Government Operations committee  I think what you've highlighted is basically at the core of what we're trying to institutionalize under the Impact Canada initiative, which is true codification of that co-design, co-development process, and taking a multisectoral approach. I'll give you a perfect example of the meld of technology and social issues, and this is the government's response to Canada's opioid crisis.

Government Operations committee  What we've done under the Impact Canada initiative is to launch an opioid drug-checking technology challenge. We put out the high-level goals, which are, can you develop a piece of technology that meets this criteria in terms of easy-to-use, low-cost, reusable...all of that? We put it out there to the communities, both domestic and international, to come up with that approach.

Government Operations committee  As you know, there are 432 publicly available mandate letter commitments that are posted on the PCO tracking site to give you a sort of high-level overview of where we are tracking on all of that. You can find that on our website. From a completed or met standpoint, we have 161 mandate letter commitments completed or met.

Government Operations committee  The rationale behind the target that was set was to ensure that we had a high level of ambition. As you're well aware, this idea of publicly disclosing all mandate letter commitments was the first time the federal government has ever seen that. I think there was an equal level of ambition in ensuring that the government work towards the greatest number of mandate letter commitments completed by the end of this current mandate.

Government Operations committee  That's really the philosophy behind the concept of results and delivery; it is looking at how governments track the original policy ideas all the way through implementation. Through the mandate letter tracker, the idea is that on a quarterly or so basis, the government is very publicly communicating where that policy implementation is at.

Government Operations committee  As you can imagine, there's this constant tension within the public service around the idea of innovation, ensuring that, obviously, the public service remains stable and strong during its delivery of all the statutory programs it's responsible for. At the same time, we see that constant push from the citizenry to ensure we continue to remain relevant to its needs.

Government Operations committee  It's a really important question. I think the public service engaging Canadians where they are versus where we are is a question that even my team directly within PCO is looking at very closely. As I look at the work that we are doing under the auspices of the Impact Canada initiative, I see that it is a programmatic approach that is looking at establishing new partnership models where government, non-profits and the private sector can work more collaboratively together.

Government Operations committee  We look at the role of the public service as stewards of public funds with a responsibility to ensure that the policies and programs that the government puts in place are done in a way that is diligent and respectful of the responsibilities that we have. When we think about the enterprise of innovation across any social, economic or environmental policy area, I think what we need to realize is that this concept of innovation is a discipline.

Government Operations committee  Absolutely. I think you're aptly putting it. There's a feeling that it's both ripe for opportunities and fraught with challenges. Of course, if we think about the government enterprise of over 250,000 employees across every single domain that we can think about, trying to ensure that we do this in a thoughtful way, with partners both inside and outside government...collaboratively co-designing and co-creating with all sectors of society, that's where the opportunity is: to ensure that we always put the citizen first.

Government Operations committee  Sure, I can field that question. There's a secretariat within the Privy Council Office called the public sector renewal secretariat. It's a group of colleagues who are implementing what is called “Beyond2020”. It's the latest renewal efforts within the public service, looking at building on what previous clerks have set up in terms of ongoing transformation of the public service to ensure it provides the leadership that's needed.

Government Operations committee  I can't speak on behalf of my colleagues. I'm certainly aware of the committee examination in terms of hiring practices within the public service.

Government Operations committee  Yes, I'd be happy to do that.

Government Operations committee  Both of you have raised fundamental questions on how government designs policies and implements programs. I think, once again, it's getting back to the recognition that we can always do better. As government departments and agencies, we obviously have decades' worth of experience in collecting, managing and analyzing the data we have, but there are gaps in how we do that.

Government Operations committee  Yes, that's exactly it. I think that is one of the fundamental tenets. What you're highlighting is the recognition that we have not been as effective as we could have been in sharing the data that every department has, and taking that classic sense of being citizen-centred first and foremost as we're developing policies and programs.

Government Operations committee  A number of departments have already started to implement some of these strategies. We have a fall timeline for all departments and agencies to publicly report on the data strategy. Come fall, you will see all government departments and agencies posting their data strategies online.