1994 marks an important juncture for the Public Service. We have come through nearly 10 years of restraint. We have participated in a major exercise in renewal, Public Service 2000, that will carry on in one form or another for many years to come. And we have just undergone a major reorganization that has imposed enormous strain on institutions and on people.

Now the new Government has launched wide-reaching reviews of policies, programs and activities that will bring a redefinition of the federal role and a corresponding refocusing of the work of the Public Service. While it is still too soon to assess or even predict their full impact, no one can doubt the significance of these changes.

I am convinced that the Public Service is heading in the right direction. As we prepare for the challenges of the next century, I am confident that the traditional values of the Public Service - the values of loyalty, integrity, professionalism, fairness and impartiality that characterized the institution I joined 32 years ago - will remain its driving force.

Today, as an appropriate expression of changing times and the changing expectations of Canadians, I would also mention the newer values of service, innovation, responsiveness and leadership. But whatever the precise list, these values are well understood by public servants and by the Canadians they serve. They will constitute a foundation for excellence in the Public Service in the years to come.

Ours is an institution in transition. Renewing an organization as large and complex as the Public Service will depend above all on determined leadership by the Prime Minister, by Ministers and their Deputies, and by those whose duty it is to work in support of them. It will also require understanding and support from Members of Parliament and the interested public. Above all, it will call for the continuing efforts of the tens of thousands of men and women who have chosen to fulfil their ambitions through service to their country.

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