The Last Post - maybe

Well it's a hot and humid Thursday July 8, 2010 in good old Toronto the Good.  After four years, tomorrow is my last day as CEO at IPAC.  It has been quite an experience working for a not-for-profit that focuses on public administration and management.  In those four years, I think we have accomplished quite a lot. When I joined IPAC in August 2006, I replaced Joseph Galimberti who had joined IPAC in 1969 and became Executive Director in 1975 until his sudden, untimely death in April 2006.  As you can imagine it is quite interesting and challenging to join an organization that had one person as its leader for 31 years. The thing one has to remember is that you cannot be the person you are succeeding, you have to be your own person and do things your way - which can sometimes be difficult for long time staff!

In these last four years, IPAC has evolved in terms of its outreach, programming and web presence (including this blog and my tweeting!).  There are more innovations to come in terms of IPAC's web presence but I will not divulge these as I don't want to spoil the surprise.  In this day and age organizations such as IPAC must embrace technology to leverage its work and spread the word about what it is doing.  I will leave others to judge what was accomplished in those 4 years.  In my previous post, "All Good Things", I  wrote about the support, or lack thereof from various jurisdictions in Canada.  I know that some will say that they do not provide core funding to organizations or they may even say why support IPAC as opposed to some other organization.  To these comments I just say that IPAC is the only national organization that brings together public servants from all orders of government in Canada and academics in the field of public administration and management.  IPAC conferences, both National Conferences and local events organized by any of our 17 active regional groups, bring together people from all orders of government and academics to discuss and debate issues in public management and policy and allows us to learn from our peers and create connections that will ultimately help create better public services. To those who have the power to do so, I say, support your chosen profession of public service.  If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

I think that all of us who have a few years under our belt (or in my case quite a few years!) have an obligation to give back to our chosen profession and ensure that the next generation of public servants have the same opportunities that we had to connect with their peers across the country, with their peers working in other orders of government and the opportunity to contribute to the evolution of excellent public service in Canada and around the world.  Remember that most of the public policy issues that we now face will require collaboration within government and between governments, between municipalities, provincial/territorial governments, aboriginal governments, broader public sector organizations and the federal government.  A crisis is a difficult time to build good working relationships, IPAC offers the opportunity for us to get to know each other and understand each other through our common bond - the desire to provide excellent public services to Canadians.

Well this may be my last post on this blog.  I want to thank all of you, my faithful readers, for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you over the last number of years.

Conférence 150!Canada - rapport final

Le rapport final de notre Conférence 150!Canada est maintenant disponible sur notre site web. La conférence qui s'est tenue au Centre national des Arts à Ottawa et a réuni 300 délégués de partout au pays pour entendre plus de 25 conférenciers de marque et pour développer un plan d'action pour célébrer le 150e anniversaire du Canada en 2017.
Je pense que vous trouverez le rapport plein d'idées sur la façon dont nous devrions aborder cette occasion mémorable. Comme dans
le cas des présentations des conférenciers, certains thèmes récurrents sont ressortis des tables rondes :
 

• Le sesquicentenaire devrait inclure tous les Canadiens et les Canadiennes. Les célébrations du 150e anniversaire devraient inviter tous les citoyens à apprendre les uns des autres et à prendre part aux traditions des autres. Nous pouvons célébrer le Canada de nombreuses manières, qui ont toutes leur place. Quelle que soit la façon choisie de célébrer, la population entière devrait se sentir invitée à participer.
• Cette célébration doit avoir une dimension internationale. Nous sommes une nation d’immigrants, mais nous sommes aussi une nation d’émigrants. Le Canada est le pays du G8 qui a la plus grande proportion de sa population vivant à l’étranger. Pour inclure tous les Canadiens et les Canadiennes, nous devons faire en sorte que cette célébration ait une dimension internationale.
• Inciter la communication nationale. Nous devons communiquer avec nos voisins d’autres secteurs et régions, et encourager la communication entre le gouvernement et les citoyens. Le sesquicentenaire représente une occasion pour toute la population canadienne de se parler et de partager cette expérience.
• Bâtir le Canada que nous voulons avoir. Le sesquicentenaire sera l’occasion de célébrer ce que nous avons accompli. Ce sera l’occasion d’honorer le Canada en réalisant nos aspirations pour notre pays. Cet anniversaire devrait être un catalyseur pour s’attaquer aux grands problèmes et mettre en branle des projets ambitieux qui créeront des changements positifs pour l’avenir.
• Commencer maintenant. Une réflexion sur le Canada et une discussion sur le sesquicentenaire constitue une démarche excitante. Nous n’avons pas besoin d’attendre qu’on nous donne la permission. Personne n’a à nous dire quoi faire. L’année 2017 approche et nous devons commencer à organiser sa célébration dès maintenant.

 Le rapport fournit des recommandations concrètes pour nous tous sur la façon dont nous pouvons aller de l'avant. N'oubliez pas que la  Conférence 150!Canada n'était que le début de notre voyage incroyable à 2017.

150!Canada Conference - Final Report

The final report of our 150!Canada conference is now available on our website.  The conference which was held at the National Art Centre in Ottawa and brought together 300 delegates from across the country to hear from over 25 distinguished speakers and develop a plan of action to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday in 2017.

I think that you will find the report chock full of ideas on how we should be approaching this momentous occasion.  There were several recurring themes that came out of the roundtables that were held on the second day of the conference:

• The Sesquicentennial should include all Canadians. Sesquicentennial celebrations should encourage all Canadians to learn from one another and share their traditions. There are many different and important ways to celebrate Canada. However we celebrate, all Canadians should feel welcome.

• This needs to be a global celebration. We are a nation of immigrants, but we’re also a nation of emigrants. 2.8 million Canadians live abroad — more than the population of Atlantic Canada, or the Praries. To include all Canadians, we need to take this celebration to the world.

• Open channels for communication. We should use the Sesquicentennial to reach out to one another and create new ways to connect. Let’s promote dialogue between communities, and different sectors.

• Build the Canada we want. The Sesquicentennial is an occasion to celebrate our accomplishments, and look ahead. It’s time to start punching above our weight. If we’re honest about our challenges, we can make 2017 a catalyst for change.

• Start now. Our 150th anniversary excites Canadians. People want to talk about the country and its future, but there isn’t time to waste. Organizers spent a decade preparing for the Centennial. The time to get started is now.

The report provides concrete recommendations for all of us on how we can move forward.  Remember that the 150!Canada conference was but the start of our incredible journey to 2017.

World Cup

Every four years productivity around the world decreases as people are glued to their TVs to watch that magnificent game - football (or soccer).  This year has been no exception - especially now that you can watch the matches streamed over the net!  It has been an exciting tournament so far with a few upsets.  And note how seriously some governments (you were probably wondering how I was going to tie this to public administration!) take the results from the world cup - France has called an inquiry into how badly the national team played and the discord within the team and Nigeria has banned its team from playing internationally for the next two years.

Hope you enjoy this video........

Winding Down

Well, my last day at IPAC is a week away - July 9th.  I'm sure you all enjoyed Canada Day yesterday and celebrated this great country of ours.  It is truly an wonderful country.  Yesterday we released the report from our 150!Canada conference and it was e-mailed out to participants.  We will be posting it on the website early next week and will send it out to all members as well.  Watch for it.

In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy a couple of songs by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole....

Toutes les bonnes choses ......... et le 202 ème blogue

Eh bien selon le décompte sur Blogger, ceci est mon 202ème poste depuis que j'ai commencé le blogue à la fin d'août 2007. Mes premiers blogues étaient de notre conférence annuelle à Winnipeg et j'ai posté directement sur notre site web. Un an ou moins plus tard, j'ai décidé de passer au site public Blogger qui m'a donné beaucoup plus de flexibilité en termes de transfert de photos, de vidéos ainsi qu'une plus grand auditoire. Et la "cerise sur le sundae" c'est que c'est gratuit!  

