Hi all. While Ottawa is caught up in the political theatre of a possible end to Parliament, more than 1,300 bureaucrats gathered in Winnipeg last week for their own backstage drama – figuring out how to do their jobs in what organizers called “interesting times.” There’s an understatement.
The Institute of Public Administration of Canada – IPAC – has been a go-to thinking spot for public servants since 1949. But this is the first time all four levels of government – federal, provincial, municipal, and Indigenous –shared the stage.
What did they set out to tackle? Where to begin? Immigration, AI, affordability, productivity, housing, spending cuts, wars, geopolitical turmoil, a wave of provincial elections. It goes on and on.
Hanging over the three-day gathering was the question of trust: How can the public service rebuild the public’s crumbling confidence in democratic institutions?
Enter Peter Wallace, this year’s winner of IPAC’s Vanier Medal,an award recognizing outstanding public service. Wallace has worked at the very top of three levels of governments over a 40-year career. He retired in late 2021 as federal Treasury Board secretary and is now a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group.
In his work, Wallace says he’s difficult and “relentlessly orthodox and contrarian at the same time.” This is how he is probably best remembered by the ministers, prime ministers and premiers he served.
A 2013 profile in the Globe and Mail called him a by-the-book bureaucrat who tells politicians what they don’t want to hear.
He has unwavering ideas about the “craft” of the public service and what it takes to win and keep trust, which he spoke about in his acceptance speech the night before the IPAC sessions began.
But in an interview, we further discussed some of his core beliefs and insights after 40 years, and today we’ll run through his key takeaways, then look at their practical implications for public servants.
So, let’s jump in.
Today:
Balanced but blunt: Wallace is not a sugar coater.
“The biggest nuts in the courtroom”: His gas-plants testimony was legend.
Hell, yes, be skeptical: Citizen pushback is legit.
“Incredibly intrusive”: Governments impinge deeply on freedoms.
Learn from your critics: Today’s dissidents can be tomorrow’s heroes.
“Embrace scrutiny”: Come prepared to parliamentary committees.
A million? A billion?: Don’t be bamboozled by the numbers.
Tell the truth: Period. Pointe finale.
Oh, and other IPAC winners: We’ve got ’em.
THE JOB
“We have the privilege of advising”
Wallace landed his first public service job in 1981 after studying political economy and public administration at the U of T. He went on to become the most senior bureaucrat in Ontario as secretary to cabinet and head of the public service, and then in Toronto as city manager.
The move to Treasury Board secretary led to his name being added to a speculative list of contenders for the PCO clerk, the top job in government. He finished his career as TBS secretary.
“What’s driven me consistently over 40 years is a deep love and a deep respect for the craft of public service,” Wallace says.
“We have the privilege of advising decision-makers and implementing those decisions. I believe that’s fundamentally a craft, and a craft we need to take incredibly seriously.”
Unshakeable. Wallace’s testimony was key in the conviction of former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty’s chief of staff over the destruction of documents about the McGuinty government’s billion-dollar decision to cancel two gas-fired electricity plants in Oakville and Mississauga.
The late Christie Blatchford covered the trial and in her inimitable style, wrote “Peter Wallace may be a slight, short man but he has the biggest nuts in the courtroom.”
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
Canadians should be skeptical of government
“We want people to trust government, but they really should be skeptical about what government does with authority and they really should push back on that.”
Wallace is “sold on the merits of government.” Wherever you live or raise a family in Canada, it’s rooted in democracy, security, education, health care, income support and regulations that reduce risks and increase prosperity.
People in government are not as good as we think we are. “We’re mystified (as to) why people can be upset with government, and I don't think we should be. The reality is governments are often times incredibly intrusive.”
“They’re massive, they’re inefficient. We impinge very deeply on people’s spending power. We impinge very deeply on their economic freedom, and we impinge, from time to time, very deeply on their personal freedoms.”
