Final Blog from Quebec City

My final video blog from Quebec City - site of IPAC's 60th Annual Conference

Dernier blogue video de Quebec

Mon dernier blogue video du congres 2008 de l'IAPC

Day 2 of IPAC 2008 Annual Conference

Bilingual Blog (it's an experiment) on the events of the second day of the IPAC Annual conference in Quebec City.

Day 1 of IPAC 2008 Annual Conference

Video blog recapping first full day of IPAC 2008 Annual Conference in Quebec City - August 25, 2008....

Blogging from Quebec - another video blog

My second video blog from the 60th annual IPAC conference in Quebec City....

On a roll...

Here's what you missed today (August 24th) at the 60th IPAC annual conference in wonderful Quebec City.

60e congres annuel de l'IAPC - 2eme blogue video

Mon bloque video parlant des evenements au congres de l'IAPC - le 24 aout 2008

Beautiful Quebec

The City is in full celebration mode... Yesterday was a gorgeous day in Quebec City. The sun was shining, the temperature was in the mid-20's and there were lots of tourists wandering around behind the old walls.

Dylan and I walked around the old city and saw the excavation near the Chateau Frontenac were they have found very old fortifications. Last time I was here (3 years ago) the dig was not there. You can walk around in the excavation site and imagine how people lived back then. There are useful signs to tell you the use of the space you are walking through and when it was built, including a latrine from the 1700's. Funny, the wall did not look any different than the rest of the site - wonder how they knew it was a latrine?

There are concerts by military bands from different countries just next to the statue of Samuel de Champlain. We listened to a band from Belgium.

In front of the entrance to the Chateau there were TV cameras and lots of people waiting. We couldn't figure out what was going on. Later on the news I saw that Celine Dion had received an honourary doctorate from Laval and that she was staying at the Chateau. She is performing tonight in a free concert on the Pleins d'Abraham along with some other singers such as Ginette Reno. They are expecting close to 200,000 people for that concert.

Near the Chateau is the Quebec Ministry of Finance Building. What an incredible location...near the Rue du Tresor! Just walk out the door and you have the choice of incredible restaurants. I contrast this with the Ontario Ministry of Finance building - the closest food was the hot dog cart! Vive le Quebec!

Had an incredible meal with the Prez, his wife and past Prez at one of Quebec's best restaurants in the old city...le St Amour. It was out of this world...I tried something I have never had before - Cerf, which on the English menu is Red Deer. Wow! I picked up a copy of the menu that they served Paul McCartney when he dined there on July 19th. Needless to say, he did not have Cerf as he is a vegatarian!

And of course, worked in between the tourist meanderings at finalizing some speeches, dealing with last minute conference details and all that office stuff.

It looks like another beautiful day today...the sun is shining on the old town. Stay tuned - I hope to do a video blog in the next couple of days.

My first Video Blog...

Blogue Video de Quebec

Beautiful Quebec

Yesterday was a gorgeous day in Quebec City. The sun was shining, the temperature was in the mid-20's and there were lots of tourists wandering around behind the old walls.

Dylan and I walked around the old city and saw the excavation near the Chateau Frontenac were they have found very old fortifications. Last time I was here (3 years ago) the dig was not there. You can walk around in the excavation site and imagine how people lived back then. There are useful signs to tell you the use of the space you are walking through and when it was built, including a latrine from the 1700's. Funny, the wall did not look any different than the rest of the site - wonder how they knew it was a latrine?

There are concerts by military bands from different countries just next to the statue of Samuel de Champlain. We listened to a band from Belgium.

In front of the entrance to the Chateau there were TV cameras and lots of people waiting. We couldn't figure out what was going on. Later on the news I saw that Celine Dion had received an honourary doctorate from Laval and that she was staying at the Chateau. She is performing tonight in a free concert on the Pleins d'Abraham along with some other singers such as Ginette Reno. They are expecting close to 200,000 people for that concert.

Near the Chateau is the Quebec Ministry of Finance Building. What an incredible location...near the Rue du Tresor! Just walk out the door and you have the choice of incredible restaurants. I contrast this with the Ontario Ministry of Finance building - the closest food was the hot dog cart! Vive le Quebec!

Had an incredible meal with the Prez, his wife and past Prez at one of Quebec's best restaurants in the old city...le St Amour. It was out of this world...I tried something I have never had before - Cerf, which on the English menu is Red Deer. Wow! I picked up a copy of the menu that they served Paul McCartney when he dined there on July 19th. Needless to say, he did not have Cerf as he is a vegatarian!

And of course, worked in between the tourist meanderings at finalizing some speeches, dealing with last minute conference details and all that office stuff.

It looks like another beautiful day today...the sun is shining on the old town. Stay tuned - I hope to do a video blog in the next couple of days.

