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Speech by
Lucienne Robillard,
President of the Treasury Board, and
Member of Parliament for Westmount-Ville-Marie
June 3, 2003
Ottawa
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to be with you today. I'd like to begin by thanking Robert Emond, the President of
APEX, for inviting me to take part in this year's awards ceremonies. It is particularly encouraging to see a
professional community, such as yours, that is clearly tight-knit, supportive of each other and committed to promoting
and recognizing excellence.
It is fitting that you have chosen "Transformations and transitions" as the theme of this year's
conference. Clearly, the public policy environment in this country is undergoing a profound change. As our various
speakers have pointed out, the coming years are going to be challenging for public institutions in general. Adapting to
this type of environment is going to require investments - in our systems and tools and in remodelling our structures
and processes.
But most importantly, we will need to invest in our people. We need to invest in them as professionals
- giving them the training they need to grow and develop. We also need to invest in them as people - recognizing that
they have different aspirations and priorities and giving them the individual support that they need.
In many respects, that is what good Human Resources (HR) management is all about.
I know that when many managers hear the letters "HR" they tend to zone out. Not everybody thinks HR is
sexy. HR in the government can be frustrating. It is something best left to the experts.
That simply isn't the case. HR matters. And, as executives, HR is something that you all must care
about and take responsibility for.
And when I say HR, I am not just talking about hiring people. That is far too limited a view. Good HR
is so much more than that simply attracting the right candidate for the job.
It is also about retaining people and nurturing them through a productive and rewarding work
experience. It is about creating safe and supportive working environments. It is about ensuring that institutions have
the right leadership in place and that staff are guided by a shared commitment to Canadians.
HR touches on absolutely everything we do. That is why it needs to be a priority for us all. As an
elected official, I can think of few better ways for me to serve my constituents - and the country as a whole - than to
focus my energies in this direction. I believe that improving our HR management, and building a stronger public
service, is a noble undertaking.
We are making progress. Bill C-25, the Public Service Modernization Act, is a big step forward.
It proposes the first major legislative change in HR management in over a generation.
I want to thank the APEX leadership for all the work they did with Ran Quail's Task Force and with my
officials to organize executive briefings on the subject. I also want to thank you for taking the time to make a
submission to the Standing Committee on Government Operations in support of the Bill.
I am pleased to say that the Bill has passed it's Third Reading in the House of Commons today.
I believe that we have produced a balanced piece of legislation. One that will lessen the procedural
nature of the present staffing system. It will encourage better labour-management relations. It will clarify
accountabilities and make for more flexible decision-making.
Ideally, C-25 is going to help empower the management community to make good HR decisions. We will
remove unnecessary red-tape and prescriptive rules and allow people to innovate and get the job done effectively and
efficiently. We want to encourage people to take risks based on shared values and stand behind their decisions. We want
people to be accountable for their mistakes and rewarded for their successes.
Of course, legislation alone is not going to make this a reality. You need to work across a much
broader front if you want to create truly profound and lasting change. And we are. Over the last few years we have
worked steadily on many different non-legislative reforms designed to improve the way that we manage people and to
complement our legislative efforts.
We are, for example, attempting to reform the policy suite governing people management. I'm sure it
will come as no surprise that Treasury Board has a lot of policies dealing with people management. Over 190. That is
ridiculous. We are currently trying to consolidate and simplify these policies.
We want to create a small family of key policy statements. These would guide action without delving
down into excruciating detail that ties your hands. We want people to have clear direction, but we also recognize that
departmental realities are different. We don't want to stifle the creativity that is already out there by replacing
confusing rules with cumbersome ones. We also need to be clear on the performance measures we will track to monitor the
health of the HR system.
One area where we are seeing some very marked progress is values and ethics. I am pleased to say that
we will very soon be introducing a new Values and Ethics Code that will act as a values-based management tool outlining
appropriate professional conduct as well as revising the current Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for
the Public Service. It will reaffirm the values dear to the public service: integrity, fairness, non-partisanship
as well as enhance accountability relationships to meet the high expectations and trust Canadians have in their public
institutions.
Another priority area is learning and leadership development. This means advancing work in areas like
succession planning and mentoring. It also means promoting core and even mandatory learning at all levels to ensure
that leaders, and those that aspire to leadership levels, have the right base knowledge and competencies.
We are also continuing to move forward with classification reform and redoubling our efforts to make
the Public Service more reflective of the population as a whole.
I could go on listing priorities, but I think you get the point. There is a lot to do. I can
unequivocally say that we are making progress and that we are building momentum. Some departments are showing real
leadership in specific areas. We now need to make what is 'best practice' into 'standard practice'.
I am optimistic that we can do this. HR modernization isn't just about changing policies and
procedures. As I said, it is equally about changing the way that we work and rethinking relationships between
people.
That is not going to happen overnight. I don't pretend that effecting large-scale change is going to be
easy.
But it will happen. And it must be a truly collective and collaborative effort. We need your
engagement, your enthusiasm and your expertise. We need departmental executives - such as you - to lead this initiative
with us.
The ball is rolling. The Secretary of the Treasury Board has now met with almost all Deputy Heads to
discuss implementation challenges. Working Groups are starting to be convened to look at the implementation challenges
of our human resource reform. Of course we need broad commitment - at all levels of departments and agencies. I have
spoken at various public service gatherings, such as the ADM Forum and the recent middle managers' conference in
Halifax. There is enthusiasm and we will build on it. I know that APEX will play an important role in helping with
implementation over the coming months.
I have heard some sceptics say that nothing ever really changes in the public service. I respectfully
disagree. It just requires the right leaders - exhibiting the best qualities of leadership, that is, vision, drive and
a willingness to believe. Thankfully, the Public Service is full of women and men who exemplify these virtues. It
always has been, and always will be.
Which brings me now, to the reason why we are all here this afternoon. It is a great pleasure to single
out a few such leaders and to recognize the excellence that is in our midst. Our 2003 APEX award winners represent the
very best of the public service. They are examples to us all.
Each of our award winners has contributed in a unique way. They are united, however, by their common
dedication to their jobs, their commitment to the Government of Canada and by their willingness to serve the citizens
of this country.
On behalf of the Government of Canada, I congratulate our winners and once again thank you all for inviting me to
take part in this special day.
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