J'ai joint l'IAPC en tant que PDG en août 2006 juste à temps pour la conférence annuelle de l'Île du Prince Edouard. Au cours des 4 dernières années, j'ai eu le plaisir de rencontrer de nombreux fonctionnaires dévoués de partout au pays - d'une mer à l'autre - et de tous les niveaux de gouvernement. Il est regrettable que le public canadien ne sache pas toutes les grandes réalisations des fonctionnaires. À l'IAPC, nous avons essayé de mettre en évidence l'excellence grâce à nos prix et d'autres événements. Dans le temps que j'ai été ici, j'ai revu des centaines et des centaines de soumissions pour notre Prix de gestion innovatrice commandité par IBM Canada et KPMG; notre  Prix IAPC/Deloitte de leadership dans le secteur public; et la crème de la crème, la Médaille Vanier. En lisant les soumissions j'ai toujours été frappé par les merveilleux exemples de service public. Chaque année, il était difficile de choisir les finalistes parmi les candidats et encore plus difficile de sélectionner les gagnants - en fait tous sont gagnants! 

J'ai eu l'occasion de rencontrer de nombreux universitaires de nos grandes universités qui enseignent l'administration publique et la politique public. Leurs travaux constituent un sous-tendent du travail de la fonction publique au Canada. Au fil des années, j'ai lu une pléthore d'articles extraordinaires dans la revue Administration publique du Canada. 


J'ai eu l'occasion de travailler avec les présidents incroyable dans mes 4 ans à l'IAPC - Luc Bernier, Carol Layton, Louis Borgeat, Bill Greenlaw et Wynne Young. Ils sont tous bénévoles et ont très occupé avec leur emplois, mais ils croient tous dans la fonction publique et dans l'IAPC et on librement donné de leur temps et continue à donner de leur temps à l'IAPC. La même chose vaut pour le conseil d'administration, les présidents des groupes régionaux et leurs exécutifs et tous les bénévoles qui donnent de leur temps parce qu'ils croient que l'excellence dans le service public est important au Canada et partout dans le monde. Les 17 groupes régionaux de l'IAPC sont très actif et offrent un large éventail d'activités d'apprentissage à la fois membres de l'IAPC et les non-membres. 

Et je m'en voudrais si je ne mentionne pas le personnel dévoué de l'IAPC.  

Donc, vous devriez avoir deviné que je quitte l'IAPC. En effet, je vais continuer à travailler dans le domaine de l'administration publique et la politique comme sous-ministre adjoint au ministère de l'Éducation de l'Ontario. J'ai hâte aux défis et aux opportunités que ce boulot va apporter. 

Pour ces hauts fonctionnaires qui ont lu mon blogue, je tiens à vous encourager à augmenter votre soutien à l'IAPC. Il existe de nombreuses juridictions qui n'ont pas augmenté leur contribution à IAPC depuis le début des années 1990 et d'autres (vous savez qui vous êtes), qui ne fournissent aucune aide de base à cette magnifique institution. Comme je l'ai mentionné dans mon dernier éditorial dans le numéro de juin du magazine Management Secteur Public, sans l'IAPC je crois vraiment que le corps des connaissances actuelles de l'administration publique au Canada ne serait pas aussi grande qu'elle l'est aujourd'hui. Je vous invite à redonner à votre profession choisie - le service public - et à investir dans l'avenir les fonctionnaires en soutenant l'IAPC.

All Good Things.........and the 201st blog post

Well according to the count on Blogger, this is my 201st post since I started the blog in late August 2007. My first blogs were from our annual conference in Winnipeg and I actually posted directly on the website.  A year or less later I decided to move to Blogger a public site that gave me much more flexibility in terms of uploading pictures, videos as well as greater exposure.  And the "cerise sur le sundae" as we say in Québec is that it is free!

I joined IPAC as CEO in August 2006 just in time for the Annual conference in PEI.  In the last 4 years, I have had the pleasure of meeting many dedicated public servants from across the country - from sea to sea to sea - and from all orders of government.  It is unfortunate that the Canadian public does not hear of all the great accomplishments of public servants.  At IPAC we have tried to highlight this excellence through our awards and other events. In the time I have been here I have reviewed hundreds upon hundreds of submissions for our Innovative Management Awards co-sponsored by IBM Canada and KPMG; our IPAC/Deloitte Public Sector Leadership Awards and la crème de la crème, the Vanier Medal.  As I read these I was always struck by the wonderful examples of public service that leaped off the page.  Every year it was difficult to choose the finalists from among the nominees and harder still to select the winners - actually all are winners!

I have had the opportunity to meet with many academics from our great Universities who teach public administration and policy.  Their work provides an underpinning to the work of public service in Canada.  Over the years I have read a plethora of extraordinary articles in the Canadian Public Administration journal.

I have had the opportunity of working with incredible Presidents in my 4 years at IPAC - Luc Bernier, Carol Layton, Louis Borgeat, Bill Greenlaw and Wynne Young.  They are all volunteers and have very busy "day" jobs but they all believe in public service and in IPAC and freely gave of their time and continue to give of their time to IPAC.  The same holds true for the Board of Directors, the Regional Group Chairs and Regional Group Executives and all the volunteers who give of their time because they believe that excellence in public service is important in Canada and around the world. IPAC very active 17 regional groups provide a wide range of learning activities to both IPAC members and non-members alike.

And I would be remiss if I did not mention the dedicated staff at IPAC who keep the place running.

So you should have guessed by now that I am leaving IPAC.  Indeed I am going to continue to work in the field of public administration and policy as an assistant deputy minister with the Ontario Ministry of Education. I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that the new job will bring and I look fondly back at my time at IPAC.

For those senior public servants who read my blog, I want to encourage you to increase your support to IPAC.  There are many jurisdictions who have not increased their contribution in support of IPAC since the early 1990's and others (you know who you are) who provide no core support to this wonderful institution.  As I mentioned in my last editorial in the June issue of Public Sector Management magazine, without IPAC I truly believe that the existing body of knowledge on public administration in Canada would not be as extensive as it is today. I urge you to give back to your chosen profession - the public service - and to invest in future public servants by supporting IPAC.

Prix IAPC pour la gestion innovatrice

Eh bien nous avons finalement lu les plus de 80 présentations que nous avons reçu cette année le Prix de gestion innovatrice commondité par IBM Canada et KPMG. Neuf finalistes ont été sélectionnés et ils feront des présentations au jury de sélection au début de juillet, à Toronto.

Comme vous le savez le thème de cette année est la collaboration. Il y avait de nombreux soumissions valables, mais nous avons dû faire un choix pour sélectionner les finalistes. Inutile de dire que les choix ont été difficiles à faire étant donné le calibre des plus de 80 soumissions.
Et les finalistes sont:

• Public Transportation for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games - South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (Translink)
• Aboriginal Economic Partnerships - Alberta Aboriginal Relations
• Alberta's 10 year plan to End Homelessness - Alberta Housing & Urban Affairs
• Working Horizontally to Develop a Transformative Initiative on Accessible Transportation - Accessibility Directorate, Ontario Ministry of Community & Social Services
• Ontario's Statistical Neighbours: A Tool for Planning - Ontario Ministry of Education
• Human Resources Process Lab - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Restructuring Canada's Automotive Industry - Industry Canada
• Impetus for Change: Federal, Provincial, Territorial Pandemic Coordination - Public Health Agency of Canada
• La négociation et la mise en oeuvre de l'Accord de commerce et de coopération Québec-Ontario - Ministère de Dévelloppement économique, de l'Innovation et de l'Exportation

Innovative Management Award - Finalists

Well we finally made it through the over 80 submissions that we received for this year Innovative Management Award co-sponsored by IBM Canada and KPMG.  Nine finalists were selected and they will be making presentations to the selection jury in early July in Toronto.

