What a Big R Reset of the Public Service of Canada Needs to Do (and Not to Do)

Abstract

The public service faces two macro conditions that should be considered when tackling administrative and structural reforms: one, a growing lack of citizen trust in government and two, a view that the public service is increasingly irrelevant. While an ambitious public service reform agenda would require political support, tie up resources and potentially exhaust the institution, the cost of doing nothing may be greater than the cost of taking action to address the growing sense that the public service is not needed. A Clerk of the Privy Council led “Big R” reform initiative focused on long-term, sustainable and appropriate-to-the-times administrative and structural change should be pursued in three areas: improving government efficiency and effectiveness, responding to changing political expectations, and rebuilding trust and relevance in the institution.