Theme 4: Integrated Policy Advice Decision making is increasingly complex and research can help us identify emerging issues and it can also guide the improvement of current policies. Creative linkages means building bridges between the policy community, the federal government, the academic and business community and it means trying to forge a closer and more productive relationship between these groups. There's been a lot of interaction over the years with think tanks and academics and so on but this is really the first time that we're doing this at the level where you can pull together a lot of perspectives and yes, that's unleashing a lot of energy. The Policy Research Initiative has given us the opportunity to engage researchers from across the country in studying the issues of importance to Canadians. Government is very effective at asking the right questions and turning that into advice that ministers can use. Delivering the right advice at the right time is still a very valuable part of the overall democratic process. Rural Dialogue The Rural Dialogue is a new approach. We're consulting people in a dialogue. Our commitment is to keep them informed as to what we're doing, and we've invited back people who have already participated. In the past government developed policy options and consulted with Canadians as to which are the preferable options. This process is more like a citizen engagement than a traditional consultations process because we are talking to citizens at an earlier stage in the policy development area. The Canadian Rural Partnership is what we call in the federal government a horizontal file. We don't own the issues. Every department has something that impacts rural Canada. The objective is to try and bring a coherence to all that's going on. I think we're learning to become better connected with Canadians, to be more responsive, to deliver the types of services that people need when they need them, but I think that there's a long way to go. To be able to advise ministers on those issues when they're facing those challenges and Canadians are expecting good decision making has been a tremendous opportunity for me. |