Evidence of meeting #83 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was young.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
Are there some structural changes that you are proposing to make?
9:40 a.m.
Nominee for the position of President of the Public Service Commission, As an Individual
It probably would be a little too early to be able to answer if structural changes are required. You have to appreciate that I have not yet had the benefit of being briefed by the folks at the Public Service Commission. I would hold on that answer for the time being, Mr. Chair.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Yasmin Ratansi Liberal Don Valley East, ON
What are some of the practical steps that you, in your 30 years of experience within the public service, think need to be done to move the dial a little closer to the 21st century or 22nd century?
9:40 a.m.
Nominee for the position of President of the Public Service Commission, As an Individual
I talked about it a little in our approach to recruiting young people and modernizing that, and changing the language of our advertisements and the way we post jobs. We can learn a lot.
I remember I was briefed when I was on the deputy minister advisory committee with the Public Service Commission. They showed us an analysis they had done of the language we use in advertising. They compared it to the words that Google, Amazon, and some of the leading companies use, and then they had that rated by people in how interested they would be in working for an organization that used this language. The public service wording invariably ranked at about 13%, 15%, or 20%, and then there were the Googles of the world at 80% to 90% recognition.
That's a concrete example that changing the way we talk to people, the way we present ourselves, I think will make a big difference. That's one example, Mr. Chair.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
Thank you very much.
Colleagues, we're going to stop here.
Mr. Weir, we're going to cut you out of your last three minutes because we have committee business to deal with. My understanding is that yesterday the government gave notice of a couple of time allocation motions, which means we could be interrupted by bells. I'd like to get to planning our future business from now until adjournment as quickly as possible because this will be our last opportunity before our two-week break.
Mr. Borbey, thank you for your testimony. Congratulations on your nomination. I concur with my colleague Mr. Clarke. I don't think you'll have much difficulty in securing that nomination into full-time employment. Good luck to you, sir. It's a big job, and I know you're up to the task.
9:40 a.m.
Nominee for the position of President of the Public Service Commission, As an Individual
Thank you.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
We will suspend for a couple of minutes, colleagues, and then we'll go in camera.
9:40 a.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
Before we go in camera, I have a motion. I'd like to move to reopen debate on the motion we started earlier.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
9:40 a.m.
NDP
Erin Weir NDP Regina—Lewvan, SK
I'm not proposing a new motion. I'm just moving to return to the debate that was adjourned.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski
That is a non-debatable motion that we will vote on immediately.
The motion by Mr. Weir is to, in effect, reopen the debate on Mr. Clarke's motion that he presented earlier.
(Motion negatived)
Now we'll go in camera.
[Proceedings continue in camera]