Making Connections

The first full day of the 2007 IPAC National Conference started today. The day got off to a good start when the MC called the meeting to order. Since I am the MC for this conference, I guess I am rating my own performance here. The distinguished guests at the opening session were piped in by a bag-piper. The 560 delegates heard welcome messages from Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, Honourary Chair of the Conference; Carol Layton, IPAC President; Vic Toews, President of the Treasury Board, Government of Canada; Greg Selinger, Minister of Finance, Government of Manitoba; Annita Stenning, CAO, City of Winnipeg; and Jules Lavallee, Conference Elder. I had the opportunity of introducing each of the special guests who were seated on comfortable armchairs on the stage. As there was no chair for me, I got my workout by climbing onto the raised platform to introduce each guest. Felt a little like a pop-up doll.

The conference then heard from Bill Eggers of Deloitte who spoke about public service in a networked aged. Essentially he spoke about the need for collaborative government. Part of his talk on how Proctor & Gamble are leveraging ideas reminded me of Don Tapscott's book entitled Wikinomics. He also spoke about engaging front line people and citizens to obtain solutions to issues rather than using one or two experts. This reminded me of the Open Space concept. The key for governments in the future is how to use the new web technology and other tools to engage stakeholders and citizens in policy development. I think that we have a long way to go in most Canadian jurisdictions in opening up the policy development process.

The 5 concurrent sessions on Governance Models were well attended. I dropped by the one on P3's but is was overflowing so I went to the adjudicated paper session which turned out to be very interesting.

Over lunch, the Group Excellence award was handed out to the Nova Scotia Regional Group and the Pierre de Celles teaching award was presented to Paul Thomas. Dr. Axworthy then spoke about the need for public servants to globally engage in issues.

In the evening, delegates attended the "It's a Prairie Party" at the Centre Culturel Franco-Manibotain. We had a wide varity of food - Ukrainian, Oriental, Italian, Aboriginal & a dessert buffet. We were also entertained by the Walking Wolf Singers and Dancers, which included a hoop dancer. WOW!! I couldn't fit into the hoop, never mind his performance. The Romanetz Ukrainian Dance Ensemble performed a number of Ukrainian dances that were also quite an aerobic workout. The Asham Stompers performed some traditional Metis jigs, reels and square dances. The youngest member, 7 year old Michael, brought the delegates to their feet with his incredible dancing. Words cannot do his dance justice. The last group were the Fubuki Daiko Japanese drum and flute group. After the show, delegates who still had stamina were dancing up a storm. They are probably still dancing as I write this entry.

Overall it was an incredible first full day of the Conference. The feedback from all has been overwhelmingly positive. The Manitoba organizing group has done a tremendous job and the MC was fantastic!!