These were among the issues addressed during a webinar we recently hosted featuring Dr. Amanda Clarke from Carleton University, one of the 100 most influential academics in government, and Michael Wernick from the Jaris12 / Canadian Government Executive // Summer 2023 CGE LEADERSHIP SERIES lowsky Chair in Public Sector Management at University of Ottawa and former Clerk of the Privy Council. The first point raised was among the most important “I think the first thing to keep in mind is that no one should be arguing that the government needs to go it alone or that there’s something inherently wrong with turning to outside providers or leaning on management consultants for advisory services.” Dr. Clarke said this right off the top, and Mr. Wernick echoed it. “On the one hand, you get a simplistic view that if we handed things over to the private sector or did it the way the private sector did, the public sector would be better for it. On the other side, you get reflexive arguments that contracting is always a problem and that everything would always be done better if it was done by full-time unionized public servants. Neither position moves the public sector forward.” Stressing the importance of the middle ground is important in the wake of the Carleton study because the sticker shock angered a lot of people, in part because of how the story was framed by Canadian news outlets. The National Post reported “no less than $18 billion has been spent on work that A Carleton University study found the federal government to have spent at least $22 billion on outsourcing in 2021-22. The sticker shock has been the impetus for some hard academic looks into where, how and, most importantly, why that money was spent. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE CONSULTING FIRMS Panel Discussion Highlights: Dr. Amanda Clarke Michael Wernick
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDI0Mzg=