As you may recall the theme for this year's award is collaboration. There were many worthy submissions but we had to make a choice to decide on the finalists.  Needless to say that the choices were difficult to make given the calibre of the over 80 submissions.

And the finalists are:

• Public Transportation for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games - South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (Translink)
• Aboriginal Economic Partnerships - Alberta Aboriginal Relations
• Alberta's 10 year plan to End Homelessness - Alberta Housing & Urban Affairs
• Working Horizontally to Develop a Transformative Initiative on Accessible Transportation - Accessibility Directorate, Ontario Ministry of Community & Social Services
• Ontario's Statistical Neighbours: A Tool for Planning - Ontario Ministry of Education
• Human Resources Process Lab - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Restructuring Canada's Automotive Industry - Industry Canada
• Impetus for Change: Federal, Provincial, Territorial Pandemic Coordination - Public Health Agency of Canada
• La négociation et la mise en oeuvre de l'Accord de commerce et de coopération Québec-Ontario - Ministère de Dévelloppement économique, de l'Innovation et de l'Exportation

National Public Service Week 2010

June 13 to 19, 2010 is National Public Service Week.  It is that time of year when some governments across Canada celebrate public service and the achievements of public servants.  The Governor General of Canada has put out a statement commending the public servants for the work that they do.

There are many activities taking place across the country that are aimed at celebrating the excellence in public service that we find day in and day out in public services in Canada.  The Government of Canada has a website dedicated to National Public Service Week that includes information about activities being undertaken by the Federal government.  The Government of Manitoba has also set up a website to highlight what is happening in that province for National Public Service Week.

While I am happy that some public services are celebrating National Public Service Week, it would be great to have a coordinated campaign that includes the public service of all orders of government across Canada that highlights the value of public service in Canada.  Maybe next year??

In the meantime, I would urge all public servants to take pride in their work and to celebrate their chosen profession.  Have a great public service week!

E-Government in the USA

Have come across a couple of reports on E-government in the USA.  The first is from Pew Research and is a survey that describes the relationship of citizens to public administration - according to this study, 40% of adult internet users have gone online to obtain raw data about government spending and about government activities.  And 31% of online adults have used social media to stay informed about government activities and want to be more engaged & contribute to policy development.  This last part on the desire of citizens wanting to contribute to policy development does not surprise me as I have written about the advantage of what I called "open source policy development" in past blogs.  You can access the Pew study here.

The second report is a report from the Office of Management and Budget entitled "FY 2009 Report to Congress on the Implementation of The E-Government Act of 2002".  This report describes how the US government uses e-government tools to improve its performance and delivery of services and information to the public.  The report also delves into transparency and participation initiatives.

In its first year in office, the Obama Administration leveraged the power of information technology to transform the Federal Government. Starting on his first full day in office, the President led this effort by issuing a directive to make the Government more open and transparent. The Administration engaged the American people in new ways such as virtual town hall meetings and improved the quality of the services delivered to the public. Key initiatives demonstrate the commitment to changing the way Government works:

• In May 2009, Data.gov was launched to enhance access to Federal data. Since then, the site has grown to contain over 167,000 datasets and tools for using the data. After the Environmental Protection Agency toxic release data was featured on Data.gov, the frequency of downloads of that data increased over tenfold.
• In June 2009, the IT Dashboard was implemented to provide unprecedented transparency into $78 billion in annual Federal spending on IT investments. Agency CIOs now review the IT Dashboard monthly to provide updated status information on major IT investments more frequently than ever before.
• In September 2009, Apps.gov was launched to provide Federal agencies easy access to new cloud computing and social media technologies. This enabled agencies to transform their computing services quickly and avoid months of delay and redundant effort.
• In October 2009, a new platform, CyberScope, was launched to streamline the annual security reporting workload and improved the ability to analyze and report on IT security across the Federal Government.
• In December 2009, OMB issued the Open Government Directive instructing all agencies to implement the principles of transparency, participation and collaboration set forth by the President.

 The report also includes many examples of initiatives undertaken in e-government that have application to Canada. You can access the full report here.

The High Road: the Podcast

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, Terry Fallis has written a sequel to his award winning first novel The Best Laid Plans.  His second novel entitled, The High Road is scheduled to be published in September 2010.  For those who followed Terry's experience with self-publishing his first novel before McClelland & Stewart published it know that Terry also podcast his first novel.  Well M&S has agreed to allow Terry to podcast The High Road!!  That is quite unusual for a publisher and kudos to M&S.  Well Terry has started his podcast and you can listen to Terry reading his novel on iTunes or on his website.

I have listened to the first two chapters and listening to Terry read his work is a delight.  And obviously I am not the only one who thinks so as THR has risen up the iTunes charts and others such as the President of the Canadian Booksellers Association have lauded Terry's book.

I would heartily recommend that you listen to this wonderful Canadian political novel.  If you enjoyed The Best Laid Plans, you will love The High Road.

 

Innovative Management Award - More

A few days ago I blogged about IPAC's Innovative Management Award.  Well the application deadline has arrived along with almost 100 submissions!  I am now plowing my way through a number of these submissions and I can tell that it will be a very difficult job to come up with a handful of finalists from the amazing examples of collaboration that I have read about so far. These are such great examples of how governments right across Canada are engaging in collaboration to develop better policies and programs.  The collaborations include multiple ministries/departments within a jurisdiction, collaboration with other orders of government - federal, provincial, municipal and aboriginal, collaboration with the private sector, collaboration with NGO's and community groups, collaboration with citizens and collaboration with other countries.  WOW!!!

I am not sure how I will triage all these submissions, but one thing I can attest to is that citizens should be proud of the public service in Canada for engaging in innovative and collaborative approaches to program & policy development and implementation.  Stay tuned for the list of the finalists shortly (have to have it shortly as the awards jury meets in early July to hear from the finalists and award the Gold, Silver & Bronze).

Once again, thanks to our sponsors, IBM Canada and KPMG for supporting this important award and especially thanks to all the organizations across Canada that have submitted nominations.

2nd Curve Health Care Organizations

As part of IPAC's "Sustaining Transformation: Building a Resilient Organization" conference that we held on May 31st & June 1st, Dr. Marty Merry spoke about the opportunity to create 2nd curve health care organizations.

His premise is that the complexity of our health care system as outpaced its capacity to deliver safe patient care under the old "craft" model. What is required to move from a 4 sigma (6,210 defects/1 million = avoidable deaths) to a 6 sigma organization (3.4 defects/1 million) is a paradigm shift. Moving to a second curve system that imports the best of management science into the field of health care delivery would move an organization from 4 to 6 sigma. As Dr. Merry noted - what is the rate of preventable deaths that would be acceptable. If we say that we are satisfied with 95% success rate, that means that 50,000 people die from preventable deaths in our system. The only real answer that is acceptable is ZERO!

But how do we get there?

Dr Merry laid out "The Vision: 10 Rules of Performance in a Redesigned/2nd Curve Health Care System" (adapted from the Institute of Medicine, 2003):

1. Care is based on continuous  healing relationships;
2. Care is customized based on patient needs and values;
3. The patient is the source of control;
4. Knowledge is shared and information flows freely;
5. Decision making is evidence based;
6. Safety is a system property;
7. Transparency is necessary;
8. Needs are anticipated;
9. Waste is continuously decreased; and
10. Cooperation among clinicians is a priority.