Arrived in Quebec City

Drove up to Quebec City with Dylan - one of our new staff. He had to put up with my driving and choice of music. I recently bought myself a new contraption that allows you to listen to your iPod on your car radio by finding a free frequency on the dial. Since I have over 650 songs on the thing, had different music all the way.

We arrived late last night (at about 21h00) after an 8 hour trip (including hitting late evening traffic jam in Montreal).

It's Dylan's first time in Quebec City, so we went out to dinner in the old town - wanted to go to Aux Anciens Canadiens but they don't serve after 22h00 for some reason....WTF? That's not that late to eat. Anyway, found another nice restaurant right next door.

It is early in the morning as I write this entry (06h30), the sun is starting to shine and it looks like another beautiful day.

That's it for now - nothing profound about Public Admin - haven't had enough coffee for that yet!

Almost forgot - Sandy Borins has a new blog site - check out the home page of this site under "Blogs" to go to the site.

Countdown.......

Only a few days to go before the 60th annual IPAC conference in Quebec City...I'm driving up to Quebec City tomorrow to get ready for our Board meeting and the annual conference. We have our Board committee meetings on Saturday morning and the Board meeting is Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

Also on Saturday & Sunday we are holding our international workshop with both Canadian and international delegates. It should be a good meeting. Saturday from 17h00 to 19h00 (that's 5:00 to 7:00pm folks) we will have a reception for the 60 or so international delegates and our Board members.

On Sunday at 15h00 the IPAC AGM takes place. And like last year, we have produced an annual report that we will post on the website. Last year's tag line was "Status Quon't" and this year's tag line is "Moving Forward Together". At the AGM, Louis Borgeat, our president and Syd Baxter, our National Secretary will be giving a "State of the Nation" speech.

After the AGM, there will be a reception for New Professionals who are registered at the conference. And the evening will culminate in a reception for all delegates at the Musee des Beaux-Arts. I understand that there is an exhibit from the Louvre at the museum. It should be a great exhibit & I plan to visit it & if I can take pictures, I will upload them on the IPAC facebook page.

Well that's all for now....I will be blogging from the conference, so stay tuned for further updates.

Survey Says......

A little while ago we sent a survey to IPAC practitioner members asking you similar questions that we asked DMs/Municipal CAOs last year.....

Well the response was amazing - over 540 of you responded (which is a participation rate of over 30% of our practitioner members). We are busy compiling the responses and comparing them to the responses from last year's survey of Deputy Ministers and Municipal CAO. The data is very rich and what is even more interesting are the comments that you added to the various questions.

Stay tuned we will be releasing the results and analysis shortly.

Thanks to all who participated

Count down to 60th Annual Conference

On August 24th we kick off IPAC's 60th annual conference in wonderful Quebec City. As you all know it is the 400th anniversary of Quebec City this year and the city will be hopping with all sorts of wonderful shows. For those who don't know, IPAC 1st Annual Conference was held in Quebec City in 1948. So 60 years later, we are back in Quebec City for our 60th annual conference.

The conference kicks-off on Sunday August 24th with our AGM, followed by a special new professionals get together and later that evening the opening reception at the Musee des beaux-arts de Quebec. If you haven't already done so, join us in Quebec City.

The next three days will be jam packed with interesting plenary sessions and workshops. Like I did last year in Wnnipeg, I will be blogging every day from Quebec City. Stay tuned.

Various Meanderings

The weather in Toronto (the centre of the Universe!) has been rather strange lately. We have gotten lots of rain, much of it in sudden downpours. I think the same has been true across the country. Is this the impact of climate change? I don't know.

I've been playing with my new toy - my Apple MacBook Pro. I got it last Friday and have tried a few of its funky functions. I sat in front of the computer and made a couple of videos. Haven't posted anything yet, but I hope to create a video blog as soon as I figure out how to do it. What just came to mind as I wrote this is my first computer - a Commodore 64! You had to program those things, not at all like computers nowadays. Actually a little while ago I was speaking to one of our new young employees and I was recounting my first computer course in University. It was Fortran and we had to use punch cards to write the program, put the cards through the card reader and come back a few hours later to pick up your batch job, only to discover that it did not work because you punched something wrong. He looked at me and asked me what a punch card was. Felt a little old! Well, guess I'm hip (or whatever the term is) - I now have a Mac!!

Speaking of being hip, we are testing out some discussion boards for the IPAC website. I hope to have them up and running in time for our August annual conference in Québec City. If all goes well (don't discount Murphy's law) as an IPAC member you will be able to partake in discussions with public servants, academics, etc across the country and around the world. I'll be looking for board moderators on the topics we put up, so think about that.

One last thing before I go back to my desk piled with paper - have you registered for the annual conference in Québec City yet? What are you waiting for? Even though Paul McCartney won't be there, if you come I might even be persuaded to sing on the pleins d'Abraham!! :)