Speech bythe Honorable Lucienne Robillard,President of the Treasury Board, andMember of Parliament for Westmount-Ville-Marie December 3, 2003 Check against delivery.Good morning ladies and gentleman,I am very pleased to join you here at the annual Heads of Human Resources Conference. My congratulations to the HR Council and to the HR Community Secretariat for their excellent collaboration in creating this event.Wow! What a special time! In a little over a week, we will have a new Prime Minister, and a new Government. This is therefore a time of new beginnings, of change, of possibility. And with the recent passage of the Public Service Modernization Act (PMSA), this is also the start of something new for the leaders of the human resources community in the public service.Two years ago, I came to the Heads of HR Conference at St. Sauveur to talk about our dreams for what became Bill C-25. So it was with immense pride that I attended the Managers Forum in Laval on November 7, the same day as Royal Assent for C-25. Through imaginative use of technology we were able to celebrate with over 1800 public servants at many sites across Canada the end of a long journey to shape and gain Parliamentary approval for the first renewal in a generation of the legislative framework for managing people in the public service.Today I am here to invite you to commit together to seizing the opportunity that the PSMA offers. In a real sense, the hard part is ahead of us, as we translate possibility into action. For you, the leaders of the HR community, I believe this is the chance of a lifetime to make a difference.The OpportunityWe have always described the PSMA as being about four basic goals:Simplifying staffing so that we can get the right people in the right jobs at the right time.Encouraging more collaborative relations between bargaining agents and managers to ensure productive, effective workplaces.Creating a single institution for learning which can serve all public servants in meeting those development needs.Clarifying accountability for managing people well in the public service.Despite being almost 300 pages long, the PSMA does not set out a formula for achieving these goals. Instead, the new law is "enabling". It creates possibilities. But it is very much up to managers and HR professionals, as well as the unions, to turn potential into everyday life. I will comment later on the special role I see for HR professionals in implementing the legislation. For now, though, I would like to explore what needs to be done for the new law to be judged a success when Parliament turns to reviewing it in five years.StaffingFor many years, public servants have complained about staffing being tied up in process. Choosing what the jurisprudence was pleased to call "the best qualified" candidate became a matter of observing complicated rules. It sounded great to be "hiring the best qualified". But particularly in external recruitment, how many of the best candidates were willing to wait months for an answer?So, as you know, we replaced detailed rules with a new approach to merit. First, appointees must meet essential qualifications to be determined by the Deputy Heads. Second, delegated managers will be expected to exercise their judgement; they will have the flexibility to choose from among qualified candidates based on the particular needs of their organization. Third, if there are problems in the process, they can be addressed and resolved early by the decision maker. But if someone feels there was an abuse of authority, that person can take their concern to an independent Public Service Staffing Tribunal for adjudication.It is obvious that the new system depends for its success on some key factors such as these:The policy frameworks set by the Public Service Commission and the Treasury Board need to focuson values and accountability, not detailed prescription.Managers need to undertake serious HR planning, so they have a sound basis for making staffing decisions.Departments need to design processes that are understandable, transparent, and explainable.Dispute resolution practices in departments need to be timely, fair, and credible.Staffing is not a subject for collective bargaining. However, the PSC must consult the bargaining agents in developing their policy framework. At the departmental level, bargaining agents need to be sufficiently involved that they can have confidence that the system in a particular department is sound.When there are problems or abuses, as there inevitably will be, senior management will need to move quickly to deal with the situation, whether through education or discipline as the circumstances warrant. Labour RelationsIn the area of labour relations, the new legislation promotes co-operation and constructive dialogue both in collective bargaining and in the day-to-day life of the public service in departments.Even more than in staffing, whether we see progress will depend on how managers take up the challenge to do things differently. Some of the behaviours that will be critical to success are these:Both the Treasury Board Secretariat and the unions will need to invest the time and thought required to make sure that the new compensation research function of the Public Service Labour Relations Board produces data credible with both sides.Both sides will need to have the wisdom and patience to resolve even the toughest collective bargaining issues through discussion, in the public interest.Managers and unions will need to focus on practical solutions to workplace issues, taking the risk to speak the truth to each other.Managers in particular will need to listen hard in cases of co-development, and look for creative win-win solutions.Unions will need to avoid turning every issue into a cause for grievances, or seek to restore detailed rules at every turn. LearningThe new Canada School of Public Service brings together the work of the Canadian Centre for Management Development, with Training and Development Canada and Language Training Canada from the Public Service Commission. For the first time we will have a single institution that can take a holistic and balanced view of the corporate learning needs of public servants at all levels.Again, we find an enabling change that will only make a real difference if we think and act imaginatively. Among the challenges are these:The School will need to make itself accessible