recruiter and recruiter’s assistant in reviewing resumes, conducting the interviews, background checks, and other recruitment-related tasks. It takes almost 4 months (119 days) to hire in the public sector, according to research by NEOGOV. Moreover, these job vacancies are often opened up externally to provide an opportunity for everyone to compete for the job along with existing employees looking for growth in their role. So, it may end up being filled by existing employees in the organization through a lateral move or promotion. There is no way to know for sure, which can be frustrating for job seekers. Source-to-pay solutions can support these labor gaps and can be the key to government success: Technologies available today are able to automate most of the processes in any industry, both public and private. According to McKinsey, most organizations waste almost We are living in the time of smart cities, autonomous vehicles, algorithmic public policy, and government deployment of blockchain. THE LABOR SHORTAGE IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT? How can technology help solve BY THIERRY JAFFRY

Spring 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 17 WORKFORCE 4 percent of their total external spend on high transaction costs, inefficiency, and noncompliance. Organizations can manage their spends effectively by implementing a digital source-to-pay (S2P) application by up to 50%, driving an additional 31% in total savings. This can also stand true for the public procurement industry. Source-to-pay solutions can help increase the efficiency of the entire procurement workflow, allowing government agencies to do more with less people. These solutions allow a seamless process from finding, negotiating with, and contracting the supplier of goods, to the final payment for those goods. They also help derive actionable insights from large data sets of historic spending and trends. For bidding, RFX documents can be prepared, reviewed and distributed digitally to potential suppliers including the request for information (RFI), request for quote (RFQ), or request for proposal (RFP). Post contract negotiation and management, purchase order, invoices, and finance reports can all be generated electronically as well. Going digital will not only improve efficiency and save time, but also attract younger talent that has a more forward-looking approach to public procurement. With baby boomers retiring in large numbers, there is more room now than ever before for a younger workforce in government agencies. Moreover, tech is the first language for most from this generation, making these digital tools and solutions a key driver for their participation in public procurement. Additionally, organizations can also divert the savings into upskilling the workforce to bridge the unfilled labor gaps. LinkedIn Learning found that if companies actively invested in employees’ careers, up to 94% of workers would be willing to stay with them longer. By addressing certain gaps across the procurement process for value loss, cost savings can have a real impact on streamlining workflows. Operations enhancements through source-to-pay initiatives can lead to efficiency gains as well as strengthen supplier relationships. The generation entering the workforce has a desire to contribute to fixing society’s problems at scale. They can do a lot of good from within the government, and they can also do tremendous good from outside of government by working with government partners. Public procurement has the potential to be a force multiplier for addressing almost all public sector challenges. As labour challenges in the public sector continue, having one solution that takes care of everything from sourcing to supplier and contract management, procurement, finances, and analytics across, will yield much greater business value for the government and the government partners. Thierry Jaffry, Chief Growth Officer, eprocurement, mdf commerce Going digital will not only improve efficiency and save time, but also attract younger talent that has a more forward-looking approach to public procurement. With baby boomers retiring in large numbers, there is more room now than ever before for a younger workforce in government agencies.

Accessing Digital Services Online Our survey found that 88 per cent of Canadians have now accessed government services online, with more than half (51 per cent) accessing online services more often since the pandemic began. Going forward, two thirds (67 per cent) of Canadians said that they would prefer to access government services online rather than in person. The reasons why Canadians expect to continue accessing government services online are not surprising, with the top three reasons given being convenience, time required, and the ease of access to forms and information online. There are also some interesting differences across age groups and geography. Having services in multiple languages is important to 30 per cent of younger ELEVATING ONLINE GOVERNMENT SERVICES FOR A DIGITAL-FIRST CANADA By Rodney Helal 18 / Canadian Government Executive // Spring 2023 PERSPECTIVE Sponsored Content The past two years have put digital government services in the spotlight like never before. As Canadians adapted to working and learning from home, accessing government services online went from a convenience to a necessity, marking a significant shift in how Canadians engaged with their governments. As we emerge from the pandemic, we wanted to better understand this shift and assess what it means for governments and citizens going forward. To do this, we surveyed 1,500 Canadians across the country to find out how they’ve used digital government services, what their experience has been like, and what their expectations are going forward. The results confirmed that the majority (88 per cent) of Canadians have now accessed services online, and two thirds would prefer to access government services online going forward. However, satisfaction with the services was mixed – with only 25 per cent of respondents feeling that digital government services were better than those of the private sector, and only 50 per cent trusting the government with their personal data. As the federal government looks to enable delivery of government in the digital age through the Digital Ambition 2022 roadmap, there are a number of interesting findings that highlight both the opportunities and challenges facing all governments, as they build digital-first governments. Rodney Helal, National Sales Director, Canadian Public Sector Ontarians (aged 18 to 35), which is almost double the rate for Canadians as a whole (16 per cent). And in BC, having live support – such as chat options – was listed as a priority for 23 per cent of respondents, three times the Canadian average of 8 per cent. Unrealized expectations 85 per cent of Canadians expect online government services to be as easy to access as digital banking, and 75 per cent expect it to be as easy to access as making a purchase from Amazon. However, only 25 per cent of Canadians feel that online government services are better than those provided by private companies. There is no doubt that the government has made significant progress on digital transformation as digital services have gone from ‘nice to have’ to ‘must-have’ with governments across the country trying to keep up with changing citizen expectations. Security and trust Two-thirds (66 per cent) of Canadians are willing to create a personal profile if it allows single sign-on access to government services. However, when asked to go a step further, only 39 per cent of Canadians would consent to the government having more personal data in exchange for providing more personalized service. This is an interesting example that highlights both the potential for transformation and the challenge of getting public buy-in. Digital ID is an important part of the Digital Ambitions 2022 roadmap, and the government has committed to launching public consultations and developing a common and secure digital identity framework.

