In order to successfully deliver on a transformative agenda, governments require a clear understanding of what levers they possess to initiate change that will contribute to long-term sustainability.

Provincial governments no longer directly control most of their spending on a day-to-day basis. Their costs are driven by salaries and benefits structured through collective agreements, as well as direct transfers to other bodies (colleges, municipalities, school boards, hospitals, among others). These are two of the most important levers that provincial governments possess. But, they have too little control over them to effectively manage for long-term fiscal sustainability.

The key levers at the disposal of governments in Canada include: collective agreements, transfers to other bodies, data, hard assets like real estate, and consolidated legislative authority that facilitates the capacity to make changes quickly and coherently.

The transformative agenda is enormous and daunting, yet other jurisdictions are undertaking practical steps to move forward. Some worthy of consideration in the immediate future include:

1.  Skills audits to ensure that the least expensive competent practitioner is delivering the necessary service.
2. Collective agreements that include more flexibility for management and labour to respond to rapid changes in technology and job requirements.
3. Client navigation services and program coordination focused on the small number of individuals who are the highest consumers of public services and who often cross back and forth between different service silos.
4. Clarifying governance and accountability relationships with recipients of transfer payments and service delivery partners.
5. Investment in new and better data collection that better facilitates public disclosure and secondary analysis.
6. Consolidation and differentiation in the health and other sectors to generate efficiencies and value for money.
7. Experimentation with payment for performance through the use of Social Impact Bonds and other instruments.
8. Advances in digitization, such as personal accounts so that individuals can manage their interaction with governments.
9. New approaches to collective bargaining and arbitration rules to ensure that governments have an ability to control the costs of labour.
10. Monetization of assets (where appropriate) such as data, real estate, crown corporations, and other holdings.

The program landscape in many areas is messy and cluttered. Processes must begin to consolidate programming across ministries and governments, with a focus on clarifying the objectives of programs and measuring whether these goals are being achieved. This should include vertical program reviews, which look across levels of government for savings. It should also include transparent policy audits that clarify program objectives and approaches to results measurement.

Governments do not have a good understanding of why so many of their efforts fail to deliver the desired change. Political or bureaucratic resistance is often responsible. The sense of urgency necessary to compel fundamental change is often absent.

Our bottom line is that Canadians must summon this sense of urgency. We face significant short-term challenges as well as a long-term structural constraints driven by demographic factors and aging infrastructure.

Recent global experience demonstrates that governments have the ability to deploy breakthrough technologies and fundamentally change their delivery models. Recent global experience also demonstrates the consequences of failing to do so.

For those who believe in the future of public services, now is not the time for Canadians and their governments to hug the status quo.