Dr. Merry spoke about the characteristics of a second curve health care organization that is patient focused.  I could not do justice to his full talk, but have no fear as we will be posting the videos of his talk on teh IPAC website shortly.

Resilience Conference

As I wrote previously, on Monday & Tuesday, we organized a conference entitled “Sustaining Transformation: Building a Resilient Organization” that focused on health care.  We had an amazing array of speakers! The conference was videoed and will be posting the videos on our website in the next short while.

Among our keynote speakers was Saäd Rafi, DM of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care who spoke to the delegates on the need for resilience and a focus on quality of care. He spoke of the need for health care organizations to act as a real system that is better aligned to quality health outcomes and that the future core business of the sector is a focus on quality care. There are some who equate the amount of funding to the level of quality. Saäd emphasized that more money does not result in better quality. Indeed there is an argument that true quality is less expensive as it focuses on the best practices for the delivery of care based on evidence. Saäd spoke about the Ontario government’s new legislation “Excellent Care for All” that is presently being debated in the Legislature. This legislation focuses on quality and patient outcomes and requires every hospital to develop an annual Quality Plan that includes regular surveys of patients, their families, and staff to gauge the level of quality being delivered.

Saäd also connected what the Ministry is doing to the 4 parts of resilience model- Responds, Monitors, Anticipates and Learns. He emphasized that the learn is the most difficult as it requires behavioral changes in the system as a whole. The delegates appreciated his take on the challenges and opportunities ahead and the need to build truly resilient organizations in order to be successful.

There were a number of other incredible speakers, such as Dr. Marty Merry and Dr. Josh Tepper on 2nd curve health care organizations that I will blog about in a future update.

Innovative Management Award

In 1990, IPAC established "The IPAC Award for Innovative Management" to recognize the exceptional management within the public sector of Canada. Each year a new theme is chosen by the IPAC Board of Directors and our sponsors - IBM Canada and KPMG. In those 20 years we have been privileged to see many extraordinary examples of innovation at its best from right across the full spectrum of the public sector in Canada. On the IPAC website we have a database of all the winners and finalists through all these years.

In many years IPAC receives 100 submissions from across the country. These 100 submissions are whittled down to a group of finalists who are invited to present their innovative management submission to a jury composed of distinguished public servants. The top three finalists are then invited to make presentations at the IPAC Annual Conference and winners are announced.

This years theme is "Collaboration at Work".

Governments in Canada and around the world face complex problems that reach across ministerial mandates, regulatory purview and jurisdictions, and affect citizens and stakeholders in predictable and unintended ways. While resources are increasingly limited, citizens expect governments to work together to tackle "wicked problems."

Collaboration is needed within an entire governmental enterprise or public organization, with other governments, the broader public sector, NGOs and with citizens. Natural disasters or flu epidemics, adapting to and mitigating climate change, dealing with the impacts of a global recession, caring for the most vulnerable members of our society, or helping other countries develop their institutions and public services: one single government entity, acting alone, cannot achieve the results that our citizens expect.

We demand that governments act in concert with actors from business, civil society as well as with citizens, and work effectively with other orders of government to achieve the best outcomes. We require that this cooperative approach be cost effective, swift, innovative and transparent. We also expect public sector values to be respected.

For 2010, the Innovative Management Awards will recognize governmental/public sector organizations that have shown new and innovative ways of cutting across bureaucratic boundaries and silos to address the complex issues facing society.

The deadline to submit your application is June 7, 2010.  Go to the Innovative Management section of the IPAC website to fill in the application form.

Resilience, Reliability and Results

On Monday May 31st, and Tuesday June 1st, IPAC will be holding a conference focusing on health care entitled Sustainable Transformation: Building a Resilient Organization.

As part of IPAC's health care research project we will be releasing a study of five acute-care hospitals in the Waterloo-Wellington region that highlight the stories of these "high performers in the making" and their respective experiences with ED PIP – the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s “Emergency Department Process Improvement Program.”

This 8 month initiative which ran from March – October 2009 engaged front-line staff from across these organizations in "quality by design" decision-making, planning, piloting and implementing of process improvement changes in Emergency Departments and across Inpatient Units. With Wave 2 just finishing and an additional 17 Ontario Hospital sites added to the roll-out, ED PIP may be one of the most significant transformational efforts to take place in Ontario hospitals in decades. In its early days PIP has clearly demonstrated success by enhancing the quality of the patient experience through improved access to care and flow through the system at the following Wave 1 sites:

• Groves Memorial Hospital, Fergus
• Guelph General Hospital, Guelph
• St. Mary’s General Hospital, Kitchener-Waterloo
• Grand River Hospital, Kitchener-Waterloo
• Cambridge Memorial Hospital, Cambridge

The case studies provide a context for specific process improvement strategies that could be adopted in other hospitals and outline the challenges or barriers that may prevent the adoption of these process improvements. This study considers:

• the significance of a learning culture that builds capacity and resilience in its people;
• the importance of process improvement designs that enhance system effectiveness and efficiencies and increase overall reliability in care delivery and patient outcomes; and
• the value of a management and performance measurement infrastructure that encourages and supports the desired results of the transformation.

With a spirit of persistent crafting and sustaining of robust strategies and improvements in care, these ‘stories’ and ‘lessons learned’ can influence, inspire and dare us to consider what is possible as we continue the journey of healthcare reform in the province of Ontario.

You can access these cases and much more on the IPAC Health Care Leaders Forum page of the IPAC website.

Next week I will be blogging from our Health care conference.  As I've written before on this blog, we must come to grips with the increased demands of our health care system if we are to ensure a longer term fiscally sustainable future and a society that invests in other important areas such as education, the arts and infrastructure.

Patient Safety & Quality Health Care

An interesting new report, published in April 2010, by the European Commission on the perceptions of patient safety and the quality of healthcare. The survey was conducted in 27 members states of the European Union. Nearly half the respondents feel that they could be harmed by healthcare in their country, and the majority of respondents feel hospital infections or incorrect, missed or delayed diagnoses are either fairly likely or very likely to occur.

• The majority of respondents feel hospital infections or incorrect, missed or delayed diagnoses are either fairly likely or very likely to occur when receiving healthcare in their own country.

• Over 25% of respondents claim that they or a member of their family have experienced an adverse event with healthcare. However, these events largely go unreported.

• Where adverse experiences were reported this was mainly to the hospital management or the relevant doctor, nurse or pharmacist.

• Nearly one third of respondents do not know which body is responsible for patient safety in their country. Others see the ministry of health or the healthcare providers (e.g. clinic, hospital, doctor, nurse) as the responsible bodies.

• Of the people who underwent surgery, 17% say written consent was never obtained, though great variance across the Member States is evident.

• Most respondents (73%) say television is their main source of information regarding adverse events in healthcare, followed by newspapers and magazines (44%) and friends or family (31%). Only 9% would seek information in official statistics or in hospital.

• Whether harm occurred in their own country, or another Member State, respondents expect that an investigation into the case or financial compensation would be the forms of redress.

• Should they be harmed in their own country, most respondents anticipate that they would seek help from a lawyer, or else the hospital management or ministry of health. If the harm occurs in another Member State, they claim they would first contact their embassy or consulate.

• When thinking of high quality healthcare, the most important criterion is well trained medical staff, followed by treatment that works. Thereafter, no waiting lists, modern medical equipment and respect of a patient’s dignity receive roughly equal responses.

• Most respondents rate the healthcare in their country as good, though the majority feel it is fairly good rather than very good. However, there is again great variance on a national level (from 97% to 25% of respondents rating quality of healthcare in their country as good).

