Agenda

Government is moving away from direct delivery to a role of Stewardship. There is greater emphasis on public reporting and performance. Many ministries fall into the performance measurement trap and struggle with managing performance. This presentation will show how policy "results measures" can be better aligned with operational "process measures" to improve results over time. Specific traps and opportunities will be demonstrated.

The Government of Ontario has recognized that Ontario’s courts are in need of attention in that cases took twice the number of appearances to be completed in 2007 than in 1992. Using data from a variety of sources, I will examine part of one small portion of this problem: the process whereby decisions are made as to whether a person charged with an offence should be released into the community or detained in custody awaiting trial. The presentation will illustrate that administrative data can sometimes be used to identify particular points in the process in need of intervention, even though those points may sometimes be found outside of the original focus of concern.

Moderator
Mark Leach
Assistant Deputy Minister
Policy Division
Ministry of the Attorney General

Mark Leach is the Assistant Deputy Attorney General of the ministry's Policy Division and Family Justice Services Division. The Policy Division is responsible for the Attorney General's policy agenda, for providing strategic and legal policy advice, for federal-provincial-territorial justice issues, and as the ministry point of contact with Cabinet Office. The Family Justice Services Division oversees the administration, coordination and delivery of the Ministry’s social justice programs across Ontario. Programs include Public Guardian and Trustee, the Children's Lawyer, Supervised Access and the Bail Verification Program. The division also has the responsibility for the Ministry's relationship with Legal Aid Ontario.

Mark was called to the Ontario bar in 1979. He practiced as a lawyer in a downtown Toronto poverty law clinic and later worked in the provincial office of the Ontario Legal Aid Plan. In 1988, he joined the Ministry as counsel with the Court Reform Task Force. Mark has served as Director of Policy, and as the Executive Assistant/Legal Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General.

At the ministries of EDU and TCU Greg conceived of and implemented the "Continuous Improvement Performance Management System" - CIPMS. Before joining the Ministry of Health he was Senior Consultant in the Results Office, Office of the Premier and Cabinet. During this period he also provided Technical Assistance, at the request of the High Commission in South Africa, to assist the Office of the Premier (Limpopo) to develop a Performance Management System for Growth and Development. He recently implemented an Internal Balanced Scorecard for the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care.

He has presented at conferences and workshops in Canada, the US, England, France, Germany and South Africa. Greg is a member of the Canadian Evaluation Society, Institute of Public Administration of Canada and the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management.

Gary Wuschnakowski currently is the Director of the Business and Resource Planning Branch for the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and Co-Chair of the Finance and Business Management Council (FBMC). With twenty-one years of OPS experience, Gary has been involved in all aspects of finance and business planning, corporate controllership and performance management and monitoring with a number of OPS ministries and their agencies.

Anthony N. Doob is a professor of Criminology at the Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto. He has been at the University of Toronto since 1968, first in the Department of Psychology and later at the Centre of Criminology. He graduated from Harvard in 1964 and received his Ph.D. (in psychology) from Stanford University in 1967. He served as Director of the Centre of Criminology from 1979 to 1989 and was one of the members of the Canadian Sentencing Commission from 1984 until 1987. He has written extensively on a wide range of topics including the processing of cases in the criminal courts, public knowledge and attitudes about sentencing and other aspects of the youth and criminal justice system, the operation of the youth justice system, the deterrent effect of sentencing, and trends in imprisonment in Canada. Most recently, he co-authored, with Jane B. Sprott, a book entitled Justice for Girls? Stability and Change in the Youth Justice Systems of the United States and Canada published by the University of Chicago Press that is scheduled to appear in December 2009.

Waterfront Toronto (WT) was established in 2001 by the government of Canada, Province of Ontario and City of Toronto and tasked with positioning Toronto at the forefront of global cities by transforming the waterfront into beautiful, sustainable new communities, parks and public spaces, fostering economic growth in knowledge-based, creative industries and ultimately re-defining how the city, province and country are perceived by the world.

Using the unique challenges and obstacles WT has experienced over the last several years as a case study the presentation will focus on how WT is moving forward with the implementation phase of revitalization and employing a “horizontal” approach in collaborating with its government partners and their agencies. Ensuring tri-government alignment on policy, funding and governance issues as well as dealing with other government agencies with similar and sometimes conflicting mandates requires innovative horizontal approaches which are critical to achieving the goal of a revitalized waterfront.

