John Capobianco of FleishmanHillard joins Stephen LeDrew to discuss one of Ottawa’s most persistent problems: a federal bureaucracy that can make even major government priorities extraordinarily difficult to deliver.
The conversation begins with the departure of the Prime Minister’s handpicked official tasked with military procurement after roughly a year on the job. LeDrew argues that the episode raises a larger question: what happens when even people given a direct mandate from the Prime Minister struggle to move through the federal system?
Capobianco says Canada needs a strong professional public service, and stresses that many bureaucrats do valuable work. But he argues that government becomes dysfunctional when departments grow too large, political leadership and the bureaucracy become disconnected, or procurement systems become so complicated that businesses simply walk away.
Military procurement is the clearest example. Both argue that repeated attempts at reform have failed to solve a problem that has persisted across governments of different political stripes.
The question is no longer whether Ottawa has a bureaucracy problem — but what government is prepared to do about it.
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