• Respondents from 16 EU Member States consider the quality of healthcare in their country as worse than in other Member States, whereas respondents from 11 Member States consider it as better.

This is a fascinating report and Canadians should be aware that we have similar issues in this country.

La Gouverneure générale remet la Médaille Vanier

Le 13 mai la gouverneure générale du Canada a présenté la Médaille Vanier au Dr Gordon S. Smith lors d'une cérémonie à Rideau Hall. Ce fut une occasion merveilleuse et l'IAPC est fier que Son Excellence a présidé cette cérémonie importante.

Dr Smith, Wynne Young (la présidente de l'IAPC) et moi sont arrivé à 9:30 où nous avons été accueillis par le merveilleux personnel de Rideau Hall. On nous a montré où la cérémonie aurait lieu et ce que nous avions à faire. Après nous sommes allés à la salon "Mme Vanier" et ont nous a offert café, thé, etc que nous avons attendu que la cérémonie commence a 10h30.

La gouverneure générale a prononcé un discours admirable sur le service public que vous devriez tous lire. Wynne Young a ensuite remercié la GG pour son hospitalité et a présenté le Lauréate de 2009 de la médaille Vanier, Dr Smith. Dr Smith a ensuite reçu sa médaille de la Gouverneure générale et il a parlé pendant quelques minutes sur le service public et sa carrière et sa relation avec Rideau Hall.

Après le chant de «O Canada» nous avons été invités à une réception où la merveilleuse GG nous a rejoint.

Ce fut un événement merveilleux et nous sommes très reconnaissants que la gouverneure général a été en mesure de présider à la cérémonie de cette année.

Pictures from Vanier Reception/Photos de la réception de la Médaille Vanier

Here are a few pictures from the reception at Rideau Hall following the Vanier Medal ceremony.  This picture is of our incoming President, Denise Amyot and the Governor General.

Voici quelques photos de la réception à Rideau Hall, après la cérémonie de la Médaille Vanier. Cette photo est de notre présidente entrante, Denise Amyot et de la Gouverneure générale Michaëlle Jean.

These pictures were taken in the beautiful gardens of Rideau Hall.  Picture below from left to right are: Kaili Levesque, Chair National Capital Regional Group, Denise Amyot, Incoming IPAC President, Nancy Chahwan, IPAC National Secretary, me and Nancy Faraday-Smith, IPAC VP.

Ces photos ont été prises dans les jardins magnifiques de Rideau Hall. Photo ci-dessous, de gauche à droite: Kaili Lévesque, présidente du Groupe régional de la capitale nationale, Denise Amyot, présidente entrante de l'IAPC, Nancy Chahwan, Secrétaire national de l'IAPC, moi et Nancy Faraday-Smith, vice-présidente de l' IAPC.

Citizens use of the Internet

My friend Geordie Adams at Publivate tweeted today about a report on the use of the internet by citizens in the USA. The report by Pew Internet is on Government online and shows that US citizens are more and more turning to the internet to access government in the US.

Fully 82% of internet users (representing 61% of all American adults) looked for information or completed a transaction on a government website.

The report found that:

• 48% of internet users have looked for information about a public policy or issue online with their local, state or federal government

• 46% have looked up what services a government agency provides

• 41% have downloaded government forms

• 35% have researched official government documents or statistics

• 33% have renewed a driver’s license or auto registration

• 30% have gotten recreational or tourist information from a government agency

• 25% have gotten advice or information from a government agency about a health or safety issue

• 23% have gotten information about or applied for government benefits

• 19% have gotten information about how to apply for a government job

• 15% have paid a fine, such as a parking ticket

• 11% have applied for a recreational license, such as a fishing or hunting license

The report identifies several other common characteristics regarding citizens’ interactions with government. Specifically, these interactions are frequently:  

• Data driven – Efforts by government agencies to post their data online are resonating with citizens. Fully 40% of online adults went online in the preceding year to access data and information about government (for instance, by looking up stimulus spending, political campaign contributions or the text of legislation).

• Organized around new online platforms – Citizen interactions with government are moving beyond the website. Nearly one third (31%) of online adults use online platforms such as blogs, social networking sites, email, online video or text messaging to get government information.

• Participatory – Americans are not simply going online for data and information; they want to share their personal views on the business of government. Nearly one quarter (23%) of internet users participate in the online debate around government policies or issues, with much of this discussion occurring outside of official government channels. 

The study also found that 40% of online users search for basic information about government and that the use of the internet is directly proportional to the users level of income and education - the more educated and those with higher incomes use the internet with greater frequency.  The report also found that Social Media has the potential of reaching currently underserved populations.  This is a fascinating study and is in-line with some of the conclusions of IPAC's study on the use of social media.

Governor General presents Vanier Medal

Yesterday the Governor General of Canada presented the Vanier Medal to Dr. Gordon S. Smith at a ceremony at Rideau Hall. It was a wonderful occasion and IPAC was proud to have Her Excellency preside over this important ceremony.

Dr Smith, Wynne Young (IPAC Prez) and I arrived at 9:30 and where greeted by the wonderful staff at Rideau Hall. We were shown where the ceremony would take place & what we had to do. After we went to the Madame Vanier room and were offered coffee, tea etc as we waited for the ceremony to begin at 10:30.

The Governor General gave a wonderful speech about public service which you should all read. Wynne Young then thanked the GG for her hospitality & introduced the 2009 Vanier medal laureate, Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith then received his medal from the Governor General & spoke for a few minutes about the public service and his career and his connection to Rideau Hall.

After the singing of "O Canada" we were invited to a wonderful reception where the GG joined and mingled with the guests.

It was a wonderful event and we were very grateful that the Governor General was able to preside over this year's ceremony.

Tweeting Politicians

There is an interesting article in the May 6th issue of the Economist about politicians and their ever increasing use of Twitter. As the article notes tweeting makes politicians seem more accessible but does it change behaviour?

In Chile, the new President requested that his cabinet all tweet and in Japan there are 485 politicians tweeting versus 3 a year ago. The key question with any public figure who tweets is whether tweeters will tweet on controversial issues.

This phase of social media will be interesting to watch and to see if it changes people's perception of government.

Vanier Medal @ Rideau Hall

On Thursday May 13th, the Governor General, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, will be presenting IPAC's highest award, the Vanier Medal, to Dr. Gordon S. Smith, the 2009 Vanier Medal recipient.

The Governor General is IPAC's patron and as such, we are honoured that she will be presiding over this ceremony at Rideau Hall.

The Vanier Medal is one of the highest forms of recognition for Canadian public administrators. It was created in 1962 in honour of Canada’s second Canadian Governor General, the Right Honourable Georges-P. Vanier, and is awarded annually by IPAC as a mark of distinction and exceptional achievement to a person who has shown distinctive leadership in public administration and public service in Canada, or who, by his/her writings, has made a significant contribution in the field of public administration or public service in Canada.

Dr. Gordon S. Smith is the Executive Director of the Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria and a former distinguished Canadian public servant.

Dr. Smith is well-known as both a practitioner and as an academic in public administration and has demonstrated excellence throughout his long career. Dr. Smith’s involvement within the Government of Canada began with a focus on security and defence in the 1960s and he quickly advanced to increasingly complex and demanding positions, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Canadian Ambassador to the European Union; Ambassador to the Canadian Delegation to NATO; and Secretary to Cabinet for Federal-Provincial Relations. He played the principal role in drafting the major document setting out Canada’s defence policy in the 1970s. He served as a valued adviser on constitutional questions in the eighties.

