Ottawa, Tuesday, June 7, 2011

I want to begin by thanking each of you for your service to Canada.

I have a deep respect for the work that you do on behalf of all Canadians. Allow me to repeat the eloquent words of my predecessor, the Right Honourable Georges Vanier, who said:

“I know of no more noble occupation than service, and no higher calling than the service of the public.”

As governor general, I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with professionals from across the public service. And indeed, by a curious process of adoption, I am now one of you, at least in part.

Like you, I am a non-elected, non-partisan Canadian public servant. Unlike you, I had never held a “real” job until October 1 of last year. I entered university at 18 and found the place so delightful and enticing that until age 69, I never left.

And yet all of the important things in life I have learned from my children. All five of my children—all daughters—are in the public service. So when I was asked to take this job—and I was deeply honoured to do so—I severed my umbilical cord with the university, and followed my children into the real world.

If you take nothing else away from my remarks this morning, please remember this: I believe Canada has benefitted richly from a talented and dedicated public service over many decades. Every day, public servants make fundamental contributions to good government, to democracy and to Canadian society. And your values—which are focused on people, professionalism, the public interest, and trust—truly set the standard for us all.

In fact, our public service is one Canadian legacy much admired by the rest of the world. Let us keep this in mind as we consider the impact of globalization on the work that you do.

Since my installation as governor general, I have been inviting Canadians to think about ways to create a smarter, more caring nation as we approach the 150^th anniversary of Confederation in 2017. I was therefore delighted—and not at all surprised—to learn that the Public Service of Canada is already operating with this milestone in mind. 

One recent initiative was the canada@150 exercise, which brought together 150 early career public servants and senior leaders to explore our nation’s future as we approach 2017. The participants in this initiative made a number of important insights, and they understand that Canada’s future cannot be considered in isolation. The future role of government, they conclude, will be defined by globalization and by issues of growing complexity.

“Even when the world was flat, people were working on complex problems;” the canada@150 report states, “but in a round world, complexity takes on new dimensions.”

Allow me to focus for a moment on two main reasons why issues are becoming more complex. One, because our understanding of the issues at play in the world is becoming more nuanced. And two, the number of people affected by issues is giving rise to complex relationships.

This is why your work as public servants is more critical to our well-being than ever. Increased globalization means increased complexity, which makes your understanding of the issues facing Canada and the world so essential to our future.

As custodians of the public interest, you will be called upon to demonstrate leadership and creativity to foster collaboration among all sectors of our society. As you may know, one of my priorities as governor general is to reinforce learning and innovation in this country, and I strongly believe that one of the best ways to enhance knowledge is to share it.

Citizens of a smart and caring nation work together. As executives, you set an important example for the public servants you lead and for all Canadians. The task at hand may seem daunting, but the possibilities for innovation and experimentation are many and growing.

The way forward is not without risk, so I am encouraged to see a growing recognition of the need for intelligent risk taking in the public service. In the 2010 Manion Lecture to public servants, Thomas Homer-Dixon likened good leaders to “gardeners” who establish the conditions for creativity and growth. And as any gardener can tell you, some experiments don’t work out. Allowing for the possibility of failure is an essential precondition for innovation—indeed, it is a defining characteristic of a smart nation.

Several years ago, when I was presidentof the University of Waterloo, the former clerk of the Privy Council, Kevin Lynch, was concerned about the lessening ability of the public service to attract the most qualified students. He asked if we could set up a job fair in the Waterloo area—which we did.

Over the course of two days, 80 deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers came to speak about jobs in the public service and to interview potential candidates. They had the ability to make job offers on the spot.

It was an outstanding success. Over 1,000 students from the University of Waterloo and surrounding schools attended, many of whom had no prior interest in the public service. They reported to me three startling findings:

1. the idealism of serving the public;

2. the variety of careers available; and

3. the speed at which responsibility is given, as well as the breadth of that responsibility.

The key element is trust, which is the basis of the social contract that will allow us to become a nation of innovators. How can we build trust within the public service and in Canadian society as a whole? What are the mechanisms by which we can bring people together from the public, private and non-governmental sectors to find common cause and to innovate?

Looking ahead to 2017, I would like to challenge you to empower those around you to put their talents to use and to lead. As governor general, I often remark upon my total dependence upon the people around me, and I know the same can be said of each of you. To unlock new ideas and to have the legitimacy to lead in the 21^st century, we must invite all Canadians to participate in new and innovative ways. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank APEX for bringing us together for this important discussion, and for all that you do for executives—and for excellence— in the public service. We must aspire to excellence, because in a globalized world, the strength of our ideas and the pace of our innovation will determine our quality of life.

And again, I want to thank each of you as public service executives. You turn principles and goals into reality, and that is why your efforts are crucial to building a smarter, more caring Canada and a fairer, more just world.

In the words of George Bernard Shaw, a famous British author: “Some people see things as they are and wonder why. We dream of things that ought to be and ask why not.”

Thank you.