Year: 2016
Type: report
Abstract: Canada’s civil service has played an important role in building modern society, social cohesion and economic prosperity. This kind of progress depends on the continued work of a high-performing, adaptable civil service. The civil service itself is already facing new challenges. But, as disruptive as globalization, digitization, decreased trust in institutions, the polarization of politics, changing demographics and ongoing austerity have been, the world is going to change a lot more. For too long, the Canadian civil service has remained largely immune to disruption and transformation, in part because it hasn’t faced imminent threats from competitors in the same way that a private company or a not-for-profit organization might or even other levels of government have faced. This insulation has had predictable results. Past reform efforts have often fallen short of their objectives, because there were no clear consequences when reform failed. This failure to sufficiently modernize has slowly eroded the civil service’s ability to meet the needs of Canadians. This report focuses primarily on the federal civil service in Canada, but many of the challenges and opportunities that are discussed – and the recommendations that are made – can be equally applied to other orders of government. Civil servants at all levels of government exercise substantial authority and often have a significant impact on the lives of Canadians. The public sector economy is a substantial sector in its own right, accounting for nearly a quarter of our national employment and gross domestic product. Its efficiency and effectiveness are central to Canada’s economic performance.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Mark D. Jarvis
Language: English
Subfield: Public Administration
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2774274198