After retiring from the Government of Canada, Gordon Smith continued serving the interests of Canada within an increasingly complex and interdependent world. In 1997 he joined the University of Victoria as Executive Director of the Centre for Global Studies. He was also Chair of the Board of Governors of the International Development Research Centre from 1997 to 2007 and was appointed to the Centre for International Governance Innovation’s International Advisory Board of Governors in 2006. He demonstrated leadership, networking and idea generating skills during a collaborative project between CIGI and the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria. This project “L20” was ground breaking in paving the way for the recent meeting of heads of government in Washington and the London meeting that focused on solutions to the financial crisis.

Dr. Smith is also a prolific writer and is the author of “Canada and Afghanistan: Is it Working?”among many other books and articles.

I will update all of you on Thursday after the ceremony & I hope to post some pictures as well.

British Election - today's the vote

Well, in what seems like an historic election, voters in the United Kingdom go to the polls today to elect a new government.  Polls indicate that the Conservatives have the lead in the popular vote, but that Labour may end up with a plurality in terms of seats with the Liberal-Democrats holding the balance of power.

The Institute for Policy Research in the UK published the results of a survey of "prospective parliamentary candidates" in winnable seats to ascertain how they would react to a "hung" parliament.

In the event of a hung parliament, a post-election deal between Labour and Liberal Democrats could be more politically sustainable than a deal between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, according to results from the survey.

And the Globe & Mail today comments on the level of policy debate during the British election versus Canadian general elections.

As voters in Britain queue at the polls today, Canadian political parties could stand to learn a great deal from the political campaign now ending. British politicians offered a higher quality of policy thinking than anything comparable in recent Canadian elections.

It has been a very interesting election in the UK and if the polls are correct, it should continue to be very interesting over the next few days as the party leaders deal with the fallout of the election.

ROB & me

A little while ago I was contacted and asked if I wanted to be interviewed for a piece that was set to appear in the Report on Business magazine of the Globe & Mail.  The piece was on public sector leadership and the challenges facing governments.  Of course I said yes, that would be fun.

The piece is actually part of a series by the Certified Management Accountants (CMA) that is looking at leadership and advertising their Executive CMA program (which by coincidence I graduated from last year - the person writing the article did not know this until I told him).

Anyway, here is the article...I hope you enjoy it.

Happy 100th!!

Today is the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Canadian Navy by the Parliament of Canada through the passage of the Canadian Naval Services Act on May 4, 1910. 

In those 100 years the men and women of the Canadian Navy have served this country with distinction, in World War I and II, in the Korean War and in many other conflicts. Imagine the scope of operations for the Navy, with an Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic areas to patrol - that is quite a big coastline.  On top of which, in recent years, we have also sent our Navy to the Persian Gulf and to Haiti.

Happy Birthday to that great Canadian institution - the Canadian Navy!!

British Election

I usually don't comment on politics, but since this is about what is happening across the Pond, I though I would give it a go. It has been fascinating watching the British election unfurl. They held their first ever televised leaders debate - something that we take for granted here in Canada. And the outcome of that debate has been an increase in support for the third party in the UK, the Liberal Democrats under the leadership of Nick Clegg.

With voting scheduled for May 6, 2010, polls indicate that the outcome will be a "hung" parliament - a minority government in our nomenclature. One of the things that I have found rather strange is how partisan the media in the UK is. Rupert Murdoch controls 40% of the newspapers in the UK and his papers have been slagging the Lib Dem leader in screaming headlines. In the language of Yes, Minister, I believe that these papers have been "economical with the truth". The Sun has also been accused of censoring a poll that was favourable to Nick Clegg the Lib Dem leader. Take a look at the Independent's article that lays out the claim made by these papers and the truth.

Another interesting aspect of the UK election is the work of various think tanks in providing analysis of the platforms of the various parties. One such think tank is the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Over the years I have read a number of their analyses and always found them sound. They have just published quite a number of papers analyzing various aspects of the platforms, including Taxes and benefits; education policy; green policy; welfare reform; productivity, innovation and corporate tax; and the public services. They are well worth the read.

Wall Street Crooks

Making big headlines in the last few days is the charge brought of Fraud brought by the SEC against Goldman Sachs as a result of the subprime and related financial fiasco that precipitated the existing world wide economic recession and the bail out of hundreds of companies. I ranted about the larceny behind the subprime mortgage debacle in a previous post.

The Huffington Post has a fascinating article explaining how one of these massive frauds by Goldman Sachs was orchestrated. In essence one man is alleged to have bundled $2 billion of subprime mortgages that he knew had a very high likelihood of defaulting into an investment vehicle called a "synthetic collateralized debt obligation"...isn't it amazing how these smart wall street types come up with names of investment instruments that sound important but are really JUNK! These debt obligations were sold to pension funds, banks and others and when the mortgage holders defaulted the whole scheme went under and ever one lost money, except of course for Goldman Sachs and the originator of this vehicle who made a fortune.

But the Goldman Sachs charges could be just the beginning of many other charges of fraud against these smart wall street types. Lets hope so!

The people who created these elaborate schemes and caused losses in the billions should be brought to trial.

Wayne Reports & Social Media

At the end of March, Wayne Wouters, the Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to Cabinet of the Government of Canada (boy that's a long title), released the 17th annual report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada - it is also Wayne's 1st report as Clerk.

I found it to be a very interesting report on a few fronts. The first is in Wayne's introduction where he underscores the importance of values as a cornerstone of the public service. Values underpin everything that we do and how we do it. It does not matter what the issue is or what new technology exists, public service values matter.

in 1987, IPAC put forth its Statement of Principles Regarding the Conduct of Public Employees that underscore that the public services of Canada be seen as neutral, non-partisan, effective and innovative institutions that serve the best interests of the governments and citizens of this country. In 2005, IPAC, after a wide consultative process put forward the Public Servants Commitments which reflects the values of public servants. Both these documents reflect the values that underpin public service and are reflected in Wayne's report.

The second area that caught my attention was the discussion on the use of Web 2.0 technology to enable public servants to accomplish their jobs more effectively. These collaborative tools are changing the way we do business and I am glad that Wayne is embracing these tools. I have written in the past about the need for governments to embrace these technologies so as to engage in meaningful consultations and dialogues with citizens - what I termed as open source policy development. IPAC has just completed the 1st phase of a study entitled “Social Media and Public Policy Dilemmas” that addresses some of the issues related to Web 2.0 in the public sector.

We held a series of roundtables in cities across Canada to get the views and input of public servants, academics and other interested parties. It is evident from this first phase of the study that there is a need for a concerted and focused attempt to look at the impact of social media on government – from the management of information to how we run our organizations. We will be shortly publishing this report.

If you have not read Wayne's report yet, I would highly recommend that you do so. In future posts I will come back to Wayne's report, especially as it deals with Public Service Renewal.

150!Canada Conference - a few pictures

Here are a few more pictures from our recent 150!Canada conference. These pictures were taken by the amazing David Pike.

This first picture is of me in my Captain Canada pose. Do you like the Canadian flag behind me?

All the presenters signed a few of our 150!Canada posters...what a great souvenir.

The stage at the NAC had these wonderful BIG numbers that matched our conference logo.  They are now at the Museum of Science & Technology in Ottawa.

 Here are some pictures of the delegates hard at work planning & imaging Canada's sesquicentennial.

And here is a picture of our great facilitators (the "red" shirts)

These pictures just give you a taste of the energy at this conference.  Hope you enjoy them.

Clerk 2.0

Bravo to Wayne Wouters for joining the Web 2.0 crowd. Wayne now has is own website and is also on Twitter!!

It is great to see the head of the Canadian Public Service embracing technology and engaging in on-line discussions. This is an example to all the other heads of public services across Canada - I hope that they follow Wayne's lead.

