The following is an episode of a Hub special series called The Business of Government, hosted by award-winning journalist and best-selling author Amanda Lang, about how government works and, more importantly, why it sometimes doesn't work. In this five-part series, Lang conducts in-depth interviews with experts and former policymakers and puts it all in perspective for the average Canadian.
This episode's featured guest is Michael Wernick, a former clerk of the privy council and secretary to the cabinet of Canada with decades of experience working in Canada's civil service. The two discuss the nature and the structure of Canada's civil service, how the public sector and the political arena interact, and what, if anything, can be done to improve the performance of our government bureaucracy.
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