Canada's public service is stuck in 'analog' and the world 'has moved on': Former clerk
CBC
The public service is not keeping pace with Canadians' needs in a digital world, says the woman who used to lead it.
"The public service is still working in what I would describe as kind of analog ways and the world has moved on," former clerk of the Privy Council Janice Charette, told Rosemary Barton Live in an interview airing Sunday.
"You can make a dinner reservation, you can book a cruise, you can move money in and out of your bank account, transfer between the two of us — it's remarkable the things you can do in a digital world and the public service, and our service delivery infrastructure has not kept up with that."
It's a gap that Charette said was on display when the public service couldn't deliver services such as passports once COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
"In all humility, we know we have to do a better job there," she said.
Charette, who refers to her job as being "steward of one of the most important institutions in our democracy," retired Friday after nearly 40 years in the service, including stints as clerk for prime ministers Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau.
Reflecting on her tenure, Charette said she's proud of the way the public service jumped into action during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, spending billions to support people and businesses.
"One of the things I completely believe about public service is that in a crisis we can be magnificent," she said.
"Decisions had to move quickly, benefits had to move quickly … and the challenge is, how do you maintain that going forward?"
As the lockdowns lifted, services lagged and frustrations grew.
The government was put on the defensive last year when passport offices were overwhelmed by a surge of applications.
The immigration department was also caught on its back foot by demand. At one point last year more than 2.4 million applications were stuck waiting for processing.
"I think in the public service maybe we underestimated how quickly people were going to want to return to their lives, how quickly they were gonna want to travel and have their passports, and how quickly we were gonna start the immigration system, how much people were going to want to move," Charette said.
"This was not the best of times for the public service because we underestimated that ramp-up."
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