Zussman argues deputy ministers must ensure employees are prepared for these shifts and get “past the mindset that they have formed over the last decade and to think in different terms.”
Time for the PS to shine. Be well-prepared, do your homework, know the platform, and show you’re a committed, non-partisan public service that can be relied upon. That builds trust. Have some “early wins” ready for them. Don’t say things can’t be done.
Keep it professional. Don’t greet a new government like an overeager puppy. Don’t try to be their best friend or badmouth the outgoing one. Your role is simple: work with them, understand and implement their agenda, and recognize the legitimacy of their agenda. (They are elected. Public servants aren’t.) If you can’t live with that, it’s time to move on and leave.
Let them lead. Some incoming governments have been watching, planning, and know the system better than public servants assume. Treating them like rookies can backfire — especially if they’ve seen the bureaucracy in committee, dodging questions. “Let them lead the dance,” said one bureaucrat. They know what they want, and the public service’s job isn’t to teach them “government 101” but to deliver.
Expect skepticism. New coach, new game. One former deputy minister likened a newly elected government to a new coach who comes in because the previous leadership was seen as not delivering. So, expect the new government to be skeptical that the public service is up to the job and can execute its agenda. This skepticism is justified. Acknowledge and adapt to it. Demonstrate you can work under the new leadership and deliver its priorities.
Don’t assume you know what the new government's relationship with stakeholders will be.
Don’t recycle the last government’s or minister’s contact list of stakeholders to call. That could backfire.
Be cautious.
Let the incoming team define its own relationships without speaking for the stakeholders.
FOR LATER
Public service’s full in-basket and no time to spare
Big issues include: organizing First Ministers Conferences, triaging the Trudeau government’s last-minute announcements — reforming the RCMP, launching a high-speed rail network, and revamping the CBC mandate.
On top of that, the public service has internal priorities of its own — longstanding issues that will take a backseat for now but won’t disappear.
Sooner or later, the government will have to address them: the Black employees’ lawsuit, employment equity and DEI, an upcoming report on PS productivity, union demands for remote work, using AI, new collective bargaining rounds, the pension-plan surplus debate, executive pay, and a full-scale review of spending.
And as one deputy put it: Don’t take it personally. Expect scrutiny, skepticism — maybe even some yelling. But stay professional, set boundaries, and prove the public service can deliver.
So who else was in that 2005 photo? Here’s our best guess, with a little bit of help of seasoned insider who keeps close tabs on who’s who:
Front row, left to right: Verna Bruce, Helene Gosselin, Suzanne Hurtubise, Michelle Chartrand, Munir Sheikh, Claire Morris, Michael Horgan, Monique Boudreau, Oryssia Lennie Donna Miller.
Second Row, L to R: Jack Stagg, Ivan Fellegi, Linda Lizotte MacPherson, Susan Peterson d’Aquino, Yaprak Baltacioğlu, Carole Swan, Nicole Jauvin, Richard Fadden.
Third row: ??, Will McDowell, Cassie Doyle, Christiane Ouimet, Alan Nymark, Francois Guimot
Fourth Row, L to R: Louis Levesque, Marie-Lucie Morin, Charles-Antoine St-Jean, Alain Jolicoeur, Michelle d’Auray, John Adama, Michael Wernick.
Fifth Row: Rob Fonberg, Ian Bennett, Jim Lahey, Suzanne Tining, ???, Janice Charette, Michel Dorais, Larry Murray, ????.
Back row, L to R: Morris Rosenberg, Peter Harder, Mark Carney, Paul Boothe, Robert Greenhill, Samy Watson.