Dana Richardson
Assistant Deputy Minister
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing

Dana Richardson is the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Local Government and Planning Policy Division of Ontario’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Dana leads the development of local government policy related to finance, governance, land use planning, service delivery and management issues. She co-led the Provincial-Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review.

Ms. Richardson's senior executive service as Assistant Deputy Minister includes the Corporate Management Division at the Ministry of the Environment, Project Management and Quality Service in the Restructuring Secretariat at Cabinet Office and the Rural Development Division.

After practicing law in Toronto, Dana joined the Ontario Public Service in 1983. She began her public service career as an adjudicator in residential tenancies. She has both a law degree and a Masters of Public Administration degree from Queen’s University. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Toronto.

John Campbell is President and Chief Executive Officer of Waterfront Toronto (formerly known as the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation). The Corporation is responsible for leading the estimated $17 billion renewal of Toronto’s central waterfront.

Before joining Waterfront Toronto in April 2003, John was a senior executive at Brookfield Properties. He headed up the Canadian property management services subsidiary and also played a leadership role in the development of the company's most prestigious property – BCE Place; directing construction, marketing and leasing of the $1.2 billion award winning project.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 1989, John held senior positions in the real estate divisions of Bimcor Inc. and Bell Canada. He has an MBA from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Carleton University and has his Institute of Corporate Directors, designation (ICD.D).

Many areas of government activity are rife with "wickedly" complex problems, whose defining feature is that they cannot be solved, but can only be managed over time. The goal in dealing with wicked problems is therefore to attain a state of dynamic sustainability, continuously balancing competing values, objectives and interests through ongoing adjustments. Such a state requires sufficient consensus to provide legitimacy of the process, and sufficient commitment of resources (human, financial) to support effective collective action. Achieving this state requires policy instruments that leverage the contributions of multiple parties in program development and implementation. Drawing examples from the areas of health care and energy, and from international as well as Canadian experience, the presentation will consider leveraging options including: integrated fiscal/regulatory models; working with/through intermediate organizations (such as professional and industrial accrediting and audit bodies); collaborative development and implementation of regulatory standards; accountability mechanisms with multi-year time horizons. None of these options is recommended as an across-the-board shift in public policy; the key is to determine when they are appropriate and when existing instruments remain the preferred approach. Making these judgments and developing these options further requires tapping diverse evidence bases: economic analysis of policy instruments; comparative policy analysis of peer jurisdictions; narratives presented in public consultation. Each of these approaches has both advantages and disadvantages, and a mix is necessary.

Moderator
Janet Mason
Assistant Deputy Minister
Co-Executive Lead
Policy Innovation and Leadership

Janet Mason is the Visiting Fellow in Residence (Ontario Public Service). Janet Mason has been the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Postsecondary Education Division for the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities since July of 2004, and prior to this position, was the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Local Government Division with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Before joining the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Janet was Director of Policy for the Ministry of Skills Development, and recently, was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Ontario Innovation Trust. Janet holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree and a Master of Arts in Political Science from Carleton University.

Carolyn Tuohy is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Senior Fellow in the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto. She holds a B.A. from the University of Toronto, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University. Her area of research and teaching interest is comparative public policy, with an emphasis on social policy. Her publications include Accidental Logics: the Dynamics of Change in the Health Care Arena in the United States, Britain and Canada (Oxford University Press 1999) and Policy and Politics in Canada: Institutionalized Ambivalence (Temple University Press 1992), a treatment of Canadian public policy in comparative perspective. In addition she is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters in the areas of health and social policy, professional regulation, and comparative approaches in public policy, and is frequently consulted by government and related agencies on public policy matters. From 1992-2005 she served in a number of roles in the senior administration of the University of Toronto, including Deputy Provost and Vice-President, Government and Institutional Relations, and is currently Provostial Advisor on Public Policy. She currently serves as a member of the Boards of Directors of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and the Institute for Work and Health. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

David Carter-Whitney was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister, Social Policy Development for Ontario's Ministry of Community and Social Services in September 2007. His responsibilities include strategic policy, planning, research and intergovernmental relations, as well as development of policies and program design for the following areas: • Social assistance programs (Ontario Works, Ontario Disability Support Program and related supports); • Developmental Services; and • Adult services relating to homelessness, violence against women, the Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy and access to adoption records.

