Nova Scotia AGM – “Excellence in Public Administration”

I recently attended (June 18th) the Annual General Meeting of the Nova Scotia Regional Group. In addition to the normal AGM business, the meeting featured a panel on “Excellence in Public Administration” that included senior representatives from the three orders of government, namely, Robert Fowler, DM to the Premier and Clerk and Secretary of the Executive Council; Deborah Windsor, VP of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency; and Dan English, CAO of the Halifax Regional Municipality. The panel discussion was ably chaired by Rodger Gregg the New Professionals rep on the NS Regional Group. And I had the pleasure of saying a few words in introducing the topic of excellence in public administration.

The AGM was well attended and was run with upmost efficiency by the Jeannine Lagassé, chair of the Nova Scotia Regional Group. The panel discussion took place following the end of the “formal” AGM business.

Deborah Windsor spoke about leadership and the need to create an innovative environment for staff; where staff is committed to the organization’s objectives and its values and ethics. She also spoke about the need to take risks and learning from our mistakes. On the learning front, Deborah mentioned the requirement from the Clerk of the Privy Council that 90% of staff across the federal public service have a learning plan and the ACOA learning account for each employee of $2000.

Robert Fowler emphasized that the public service provides a “sense of purpose”. He recounted that he is an accidental public servant – started over 30 years ago with a plan to only stay a couple of years in the public service. He spoke about being proud of being a public servant and how to bring out the best in people. He recounted how he had received an e-mail from a young public servant who had been involved in the evacuation of residents outside Halifax as a result of the recent fire and how he described his sense of purpose as a public servant.

Dan English spoke about the need to implement a culture of continuous improvement and citizen centered delivery; and of the challenges of managing and recruiting staff within the generational diversity that organizations are now facing. The development of outcome focused indicators and performance reports that are understandable by citizens were also another theme of his talk.

All three spoke about the pride of working in the public service and contributing to the development of Canadian society.

It was a great session and I was very happy to be back in Nova Scotia.

Social Networking

On June 16/17thIPAC held its Governance Dialogue Knowledge Network. The theme for this meeting was “Virtually Yours: Leveraging Social Media and Building Relationships with Citizens”.

I unfortunately could only attend part of the session as I was flying out to Halifax to participate in the Nova Scotia Regional Group’s AGM (subject of my next post). But what I did hear about social networking and the increased use of web enabled technologies confirmed that governments in Canada still have a long road ahead of them.

On Monday evening, Brent Bernie, President of comScore Canada gave us an overview of the penetration of the internet into everyday life in Canada and around the world. From its start in the mid-1990’s the number of people now online has reached 815 million and is projected to hit 1 billion by March 2010! That’s a lot of people interacting in cyberspace. And the connection to the internet is a worldwide phenomenon – in 1996 66% of users were US citizen; in 2007 US citizens accounted for 20% of the 815 million users. In Canada, nearly 24 million Canadians are on-line – an astounding 72% of the population. This surpasses the US (60%), the UK (54%), Japan (42%), etc. And, Canadians spend the most time on-line at 45 hours per visitor per month (and you are doing it right now while you read this blog!!). What is even more interesting is that this “addiction” to the net is in all age and demographic groups – 77% of 2 to 17 year olds are on-line; 89% of 18 to 34 year olds; 87% of 35 to 54 year olds and 49% of those over 55 years of age. Canadians are not only addicted to the web in general terms, they also top usage of Social Networking sites like facebook, MySpace, etc. An astounding 84% of Canadian web users are using social networking sites. This same trend is evident for sites such as YouTube and for blogs. This means that Canadian citizens are using the internet to connect to government information and services and that government may be better able to connect with citizens using these networking sites.

On Tuesday morning, Joe Thornley, CEO of Thornley Fallis spoke about how governments can utilize the social networking explosion. He pointed to some examples where public organization have used the web – such as the Privacy Commissioner of Canada who has established a blog that pulls no punches, a video on YouTube and a youth site – go to http://www.privcom.gc.ca/index_e.asp and have a look.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is using YouTube as a “Question Period” from the public. Citizens have been encouraged to send in (via YouTube) questions for the PM and he will be answering the top-voter user questions. Check it out here - http://www.youtube.com/10DowningStreet . This may become an ongoing QP for the PM. The UK is also using the web for e-petitions. Basically, citizens can send in their petitions via the website and then one response is posted (see http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ for information). Imagine the time savings if you only have to post a response to a petition rather than sending out individual letters to every person who has sent in the same form letter!! And here’s a helpful tip for those in the communication business – the UK uses Twitter to send out short updates to journalists and others interested in the news from No. 10 (http://twitter.com/downingstreet).

It is not only No. 10 that is using the web – the Foreign Office is as well. The Foreign Secretary, members of different embassies, and a new professional each have blogs on the site (https://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/ ). As I write this today, there are blog posts from embassy staff in Zimbabwe.

So what does this all mean? According to Joe, this social networking phenomenon means that we are returning to the direct participation of citizens in government given the ease by which groups can be formed and people can come together. It also means that the government can no longer control the conversation – rather it can only play a part in it. The ease at which people can gain access to information (the democratization of information) means that no one has a monopoly on knowledge. Government is a source of authoritative information, but it is no longer the only source! Whereas in the past, governments may have focussed on a “campaign” to get their message out, we have now moved to a time when governments must develop a relationship with citizens.

