Canadians want more efficient, digitalized government but recruiting the people to overhaul antiquated computer systems and put services online is hard, the Treasury Board president said in a speech kicking off the FWD50 digital-government conference in Ottawa. “We need to hire in order to advance the [workforce of] digital practitioners and the digital agenda,” said Anand. (The Logic)

Talking point: The government should hire across the country and let desk workers do their jobs anywhere, answered former federal public servant Sean Boots (he left to work for the Yukon government) in a separate speech, drawing cheers. He called for radical thinking instead of incrementalism; eliminating layers of management; following the Shopify model of exalting non-managerial expertise; and appointing digital experts at the tops of departments. “Find people that have done the work and actually know what it takes to build and ship great services [and] make them deputy ministers,” Boots said.