Service Canada

The report found that today's executives worry about falling public trust in government; the decline in senior bureaucrats giving “fearless advice” to ministers ...

That could further distance senior bureaucrats and politicians from the rest of the public service, which delivers services and does the legwork for evidence-based policy advice. “If these opportunities become fewer and fewer, that is like the compounding impact of (playing) broken telephone.” He said a fix begins with the prime minister, who must make it clear that ministers should consult their deputies. There’s been little discussion of what ministers could do to repair the relationship. At one point, it was a healthy tension and now it’s becoming unhealthy, where the political side stops waiting and just does it. That urgency has ramped up over the years because of technological change, the 24-hour news cycle and the rise of social media. As a result, they come to power knowing what they want and don’t believe they need any advice from public servants. “The accountability act was a mistake – not every single clause – but I think that it went way too far. “There’s always been a kind of time difference between how fast the political side wants things, and how quickly the public service can move while still doing its job responsibly,” said Turnbull. “That time crunch seems to be getting worse. Mulroney came to power after the Liberals had ruled for all but a few months from 1963-84. Tellier has never been far from Canada’s public service over the past five decades. And it’s at every level, it’s not only for junior ministers, the most senior ministers…