Government rejects call to measure productivity across public service

OTTAWA — The federal government is rejecting a call from a working group to measure productivity across Canada’s public sector, arguing that doing so would not “readily align” with its priorities.

A working group tasked with measuring productivity in the federal public service recommends in a recent report that Statistics Canada explore, test and report publicly on the development of a productivity measurement program for the public sector.

The group says accurate and transparent measurement of public service productivity is “essential to improving outcomes” and that without reliable data, it’s “difficult to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of government services or identify areas for improvement.”

The group, launched by former Treasury Board president Anita Anand last year, was to issue a final report by the end of March but its conclusions were just released last week.

The working group members, which include former bureaucrats, academics and researchers, made 19 recommendations ranging from investing in technology to changing the cabinet decision-making process.

In its response to the report, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat says some of the recommendations — such as reviewing the public service’s administrative policies and using artificial intelligence — align with its plans.

It also says several working group recommendations could inform future work by the cabinet committee on government transformation. It says recommendations related to upskilling and performance management may be considered.

In its report, the group said the government should offer training to support upskilling across the public service.

It also said the government should adopt a culture of “rigorous” performance management, suggesting that actions could include reporting the number of public servants who have been dismissed, as well as the number of public servants identified as “underperformers.”

While the government did not immediately accept or reject those recommendations, it said other proposals “while of interest, do not readily align with government priorities, so are not being actively considered at this time.”

Among the recommendations being set aside are a suggestion to measure productivity across Canada’s public sector, one to establish an independent organization to evaluate performance and a proposal to appoint a senior official to steer public service reforms.

Former clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick says he’s disappointed the government rejected the call to put more effort into measurement, noting it could be included in departments’ annual results reports.

“It would have been a relatively easy give for them to say they’ll keep working and try to do better,” Wernick said. “It surprised me.”

He said government transformation and efficiency is one of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government’s “signature themes.”

“They should be receptive to it,” Wernick said.

He said there’s “nothing surprising” in the recommendations but questioned whether anything more concrete will be decided in the months to come.

“There’s a lot of specifics missing,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2025.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press