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.