I'm sure that this public face is just the tip of the iceberg,as I presume that Wayne is probably using similar technology to communicate internally with Government of Canada public servants.

Kudos!

150!Canada Conference - Videos

The videos of all the amazing speakers at our recent 150!Canada conference are now available on line. If you missed the conference you will not want to miss these amazing talks. To give you a feel of the calibre of the talks, below you can watch and listen to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Right Honourable Beverly McLachlin speak on Citizenship.

A special shout-out to our great videographer, John Hall of Stretford Media for an amazing job on these videos.

150!Canada: Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin on Vimeo.

Man made environmental disaster

I was surfing the web when I came across the story of the Aral Sea.  In the space of 50 years, what had been the world's 4th largest fresh water lake has now shrunk by 90 percent due to the diversion of the rivers feeding the Aral Sea to cotton production. Towns that once were thriving fishing communities next to the Sea are now hundreds of kilometres away from what little water there is and are stranded in the middle of a dessert.

After the Meltdown

On March 24th I had the opportunity to attend an interesting session entitled "After the Meltdown: The limits and possibilities of economics" that was organized by the Centre for Global Challenges of the Glendon School of Public & International Affairs.

After introductions by Alex Himelfarb and words of welcome by Mamdouh Shoukri (President of York University), the microphone was turned over to Chaviva Hosek, President of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research to introduce the illustrious panelists.

The panelists were George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate & Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley; Tim Besley, Professor of Economics & Political Science at the London School of Economics; and Pierre Fortin, Professor of Economics at the University of Québec at Montreal.

George Akerlof spoke about "animal spirits" and how they impact the economy (this is from his recent book entitled "Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism". The term "animal spirits" is derived from Keynes and relates to the confidence and gut feelings in determining business decisions.

"Most, probably, of our decisions to do something positive, the full consequences of which will be drawn out over many days to come, can only be taken as the result of animal spirits - a spontaneous urge to action rather than inaction, and not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied by quantitative probabilities." (161-162) - J.M.Keynes, General Theory.

By this he meant that data alone (profit/loss, eps, etc) are not enough to explain business decisions and that psychology has a role to play in it. Prof. Akerlof talked about the five animal spirits, with a special emphasis on "snake oil" to explain the meltdown.

In his talk, Prof Fortin outlined the three economic tasks that governments will have to respond to in the next decade: namely, drawing lessons from the recession, responding to the demographic forces  that will impact western countries and accelerating economic growth.

On demographics, he quoted David Foot who said "Demographics explain about two-thirds of everything".  This is especially true if you look at the demographics facing western industrialized countries like Canada.  I have previously written and spoken about this (In fact I gave a speech which contained some of this information and my analysis a couple of days before this session). The combination of demographics and ever increasing health care costs will impose a squeeze on public finances over the medium term according to Prof Fortin.  There are only two possible solutions: 1) radical change to our health care sector , and 2) accelerate economic growth.

It was an interesting discussion and I will post my remarks on the demographic challenges to either this blog (if I can figure out how) or to the IPAC website.

Only in Britain

I read the following in the Globe & Mail on Wednesday...

British civil servants have been given counselling manuals advising them how to deal with stress related boredom and a lack of work, The Daily Telegraph reports. "In one booklet from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, officials said stress-related problems could be caused by having 'too little work or responsibilities' and suggested that pressured workers take up a hobby to alleviate anxiety. The Department for International Development's book warned workers to avoid becoming lethargic from 'too little pressure' but allow for 20 percent more time to complete tasks they feel could add to stress. 'Breathe in and out heavily a few times and imagine yourself being successful', it advises workers."

I don't know about you, but my reaction to this is WTF? Where do these people work? In my experience, civil servants in Canada work hard and are dedicated to serving the public. I don't know any who have too little to do and are stress...quite the contrary, they are stressed because of all the work that they have to do.

150!Canada Conference

Here are a couple of pictures from the 150! conference.  The first is me standing in front of the set that we had on the stage - the BIG numbers! Dylan said that is looks like I am at my 150th birthday! That would be a lot of candles.

Voici deux photos de notre conférence 150!Canada.  Me voici devant les GROS chiffres de 150. Dylan pense que c'est mon 150eme anniversaire!

Here's a picture of me with Denise Amyot, our incoming President and CEO of the Tech Museums in Ottawa (Science and Technology Museum, Aviation Museum and The Agriculture Museum.)

Me voici avec Denise Amyot, notre présidente-élu et présidente du Musée des sciences et de la technologie du Canada, du Musée de l'Aviation, et du Musée de l'Agriculture.

150!Canada Conference - WOW!

It has taken me a few days (almost a week actually) to sit down and collect my thoughts on an amazing experience - the 150!Canada Conference that IPAC along with our friends at MASS LBP organized on March 11 and 12, 2010. What a fantastic and energizing event!!

The purpose of the conference was to start us thinking about Canada's sesquicentennial in 2017 (it is not that far away). And, think & discuss the 300 delegates did!

On the first day of the conference we had 25 incredible & dynamic speakers - including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, the Right Honourable Beverly McLachlin, Peter Aykroyd who was Director of Communications for the Centenary celebrations, Roch Carrier, Jeff Melanson of the National Ballet School, Mary Simon, Tom Jenkins of Open Text and Senator Romeo Dallaire. Each of the 25 speakers had 10 minutes to present their ideas to the delegates gathered at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. This is a different format from our traditional conferences. But it worked very well as the speakers had to focus on their core message quickly and the audience was attentive the whole time.

On the second day, the delegates broke out into round tables based on a number of different topics and discussed ideas, made recommendations, etc that will form the basis of the report from the conference. This report, which should be ready in the next two weeks will be made public and sent to governments, businesses, community groups, etc around the country. We hope that this will kick-start the planning for the 150th.

It was interesting to meet local 150 organizations that have already been established in London, Montreal and Edmonton. These cities have already started to think about this occasion and develop ideas on how to celebrate this milestone.

For those of you who missed the conference - we will be posting videos of the presentations by all the speakers shortly on the website. As well, CPAC filmed our conference and will be showing it soon.

There was another first at this conference - at the end of the first day we held a concert at the NAC! Jowi Taylor and Dina Graser produced a spectacular show that included performances by the incomparable Jully Black and Radio Radio. Delegates were dancing in the aisles at the NAC!!

Special thanks to Peter Herrndorf and his staff at the National Arts Centre for all their assistance and kindness. Without their enthusiastic support we would not have been able to pull this off. Thanks to our sponsors - the Royal Bank of Canada, OpenText, and the National Film Board of Canada for all their support. And salutations to our media partners, Metro News Ottawa, the Walrus and the Literary Review of Canada.

Thanks to all the facilitators and others in the special red 150!Canada t-shirts for ensuring that the conference ran smoothly.

Finally a very special thanks to our partners at MASS LBP and especially to Peter MacLeod.

This is but the start of a 7 year journey to 2017. Stay tuned for more on our sesquicentennial.

Celebrating Canada

Later this week we are hosting the 150!Canada Conference in Ottawa. This is the first conference that will kick start our country's preparations for our sesquicentennial in 2017.

The just completed 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver galvanized Canadians from coast to coast to coast. The pride that we have in our country, which much of the time is below the surface, burst out for all the world to see. The Globe & Mail's Stephen Brunt had a wonderful video essay on the games and Canadians reaction to them. It is a wonderful video.....



Now our challenge as a country is to maintain this spirit in everything that we do as we head to our 150th anniversary. We must work together to forge a better country where all have equal opportunity to excel and contribute to the betterment of Canada. It is not too late to come to our 150!Canada conference on March 11th and 12th in Ottawa and share your energy and enthusiasm.