across Canada, through partnerships.Official languages will need to permeate learning in all fields, and not remain isolated.The Treasury Board will need to find a way to help the School and departments ensure that basic orientation for new employees, and core learning for the various levels of managers can be financed.The culture of the new institution will need to be such that everyone can feel comfortable, including all types of public servants, as well as union partners. AccountabilityAccountability in the human resources field has always been shared, and it will continue to be. However, the PSMA has brought some important clarification. The Public Service Commission concentrates on ensuring the health of the staffing system and the protection of merit. The Treasury Board Secretariat assumes full responsibility for setting qualification standards as well as current and future needs of the public service. Deputy Ministers, and through them line managers generally, become clearly responsible for people management in their departments.As with the other goals, however, care will be needed to fulfil the promise embodied in the PSMA. For example:The measures and assessment methods to be used in holding departments to account will need to be few and meaningful.Deputy Ministers, in taking on their new direct authorities in areas such as discipline, will need to work together with the Treasury Board Secretariat to ensure that decisions take full account of the common interest in coherence.Poor performance will need to have consequences, but with an emphasis on building capacity not finding fault.Consultation within the system will be important, but without paralyzing sensible action.Getting ResultsSo how do we make sure that the PSMA is a success?The main point needs to be that line managers, starting with Deputy Ministers, and reaching down to front line supervisors, accept their responsibility to manage their people and act accordingly.In this regard, I am very encouraged by the network of implementation committees that Deputy Ministers themselves are leading. I have heard how seriously they are taking their role. I suspect many of you are feeling the pressure of responding to their need for advice and staff support. These DMs and other managers are blazing a trail for their colleagues. And when the time comes to get ready to proclaim sections of the new law, no one will be more persuasive with their colleague line managers than these leaders.Now we need to engage the rest of the line management community. I know that many of them were sceptics. They doubted Bill C-25 would pass. But it did. So now they need to catch up. I have asked the Treasury Board Secretariat to take a lead in reaching out to line managers across the government, to complement your efforts in the departments.I also recognize that the next few months will be very demanding for public service leaders, as a new PrimeMinister and perhaps many new Ministers put their own stamp on the government. There will be multiple demands on managers' time.This is where you as the leaders of the human resources community come into the picture. You need to help your Deputies and line managers turn the PSMA into a powerful tool for making the Government of Canada serve Canadians better. You are well placed to envision how the PSMA can assist your departments and agencies to meet their business goals.In doing this, you need to resist the temptation to take over. Some line managers might prefer to leave PSMA implementation to you. Do not let them. Some days you may feel it would be easier if you just did things on your own.Do not go there.This is where the community of HR professionals can support each other. In some departments things will go better and faster. Learn from each other. If things get tough because of conflicting priorities, speak together with one voice about the need to include PSMA implementation into the urgent work of each organization and the government as a whole.It is also important that the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Public Service Commission deliver on their parts of the puzzle. As central agencies, they have policy and leadership responsibilities on behalf of all of you. Hold them to account. If they are not delivering, speak up. Insist on participating as they shape the frameworks everyone will need to live with.Two years ago when I spoke to you at St. Sauveur, one member of the audience had the courage to challenge me on whether there would be any resources available to help with implementing the PSMA. I said that without resources, I would not initiate such changes.The Budgets of December 2001 and February 2003 set aside a total of $238 million to support PSMA implementation. That's a lot of money. Some would say that it is not enough but, if we use the funds wisely, and if departments redirect some of their internal resources, we should have enough.Of course a lot of the money will need to be spent to set up new institutions, or help others adjust to their new roles. Funds are needed for some key systems work in such areas as e-recruitment or adapting HR operating systems to the new realities, as well as the Implementation Secretariat led by Monique Boudrias at the Treasury Board Secretariat.But I want to assure you that we understand that departments will need help also. A substantial portion of the total will go to helping people prepare for the mandatory services such as Informal Conflict Management systems as well asessential key learning. As far as possible, we plan to promote joint learning, bringing together line managers, HR professionals, and where appropriate, union representatives.ConclusionFor thirty-five years, the legal framework for managing people in the public service has remained essentially unchanged. Now we have a new law. The coming years will show whether we make a new home for ourselves, or whether we end up re-creating what exists.For those of you who love the public service, as I do, there could be no greater opportunity than to be there "at the creation". As Human Resources professionals you have the opportunity of meeting a great challenge and of making a difference in the lives of thousands of your fellow public servants. As Minister, I pass the torch to you. It is up to you to make sure that it burns brightly long into the future.I thank you for your kind invitation to join you today.
