Canadian officers ‘afraid to tell hard truths’

A new report has revealed that Canada’s Public Service leaders have a problem telling the truth to their political bosses.

The report, Top of Mind, says leading bureaucrats feel ill-equipped to gather evidence for policy advice, especially in a world where facts are distorted and drowned out by disinformation, polarisation and hyper-partisan politics.

To make matters worse, they appear afraid to tell their political masters the hard truths when they do find them.

Getting back to the basics in policy-making and execution are among the top worries that senior bureaucrats raised in the Top of Mind study into the state of the Public Service in Canada.

Launched in the middle of the pandemic, the study was aimed at understanding the challenges executives faced when doing their jobs.

It was based on interviews with 42 senior leaders from all levels of Government and a survey of 2,355 Public Servants in the same Departments and Agencies.

The big worries, which many felt were accelerated by the pandemic, included falling trust in Government, the decline in sharing ‘fearless advice’, and a hollowing out of policy capacity.

Also of concern was a post-pandemic economic reckoning, conflicts between different levels of Government, and the need for Public Service reform.

Stephen Van Dine, of the Institute of the Institute of Government, one of the think tanks involved in producing the report, said the responses painted a picture of a bureaucracy that was too isolated from Canadians and not independent enough from politics.

“Over the years, rules restricting travel and hospitality expenses put a damper on Public Servants’ ability to meet with Provincial counterparts, industry representatives and civil society,” Mr Van Dine said.

“They aren’t networking, developing contacts outside of Government, or educating Canadians about the factors at play in policy-making.”

He said this had isolated the Public Service and given the outside world the only door into Government through the Prime Minister’s Office or a Minister’s office.

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