But some restrictions on freedom are justified, a part of societal change that promotes health and safety. Remember the debates over seat belts, unleaded gas, and smoking bans in restaurants? No one would roll them back today, he says.
But policy can cause harm, too. “We have powerful and punitive mechanisms, which we enforce all the time in order to ensure people follow the will of public policy. We should not be surprised that there’s resistance to that. And I think what that really means is that we need to be incredibly careful about how we exercise those awesome powers.”
The job is to maximize the benefits and minimize the harms. Public policy can have harms, and public servants should balance that impact in their advice and implementation.
Peter Wallace in April 2014, when he was Ontario's cabinet secretary, answering questions during a committee hearing at Queen's Park in Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
Here’s how to do that:
Listen to your critics. Today’s dissidents can be tomorrow’s heroes.They are often right. You will learn more from them than from those who already align with you. Understand their perspectives. Understand the reasons behind them, and acknowledge that they could have valid points.
“It’s incredibly important to remember that today’s dissidents are often tomorrow’s heroes. We must be cautious about shutting people out of the policy process.”
Show your work. Welcome scrutiny. Come prepared to parliamentary committees. As uncomfortable as it may be in today’s hyper-partisan politics, share information and show your work when it’s sought through access-to-information requests.
“The public pays for what we do, and they have a right to see our work. We need to demonstrate our value and show that we are thoughtful and competent. So, let’s embrace that scrutiny.”
Public servants “do their best work when being watched,” Wallace says.
A million, a billion. Understand the value and cost of what you’re recommending. Don’t be bamboozled by the numbers.
“We’ve got to have metrics to help us understand individually at a gut level what we’re doing with that money. We have to be satisfied before we advise an expense that it’s actually worth the opportunity cost, worth the fiscal cost.
“I’m saying don’t deny the skepticism of government. Embrace it. Make it part of our policy advice.”
Tell the truth. This is his proudest achievement.“When push came to shove, and there was misalignment between what everyone was saying and what I knew to be the truth, I had the privilege and the backing ... to stand with the truth.”
So, reading the tea leaves here, Wallace could have been talking about Ontario’s gas-plant document scandal we referenced earlier. He spent three days testifying about it. He challenged politicos who claimed their offices had no documents about it when the public service had sent volumes their way.
Speaking truth to power is one of those core values that a deputy minister task force on values and ethics has flagged as needing attention. People are afraid to rock the boat, disagree or stick their necks out – and that’s a killer of trust and confidence.
Wallace is astonished by his career. He shuns attention. He rarely gave interviews. He calls himself an unlikely recipient of the Vanier award, which is a prestigious one.
He was born in the U.S. and was living in the outdoor paradise of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, when his father, a music scholar and park ranger, moved the family to Canada and settled in Dundas, Ont.
He became what he calls a “government guy who profoundly believes in the role of government.” His career was built on luck, privilege and bosses who gave him “the longest of long leashes.”
“You know, I had the amazing privilege of (being) allowed to be me.”
LAST, NOT LEAST
The other IPAC winners
Emerging leaders: James FitzGerald, a policy analyst at Natural Resources Canada, and Jessica Forbes, New Brunswick’s provincial co-ordinator of integrated service delivery.
Established leaders: Carlene Alexander, Ontario’s deputy minister at Treasury Board Secretariat and Akolisa Ufodike, deputy minister at Alberta’s ministry of Immigration and Multiculturalism.
Innovation: The B.C. Ministry of Health’s Chronic Disease Management Team; B.C. Network Connectivity Service; the Regional Municipality of York.
A bit about me. I cover and analyze the federal public service for Policy Options as the Accenture Fellow on the Future of the Public Service. I've been reporting on the public service for 25 years. My work has appeared in the Ottawa Citizen and iPolitics, and has earned a National Newspaper Award. My full bio is here. X: @kathryn_may.
The Functionary is published by Policy Options at the Institute for Research on Public Policy.
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