Fixing feds’ fiscal plumbing takes more than tinkering

HR teams have grown into sprawling bureaucracies, often mirrored by similar functions hidden within other branches. These duplications add cost, complexity, and confusion.
From chatbots to translation: how the public service is using AI

The Canada Revenue Agency, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and Shared Services Canada are among the departments using the technology in their daily work, which they say helps with productivity.
Building a New Canada: Infrastructure & Procurement
If we can’t move it, we can’t sell it: reducing Canada’s reliance on the U.S. demands a national trade infrastructure strategy

While peer nations have long-term strategies to build and maintain the infrastructure that supports trade, Canada stands alone among its global competitors in lacking a coherent plan. That needs to change. Now.
Feds’ new ‘reciprocal procurement’ policy to limit foreign access to contracts amid U.S. trade tensions

The new policy is a testament to the ‘changing world order,’ says Liberal strategist Geoff Turner. ‘Now, if you do not have a procurement agreement through either a free trade agreement or other generalized agreement, you don’t get to play in Canada.’
The PBO’s take on public service bloat and staffing cuts

While the size of the public service is beginning to shrink after more than a decade of growth, the forecasted cuts still leaves the number of full time staff well above pre-pandemic levels, a new analysis shows.
‘Nobody is spared’: Treasury Board plans to cut staff by 10 per cent, with most from ‘employer’ oversight roles

The Treasury Board Secretariat’s departmental plan forecasts an increase in spending, and a decrease in full-time equivalent jobs in its employer oversight unit.
Skeleton of new Parliament Welcome Centre starts taking shape

Meanwhile, workers continue to haul bedrock out from under the historic Centre Block building as part of excavations that will reach 23 metres below ground.
Trade tribunal calls for freeze on multimillion-dollar defence contract after complaints it favours U.S. supplier

Highly restrictive bid criteria made competition ‘impossible’ for Canadian and European companies to secure the contract for military night-vision goggles, says a filing from Canadian defence company Cadex.
We need a fix for bureaucratic delays—but is it a pipe dream?

The prime minister could and should spend his entire mandate trying to do this. But this is a classic example of a problem where the people responsible for fixing it are the same people who are the problem.