Prior to joining MCSS, David worked for the Government of Canada for 16 years, most recently as Director General, Employment Programs for Service Canada / HRSDC (Ontario Region). He also held positions with Human Resources Development Canada and Western Economic Diversification in Ottawa and Vancouver.

He joined the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities in May 2006 to help lead the implementation of the Canada-Ontario Labour Market Development Agreement, which transferred the majority of federal employment programs to Ontario including funding, contracts and staff.

John joined the OPS in 1980 and worked his way through a variety of positions in the Ministry of Treasury and Economics, Office of the Budget and Taxation, including Director of the Personal Income Tax and Fiscal Arrangements Branch. He was responsible for providing tax policy advice to the government on a variety of major revenue sources, including personal income tax, payroll tax, property tax and commodities taxes.

John became the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Fiscal Strategy and Coordination Division at the Ministry of Finance in September 2005. In that role he advised the government on the multi-year fiscal plan, the Province's fiscal arrangements with the federal government and supported the fiscal negotiations of First Ministers and Premiers, Finance and Intergovernmental Ministers. He was also responsible for the operation and advice provided to the Secretary and Members of Treasury Board of Cabinet.

In December 2008, John joined the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure as Assistant Deputy Minister, Regulatory Affairs and Strategic Policy. As part of this newly-structured Ministry, John acts as a point of coordination with energy agencies and is supporting the development of a number of the government’s green energy initiatives, including the Green Energy Act.

John is a member of a number of corporate advisory groups in the Ontario Public Service and is a task force member providing advice to the Public Sector Accounting Board, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. He is a graduate of York University's economics program.

Climate Change Abstract Because climate change is a wicked problem in and of itself, delivering on climate change policy comes with its own challenges. In this presentation, Rachel Kampus will describe the way in which the Climate Change Secretariat employs evidence based policy, developed through processes of monitoring, tracking and reporting to enable the Ontario government to deliver on its climate change commitments. In addition, Rachel will highlight the role of effective collaboration in driving the best advice and results against the province’s Climate Change Action Plan targets. This presentation supports the idea that evidence-based policy and decision-making form the foundation of an exemplary public service.

MOH Abstract Ontario medical education and research is a recognized leader in the application of evidence to health issues, from bio-medical and clinical applications, to system delivery and population health issues. But as the UK Government and others have demonstrated, we can go farther in applying evidence to public policy issues, not just in health care or areas like science and engineering, but in a range of policy fields. This presentation will outline the benefits and challenges of applying evidence in the development of policy and programs, while doing so in a way that respects the democratic process and other important societal values. It will conclude with some suggestions about the roles that can and should be played by civil service professionals.

Moderator
Nancy Naylor
Assistant Deputy Minister
Ministry of Education
Co-Executive Lead Policy Innovation and Leadership

Nancy Naylor is currently an ADM with the Ontario Ministry of Education, with responsibility for managing the province’s funding for school boards, including capital programs, student transportation and teacher pensions. Previous to this assignment, Nancy was the ADM for Provincial-Local Finance in the Ontario Ministry of Finance. Nancy served as Director of the Education Finance Branch during a major period of education finance reform. She also led a reform project in social assistance, and worked in Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Finance. She started her career with the Ontario government in the Ministry of Health as a management intern and as a program consultant in community health. Nancy has a BA in political science from McMaster and a Masters degree in public administration from Carleton.

Michael Fenn was appointed Senior Advisor to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, in May 2009, with responsibility for a policy initiative related to advancing evidence-supported value in the delivery of health care in Ontario.

For eight years ending in 2005, Michael Fenn served as Deputy Minister for the Ontario ministries of municipal affairs & housing, and community safety. In 2005, he was appointed by Order-in-Council (OIC) to be the founding CEO of one of Ontario's new regional health authorities, the Mississauga Halton LHIN, serving a population of over one million. In early 2007, he was appointed by the OIC as the first CEO of the new Greater Toronto and Hamilton regional transportation authority, now known as Metrolinx. Prior to his appointment as a deputy minister, Michael Fenn's municipal career included being City Manager of Burlington and later CAO of Hamilton-Wentworth Region, for a total of eleven years. His career has taken him to positions in Ontario communities ranging from Sudbury and Kapuskasing to London.