Public Service Renewal & Branding

In the last few days a couple of articles on the public service have appeared in the paper. The first is not really news to those of in the public sector. The headline in the Globe & Mail (June 10, 2008) read “Bureaucracy aging, says top civil servant”. The article is about remarks by Kevin Lynch where he not only talked about demographics but also (more importantly) talked about increased public expectations for greater accountability by public servants.

The second article appeared in the on-line version of the Globe & Mail (June 10th as well) and was by Michael Cotey Morgan a doctoral candidate at Yale. In this article, Mr. Morgan argued that the public service should take a page out of the military handbook in terms of recruitment. In the ROTC program, the Canadian Forces pay for a person’s postsecondary education in exchange for a set number of years of service after graduation. This is an interesting idea, as it would also include summer employment with government during the participant’s time at University.

A car that runs on AIR!!!

Have you heard about the car that runs on Air?

Yes, that's right....your eyes are not betraying you - AIR. This car runs on AIR. Here is the BBC report from February of this year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news/world/video/151000/bb/151932_16x9_bb.asx?ad=1&ct=50

If this works, is it bye-bye internal combustion engine that uses petroleum? Does this help solve our climate change problems? Is it good bye tar sands and OPEC?

Robert F. Kennedy

Forty years ago, on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles, just a few hours after winning the California primary. His campaign for the Democratic nomination for President of the USA galvanized the younger population in 1968. Listening to his speeches, 40 years later, one wonders how much better the world would have been had he not died that night. His speeches still resonate today.

This speech on the “Mindless Menace of Violence” by Robert F. Kennedy was given on April 5, 1968 at the City Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio. Listen to the words and think about recent events around the world. The soundtrack is from the movie "Bobby", if you haven't watched it, rent it today, it is a wonderful production.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Vll-t0H6A

Kennedy's campaign was one of hope and of a better future for all Americans and for all citizens of the world. Looking back at the videos from 40 years ago you see the incredible enthusiasm of the crowds. Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ReAG6jNVs4

It’s called Question Period not “Answer Period”

I just got the latest issue of Policy Dialogue from the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy. Among the many interesting articles was one by Heather MacIvor entitled “Question Period – More sound than substance?”

In this article she traces back the history of Question Period. Did you know that the first recoded question by a British parliamentarian was in 1721 in the House of Lords? Around the 1850’s the practice of setting aside time for MP questions was established with Standing Orders established in 1902 that prescribed oral responses to written questions. That’s right, questions had to be submitted in writing. In the UK, questions to the PM were limited to two 15 minute periods a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) as a “concession to Winston Churchill’s declining health.” In 1997, Tony Blair changed this to one 30 minute session per week. Ms. MacIvor notes that “until recently, British MPs had to provide written notice of oral questions.” That is not a lot of time to ask questions of the PM, especially as compared to the practice in Canada.

I remember a Minster saying to me once that this was called “question period” not “answer period”. It seems that though QP can be a significant accountability mechanism in Canada, QP has devolved into something more akin to a verbal sumo match. Each side is trying to score political points. The questions are really statements to the effect that the government is either incompetent or corrupt, with a “don’t you agree?” at the end to make it a question. Similarly, responses are usually about what the opposition did when they were in power however many years ago (though that starts to get stale after a while). No one really answers questions. It is not really a forum for a civilized debate that could possibly change public policy. Was it better before the advent of television? I guess, both questioners and respondents did not have to worry about the 20 second sound bite. There was probably more mingling between the political parties in those days than there is now. Have we devolved in extreme partisanship and polarization, where real debate and consensus cannot be achieved? I hope not. The best ideas are generated through civilized discourse and where a consensus is reached.

Arthur Kroeger - the passing of a dedicated public servant

Yesterday we received an e-mail from Alix Kroeger, informing us of the death of her father, Arthur Kroeger. For those involved in public administration in Canada and around the world, this news brings great sadness. Mr. Kroeger was a dedicated public servant, who served in many capacities. Among many memories, I remember him as my father's Deputy Minister at Transport Canada. He exemplified the best of public service in Canada, he was a legend and will be truly missed Below is the e-mail from his daughter, Alix.

This is to let you know that Arthur Kroeger died last night, Friday 9 May. He had been ill with cancer. Until a short time ago, we were all hoping he would be able to regain enough strength to begin chemotherapy at the National Institutes of Health in the United States, where he had been accepted into a clinical trial. However, his condition deteriorated rapidly over the past 10 days, and on Thursday we moved him to the palliative-care unit at the Centre Elisabeth-Bruyere in Ottawa.

We were all at his bedside when he died: his partner, Huguette Labelle; his two daughters, Kate and myself; and his stepdaughter, Chantal Labelle.

The funeral will take place in Ottawa in the next week or so. Please watch the papers for an announcement of the arrangements. My father had expressed a wish in his will that a scholarship should be set up in his name at Carleton University. In lieu of flowers, we are asking people if they would be willing to make a donation. Cheques should be made payable to Carleton University, in envelopes marked for the attention of Denise Mayer, 510 Robertson Hall, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K15 5B6. People can also give online atwww.carleton.ca, under "Giving to Carleton", and earmark their donation for the scholarship fund.

He will be much missed, by those who were lucky enough to know him, but also by the many Canadians who benefited from his life`s work and his sense of public service.

Alix Kroeger