The 3P Approach to Governance: The How-To Book on Improving Decision-Making in the Public Sector

 The 3P Approach to Governance  By: Bryan Shane and Patricia Lafferty 163 pages • ISBN 978-1773713045 Fix your public sector governance problem in a few easy steps! This new book by a pair of seasoned management consultants provides a step by step guide to reshaping public sector governance through a

How Casual is Casual Labour?

 Photo courtesy of Katie Sample. An ongoing issue in retail and administrative positions is the classification as casual labour, which trends towards lower pay, reduced or no benefits and zero security. A large part of the casual labour pool is also female, which brings gender parity into the discussion. At the highly profitable Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), some

Working Together Towards Equality

 The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) comprises working men and women from a variety of fields. From education to health care to social services, OPSEU represents about 130,000 workers across Ontario. One of the many causes OPSEU fights for is gender equality, an important issue for so many of

Wage Equality: Lessons from the public sector

 By Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union As a general rule, women get paid less than men do. It doesn’t matter how you measure it. If you go by the average annual pay of all women in Ontario, women make 69 cents for every dollar

Women, Wages & The Workplace

 The year is 2015. Do women still make less money than men? Generally, yes, although the discrepancies are no longer the huge yawning gaps of the 1960s. A recent paper by Richard Shillington of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has analyzed public sector v. private sector wages. Shillington found

Defending workers’ rights while advocating for a new approach

 How do we determine value in Ontario? This question typically drives the development of economic policy, but in today’s Ontario, it also frames labour relations. If one were to listen to some politicians, lobby groups and thinktanks, one would assume that workers in this province were overpaid, underworked and slacking

Public workers earn 12% more than private counterparts: report

 Fraser Institute study says gap drops to nine per cent when unionization included in analysis BY Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff ON April 04, 2013 9:01am  VANCOUVER—Public sector workers at the federal, provincial and municipal levels across Canada earned substantially higher wages than their private sector counterparts in 2011, according to a

Andrea Horwath says LCBO bonuses show a culture of entitlement

 By: Dina Zeldin OLM: Ex-LCBO employee Larry Paterson discovered through Freedom of Information requests that the LCBO dished out over 6 million dollars in bonuses to employees in 2008 (which had increased from just over 400 thousand in 1997). Can you comment on why these bonuses were awarded? What was

LCBO Monopoly

 Awhile back, my brother and I were talking and the topic of the LCBO came up. "How exactly does it work?" he wondered. I gave him my layman's knowledge. Imagine, if you will, that for every camera that comes into Ontario (he happens to work for a camera retailer so

Giving Up On Government As An Agent For The Public Good…Is Not A Good Idea

 When I first got into the commercial polling business, about 70% of Canadians held a somewhat favourable impression of politicians. Today, more believe in the devil or that Elvis is alive than hold this particular point of view. Now, I know all of us smirk knowingly, from time to time,

An interview with Russian Ambassador to Canada Georiy Mamedov

 Ottawa Life will takes you into the heart of the new Russia. We will look at the business opportunities, bilateral relations, cultural and arts scene, and tourism potential and get the pulse of a country very similar to our own. We begin our series with Russia's man in Canada, Ambassador

Trouble in a fool’s paradise: The problems with our Canadian Forces

 By Dan Donovan and Jennifer O'Meara The HMCS Chicoutimi was only days out of port on its maiden voyage when disaster struck. An onboard fire would leave one sailor dead and an entire crew bobbing in the North Atlantic for days as they waited for a towline to take them back

Reg Alcock navigates by an ethical compass

 By Jennifer O'Meara Treasury Board president Reg Alcock has been rocking the boat this past year, but then he always was a bit a monkey. It was a long time ago, when someone gave him a simian as a pet. Alcock needed to establish dominance, so he bit the monkey.

Have you no shame — The shocking expenses of our unelected city managers

 By Claire Tremblay & Dan Donovan Shocking. That's how Auditor General Sheila Fraser described the waste of $100 million of taxpayers' money in her February 10 report to Parliament on the Liberal government's sponsorship fiasco in Quebec. But for jaded Canadian taxpayers, the waste of their hard-earned money is nothing