Michael Fenn has been recognized for bringing "customer focus" and innovation to the delivery of public services, and for promoting citizen involvement in public policy. He has been a Director and Vice-Chair of the $40 billion OMERS pension fund, as well as serving on the boards of PSAB, the Ontario Municipal Administrators Association (OMAA), the United Way and the Ontario Realty Corporation, including a term as Chair. He currently serves on the boards of Municipal Employers Pension Centre of Ontario (MEPCO), the Canadian Urban Institute, and the Imperial Cotton Centre for the Arts (Hamilton), as well as on the IPAC international programs committee. His career achievements have been acknowledged by a number of professional awards, including the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Distinction in Public Administration for Ontario in 1997, the AMCTO's award for career service in 2000, the OMAA's 2006 Baldwin Award and the "Canada 125 Medal" for community service to Burlington.

In addition to two degrees from York University, Mr. Fenn holds an MA and a Diploma in Urban/Regional Public Administration, both from the University of Western Ontario. He has also completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government from the Kennedy School at Harvard University. His articles and presentations on public policy and public administration have appeared in a number of journals, books and conferences.

Rachel brings over 20 years of experience in government, most extensively in the transportation sector. Rachel is a founding member of the Secretariat and the management team. Rachel is known for her ability to find strategic, creative and collaborative solutions through strong results-based partnerships with broad stakeholder groups. She plays an integral role working within Cabinet Office and with the ministries of Energy and Infrastructure, Municipal Affairs and Housing, and Government Services portfolio to deliver result against emissions reductions targets in the Premier’s Climate Change Action Plan. Most recently this has included the “Leadership To Reduce Our Carbon Footprint’ strategy that Cabinet endorsed and Government Services is now implementing to reduce the emissions and climate impact of government operations.

Before joining the Secretariat, Rachel served as Executive Assistant to several Deputy Ministers, and prior to that led a team of transportation project managers. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Studies, completed the Canadian Securities course, the Niagara Institute’s Executive Leadership program, and will soon begin a Masters Certificate in Public Management at Schulich. Rachel makes up for her love of cooking by enjoying the great outdoors: mountain biking; snowboarding; hiking and photography.

Strategy Making in a Policy Environment - Challenges of Wicked & Complex Problems This panel will be presenting a contingency framework where the policy role - the strategic mode of thinking - depends on the problem at hand. It will feature a 2x2 matrix tool with 4 different modes of policy making (director, cartographer, partner and guide) depending on the degree of unpredictability and variability in context. Drawing on the panelists' examples from both the Ministries of Natural Resources and Health and Long-Term Care, the panel will then engage with the audience, answering:

• What makes policy come together when the primary stakeholders agree on almost nothing?
• How do you keep parallel processes going throughout?
• How do you satisfy the needs of elected officials and stay the course to overcome the wicked problems?

Moderator
Richard McKinnell
Assistant Deputy Minister
Communications
Cabinet Office

Richard is currently an Assistant Deputy Minister at Cabinet Office Communications. He has over 20 years experience with the Ontario Public Service in a variety of capacities and in a number of different line ministries and central agencies. While at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Richard worked in the former Field Services Branch, served as Manager of Planning Reform and was Senior Manager, Human Resources. From 1999 to 2001, Richard was the Director and Executive Assistant to the Secretary of the Cabinet, where he effectively managed a range of complex and sensitive issues. Richard has led teams of communications professionals at both the Ministry of Environment and the former MBS/CFL/HRM. In 2005, he was the Executive Lead of Transition and ADM, Corporate Services for the Ministry of Government Services. Richard was also the 2006-07 OPS Amethyst Fellow at Queens University.

Dr. Brenda Zimmerman is a professor of Strategic Management at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. She is the founder and Director of the Health Industry Management Program for MBA students. During 2000-2003, she joined McGill's Faculty of Management as an Associate Professor and had a joint appointment with the Faculty of Medicine. Between 1998-2003, she was a professor in the McGill-McConnell Masters' Program for Voluntary Sector Leaders and the Masters in International Practicing Management Program.

Her primary research applies complexity science to management and leadership issues in organizations, especially health care or not-for-profit organizations, experiencing high levels of uncertainty and turbulence. Since 1996 the bulk of her research and teaching has focused on health care. She is a member of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences chronic disease expert panel on Health System Transformation, sits on a committee of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, advises the Canadian Public Health Agency and is the Vice-Chair of Quality for Mount Sinai Hospital. She has been an invited speaker at organizations and conferences in North America and Europe. She has written many articles, book chapters and a co-authored book on the topic of complexity and management in health care, "Edgeware: Complexity resources for Healthcare Leaders". Her latest co-authored book, "Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed" is a Canadian best seller published in 2006 and published in Japan in 2008 and Korea in 2009. She is active in her community locally, nationally and internationally and in 2006 was awarded the Athena award in recognition of her community contributions and mentoring of women to reach their full potential. In 2009, she was awarded the Teacher Excellence Award for the Schulich School of Business.

