Carney government rejects calls to measure public service productivity

The Carney government has outright rejected a proposal to finally measure productivity across the federal public sector, claiming the review doesn’t “readily align” with its priorities.

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The Carney government has outright rejected a proposal to finally measure productivity across the federal public sector, claiming the review doesn’t “readily align” with its priorities.

The Working Group on Public Service Productivity was launched last year by former Treasury Board president Anita Anand to “examine productivity in Canada’s federal public service and inform the government’s economic plan.”

The group’s final report, issued last week, concluded that Statistics Canada should be tasked with testing and publicly reporting on the development of a productivity measurement program for the public sector.

“A productive federal public service is foundational to our system of government and public trust in government institutions. The working group found that much could be done to improve public service productivity and developed 19 recommendations for the government to consider,” the report stated. “While acknowledging current efforts to reduce spending on government operations and their impact on productivity, the group stressed that lasting gains require continued investment in data, technology, workforce management, and efficient structures and processes.”

However, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat responded by saying it was not “actively considering” any of the 19 recommendations, apart from reviewing administrative policies and using artificial intelligence.

Specifically, the government will not consider the recommendation to conduct performance reviews within a year of an employee’s hiring or promotion, nor will it create a clear plan to improve performance or make those findings public.

Ottawa also rejected the recommendation of appointing a senior official to reform the public service.

Furthermore, the Carney government rejected a recommendation to streamline decision-making to remove some of the pressure from the president of the Treasury Board.

“If we’re really not serious about measuring overall productivity, then why should we assume that productivity is going to improve?” said Stephen Tapp, CEO and chief economist at the Centre for the Study of Living Standards.

According to a Fraser Institute study, Canada’s public sector added 950,000 jobs between 2015 and 2024, accounting for roughly 30 per cent of all employment gains. “Public sector employment as a share of total employment has grown from 19.7 per cent in 2015 to 21.5 per cent in 2024,” the study noted. “Moreover, public sector employment grew at an annual average rate of 2.7 per cent per year, while private sector employment grew at 1.7 per cent per year.”