However, our survey found that only 50 per cent of Canadians trust the government to protect their information used in online services, and only 48 per cent said they would be comfortable with government agencies sharing information with each other to create more integrated and streamlined experiences. Digital Ambition 2022 and the way ahead With the release of Digital Ambition 2022, the Government of Canada has the stated ambition “To enable delivery of government in the digital age for all Canadians. This will be done by providing modernized and accessible tools to support service delivery that expresses the best of Canada in the digital space.” The Digital Ambition plan sets government‑wide priorities and lists key activities for departments and agencies, including those that serve other government organizations, by working to modernize service delivery, improve sustainability and promote digital stewardship. These priorities and activities will help departments move toward the digital delivery of programs and services for users. There is a lot to digest in this ambitious document, but when I think of VMware’s decades-long experience working with governments, as well as what we heard from Canadians on our survey, a couple of things stand out: • The first is the urgent need to modernize the overall health of the government’s application portfolio. Consumers expect streamlined services that are easy to use and access – but the thousands of software applications that are used to deliver government programs can be complicated and difficult to navigate. • The second is the importance of trust and security. The lack of trust in government security presents real challenges to implementing the priorities in Digital Ambition 2022. When government security is compromised, it sets back the ability to implement many of the needed reforms. • The third is the importance of engaging citizens to understand their needs and expectations as governments develop digital services. While our survey found that the major issues were relatively uniform across the country, there were important nuances across geography, age and ethnicity that would help inform government decisions. Overall, our survey shows that Canadians have clearly embraced digital government and are looking for even better and more accessible services from all levels of government going forward. This is a huge opportunity for Canada, and VMware looks forward to working with our government partners to meet those ambitions in 2022 and beyond. About the VMware Canada Survey VMware commissioned Hill+Knowlton Strategies to conduct a survey of 1,500 Canadians over the period of May 4 to 9, 2022. Sampling was done within age, gender, and region quotas. The length of survey was approximately five minutes, and data was weighted on age, gender, and region according to 2016 census figures. An associated margin of error for a randomly selected sample of n=1,000 would be ±3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20. Spring 2023 // Canadian Government Executive / 19 Sponsored Content PERSPECTIVE

MIDDLE MANAGEMENT 20 / Canadian Government Executive // Spring 2023 functions. Many governments mapped and experimented with innovative pathways by agencifying the gamut of hubs, labs, and nudge units that concentrate and separate resources from the mainstream public service. The consequences were increased dependence on innovation units for professional expertise, divergent expectations between departments and units, and constrained motivation for diffusion. These units also represent collaborative places in liberated organizational space where stakeholders can workshop complex problems and design new solutions. They reduce hierarchy and embrace appropriate levels of risk taking and accountability in organizations. They present opportunities to develop prototypes that participants can design and test before making large investments. Their proliferation is commensurate with overcoming horizontality, risk aversion, and blame fixing. Brock, Evans & Migone (2016) uncovered more than 100 public sector innovation labs worldwide, most established after 2011. They vary greatly in locus of control, scope of serBUILD CAPACITY AS CENTRES OF EXPERTISE BY JOHN WILKINS IN THE NEW ORGANIZATION, POWER FLOWS FROM EXPERTISE, NOT POSITION. — THOMAS A. STEWART Governments must adapt to increasingly complex globalization, technological, demographic, and fiscal forces. The effects motivate new, often creative, approaches to public policy and administration. Canadian governments take bold steps everyday to institutionalize the capacity to innovate. Systemic aversion to risk limits the capacity to promote and adopt innovation. It affects the resilience of governments to deliver responsive, citizen-centred programs and services. Shortfalls in knowledge and expertise also impair the capacity to create, implement, evaluate, and recognize innovation. Knowledge-sharing organizations systematically learn from mistakes, improve performance, and scale up successes. They nurture an enabling environment and develop the technical skills to disseminate knowledge. They inculcate practitioners with conceptual frameworks, analytical tools, real-world examples, and creative insights. The challenges to developing organizational capacity are threefold: 1. Process – cycling whole-of-government discovery that prototypes and tests great ideas in an innovationfriendly environment; 2. Example – showcasing sustainable innovations that inspire diffusion of lessons learned across the public service; and 3. Structure – centralizing hubs, labs, and nudge units that protect innovation but sometimes entrench a cultural divide in diffusion. Hubs, labs, and nudge units Restructuring by the turn of the millennium witnessed the demise of bureaucratic departments in favour of a diversified typology of organizational forms and

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