David de Launay is the Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) of the Field Services Division of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Since 2007, he has been responsible for implementing Ontario’s Far North initiative which will result in protection of over half the area and sustainable economic development, both enabled through First Nation led land use planning.

From 1999 to 2005 David led negotiations with the eight Great Lakes states to protect and conserve the waters of the lakes. He will be drawing heavily from these two experiences to draw lessons about wicked problems. An ADM in MNR since 2005, David has led all four divisions in the ministry. He has also worked in Cabinet Office, with Northern Development and Mines, and as the Director of Strategic Alliances with Sir Sandford Fleming College. David has his Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from Trent University and lives in Peterborough with his wife and daughter.

Ms Davis is currently the Director, Health System Strategy Branch leading the development of the 10-year strategic plan for the health system; Long-Range Scenario Planning in health; Integrated Cancer Screening Strategy, along with other projects. Prior to this position she was the Lead for the Health System Strategy Division Strategic Policy and Knowledge Management Group; Executive Lead - Ministry Strategic Directions and A/Director Strategic Health Policy Branch in the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

During her 20-year public service career, she has had senior management positions in the Ministries of Health and Long-Term Care, Correctional Services, Attorney General, Management Board Secretariat and Cabinet Office. She has experience in all aspects of the policy process including development, coordination, and implementation, as well as program management and information technology. Prior to her current position at the Ministry, Sheree was the Acting Executive Director, Integrated Policy and Planning Division; Director, Corporate Policy Branch; and the Principal Negotiator, Health Insurance and Related Programs.

Over the last 30 years, Sheree has also held a number of volunteer community leadership roles in a diverse range of service, policy and fund-raising programs/agencies, that afford a unique perspective on the development of government policy and programs.

Many of the issues that the public service addresses are highly complex problems with many possible solutions. To empower communities to help find solutions to these problems, the City of Toronto's Public Consultation Unit is beginning to use Web 2.0 applications including Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, wikis and specifically tailored applications alongside more traditional public consultation methods. An overview of our activities as well as lessons learned to date will be discussed.

Moderator
David Tallan
Manager, Stewardship & Web Portfolio
Office of the Corporate Chief Strategist
Ministry of Government Services

As manager of e-Government Stewardship and the Web for the Ontario government, David Tallan is responsible for the Ontario.ca website and for providing standards and guidance to the Ontario Public Service web community. An important part of that is guidance on how best to leverage emerging web technologies. When he first tried the web, it was limited to the CERN server and the "www" browser. He's been providing access to government information and services over the Internet since 1993. While he may not be a "digital native" he's certainly an early settler on the web frontier.

Barbara Swartzentruber is currently the manager of the Strategic Projects Unit in the Office of the Corporate Chief Strategist, Ministry of Government Services. She has been working on broadband development in Ontario for the last 5 years with the Ontario Public Service. She currently holds a B.A from Wilfred Laurier University, a Master Degree from the University of Toronto in Social Work and recently completed Queen's University's Public Executive Program.

Mike's interests revolve around authentically and deliberately engaging communities in decision-making processes that impact them. Mike holds engineering and planning degrees and has experience working for consulting firms, an NGO and municipal government. Mike has played a key role in planning and organizing dozens of public consultation activities some of which include managing the consultation process for the Nathan Phillips Square Design Competition (used to inform the designs of competing architects), empowering community groups to take action to protect their lake environments through citizen-science initiatives, and contributing to the community-engagement portion of the United Nations University's Water Virtual Learning Centre.

Peter Cowan is Director of Enterprise Information Management at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). He has been instrumental in implementing social and collaborative technologies in the department, the first of which was a wiki for use by all employees in October 2007. Peter continues to champion the use of social collaboration tools at NRCan as a way to change the culture of the department to a more open, collaborative and integrated knowledge organization. Peter has been involved in building websites and implementing information management solutions for the past 12 years. He played a key role in the launch of the Canada site - business component, he also lead the acquisition of the Government of Canada's portal, content management, and search solutions. Peter has a Bachelors degree in Philosophy and a Masters in Public Administration.