Poésie

La grasse matinée

Il est terrible
le petit bruit de l'oeuf dur cassé sur un comptoir d'étain
il est terrible ce bruit
quand il remue dans la mémoire de l'homme qui a faim
elle est terrible aussi la tête de l'homme
la tête de l'homme qui a faim
quand il se regarde à six heures du matin
dans la glace du grand magasin
une tête couleur de poussière
ce n'est pas sa tête pourtant qu'il regarde
dans la vitrine de chez Potin
il s'en fout de sa tête l'homme
il n'y pense pas
il songe
il imagine une autre tête
une tête de veau par exemple
avec une sauce de vinaigre
ou une tête de n'importe quoi qui se mange
et il remue doucement la mâchoire
doucement
et il grince des dents doucement
car le monde se paye sa tête
et il ne peut rien contre ce monde
et il compte sur ses doigts un deux trois
un deux trois
cela fait trois jours qu'il n'a pas mangé
et il a beau se répéter depuis trois jours
Ça ne peut pas durer
ça dure
trois jours
trois nuits
sans manger
et derrière ces vitres
ces pâtés ces bouteilles ces conserves
poissons morts protégés par les boîtes
boîtes protégées par les vitres
vitres protégées par les flics
flics protégés par la crainte
que de barricades pour six malheureuses sardines...
Un peu plus loin le bistro
café-crème et croissants chauds
l'homme titube
et dans l'intérieur de sa tête
un brouillard de mots
un brouillard de mots
sardines à manger
oeuf dur café-crème
café arrosé rhum
café-crème
café-crème
café-crime arrosé sang !...
Un homme très estimé dans son quartier
a été égorgé en plein jour
l'assassin le vagabond lui a volé
deux francs
soit un café arrosé
zéro franc soixante-dix
deux tartines beurrées
et vingt-cinq centimes pour le pourboire deu garçon.
Il est terrible
le petit bruit de l'oeuf dur cassé sur un comptoir d'étain
il est terrible ce bruit
quand il remue dans la mémoire de l'homme qui a faim.


Un poème de Jacques Prévert

Well Done Vancouver! Congrats Canada!!

It is the last day of the 2010 Winter Olympics just half an hour before the closing ceremonies. As I look back on the last 17 days, all I can say is WOW! Vanoc you have done a wonderful job. Vancouver you were fantastic and Canada you were extraordinary. Though the games started tragically, they went on to be an extraordinary example of Canadian resilience and spirit. Even Jacques Rogge, head of the IOC has said that he has never seen such a spirit in an Olympic City.

What a way to finish the games than to win the Gold medal at Hockey....in overtime with a goal by Sidney Crosby. Parties have broken out all over the country...they are partying and playing street hockey on Yonge Street in Toronto.

From Alexandre Bilodeau winning Canada's first Gold medal on home soil to Joannie Rochette's extraordinary bronze medal performance in figure skating, the whole Canadian team did Canada proud.

I hope that the spirit that was evident throughout these last 17 days and in the torch run that preceded the games will last for a long time in Canada and are a harbinger for a new attitude in this great country.

If Air Travel Worked Like Health Care

I recently received a link to a great video that is based on an article written by Jonathan Roach of the National Journal magazine in the US entitled If Air Travel Worked Like Health Care. The article is based on the US Health Care system and its fragmented nature. It is very funny but so true! Some of the issues that the protagonist goes through in the US applies to Canada also.




Hope you enjoy!

Fiscal Review of US States

A recent report by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers lays out the precarious state of the finances in US State governments.

The report makes the case that US states are currently facing one of the worst, if not the worst, fiscal periods since the Great Depression. During 2009 their respective fiscal conditions significantly deteriorated and the trend is expected to continue into the next three fiscal years. Tax revenues from every source are down and demands on state programs is significantly increased as a result of the recession. Unlike Canadian provinces, US States are not allowed to run a budgetary deficit. They must enact either spending cuts or increase tax and must balance every year.

The increase in expenditure pressures for mandated programs such as Medicare and Medicaid as well as the increased demand for social services as a result of the significant increase in unemployment will mean that US States will continue to struggle to balance their budgets. Obviously each individual state has its own particular struggles, with California the one getting the most press given the fiscal mess that they are in. Can you imagine a Canadian province issuing "IOU's"?

Between the fiscal mess at the US Federal Government level and the struggles at the State level, it seems that only a miracle will resolve the fiscal issues facing the US. Let's hope for one, because the alternative for the world economy and in particular the Canadian economy are too gruesome to contemplate. (Sorry to be gloomy, I guess the February blahs have kicked in!)

Tom Brokaw on Canada

Came across a video that was done by Tom Brokaw on Canada for the Vancouver Olympics. It's a pretty good video explaining to our American cousins the relationship between our two countries. Enjoy......

150!Canada Conference - more

Shout out to Andrew Steele for his wonderful Blog today on the Globe and Mail website.

Andrew writes about what the 150th anniversary of Confederation could mean for Canada and highlights the role that IPAC is spearheading in organizing the first conference on March 11 and 12 in Ottawa.

As I mentioned in my last post, we have an incredible line up of speakers...so register today...what are you waiting for?

Thanks ANDREW!!

150!Canada Conference

Have you registered yet for our upcoming 150!Canada conference that is taking place at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on March 11 and 12, 2010. If you haven't, here is a list of the speakers that you will miss (and probably kick yourself later):

Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin on Citizenship
Helen Davies on the Politics of Participation
Peter Aykroyd on the Anniversary Compulsion
Bruce Kidd on Arts and Athleticism
Rita Cox on New Canadian Stories
Roch Carrier on our Past and Likely Future
Jeanette Hanna on Symbolizing the State
Mary Simon on Looking North
Daniel Caron on the Future of National Memory
Justin Brown on Australia at 100
Francisco Barrio on Mexico at 200
Luci Tremblay on Quebec City at 400
Barbara Stymiest on Nation-building
Tom Jenkins on Innovation and Competitiveness
Jeff Melanson on Energizing the Arts
Sujit Choudhry on Demographics and Democracy
Nicole Sanscartier on a New Generation
Keith Neuman on Why Canadians Want to Celebrate
Danny Graham on Citizen Leadership
Monica Patten on Connecting Communities
Marlo Raynolds on Canada’s Ecological Future

Plus a few others to be announced shortly. And if that isn't enough, we also have a wonderful concert on March 11th - 6717: An Arts Celebration with:

Jully Black
Radio Radio
David Virelles
Bear Witness
Rise Ashen
Sampradaya Dance Creations

So what are you waiting for...Register today!!!

And if that isn't enough for you...read the wonderful letter from Wayne Wouters, the Federal Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary of the Cabinet, commending IPAC for taking this initiative and commenting on the importance of Canada's upcoming sesquicentennial (the letter is on our conference website). Thanks Wayne for such a positive message.

See you in Ottawa!

The High Road

I wrote a few times about a wonderful book written by Terry Fallis called "The Best Laid Plans" that I enjoyed immensely. When Terry wrote his book, he could not find a publisher, so he started by doing a pod cast and then he self-published the book. He was then nominated for the LEACOCK Memorial Medal for Humour and then went on to win the medal. As a result of all this, Terry got a publisher and has been speaking about the book in numerous venues.

Well....Terry has now written a sequel entitled "The High Road" that is due to be published in September 2010. I can't wait to get my hands on this book. If you are interested in Canadian politics and also want an entertaining and funny book, I highly recommend "The Best Laid Plans" and I am sure that the sequel will be just as entertaining.

The Video below is a synopsis of the book saga by Terry....