Government and public service courses

Understanding how Ottawa really works is essential for anyone new to the federal public service or looking to better navigate Canada’s decision-making system. This workshop demystifies the roles of Cabinet, central agencies, and Parliament, while clarifying how policy and legislation are developed and influenced. Participants will leave with a clear, approachable map of government processes so they can engage with confidence and see how their work connects to the bigger picture

Risk is something we face every day. We deal with most day-to-day risk at a subconscious level; however, many risks require a little more consideration. Some risk takes us well out of our comfort zone and so we avoid it – sometimes at all costs. But risk is something that can and should be embraced; risk management is actually a very useful toolset for thought in everyday decision making and often the risk of not doing something can be greater than the risk of doing something. IRM is a systematic and holistic approach to understand, communicate and manage risk across the organization allowing more timely, appropriate and effective responses. It is about the right people having the right information to guide strategic and tactical decisions that contribute to the achievement of an organization’s overall objectives. This course is intended to provide an initial overview of integrated risk management – sometimes known as ‘joined-up thinking’ about risk. The story builds by firstly developing an understanding of risk itself and our attitudes to it, next we look at how we bring risk under our control by means of risk management, and finally we look at how we can take a more strategic view of risk and develop a consistent pan-organizational approach. All the way through, we will build the concepts into practical examples so that attendees can take away real experience of having ‘managed’ risk. While not specifically a course on the Government of Canada’s Framework for the Management of Risk, this workshop will cover many of the same principles using the same terminology. And so, this course will be eminently suitable for anyone wishing to understand and apply the Framework.

Public programs and initiatives are under constant pressure to show clear evidence of results. This workshop equips participants with practical tools to connect objectives to measurable outcomes. Through hands-on exercises, you will learn how to design logic models, identify performance indicators, and build evaluation frameworks that withstand the scrutiny of decision-makers, funders, and oversight bodies. The focus is on applying proven methods in real-world contexts so you leave with skills you can immediately use in planning, reporting, and accountability.

The costliest policy mistakes usually happen early. Teams over-analyze low-risk issues or rush early analysis that misses the real decision point, leading to stalled files, rework, and frustration for decision-makers who need clarity early, not volume later. Policy Analysis Essentials focuses on these critical initial stages, before options harden and momentum is lost. Participants leave able to frame a decision-relevant policy question, make key assumptions explicit, and justify how much evidence is “enough” for the decision at hand when discussing their work with colleagues or supervisors. The emphasis is on proportionate, decision-support analysis so work moves forward with less rework and clearer direction. The workshop is anchored in PMC’s Q-CASE Decision Support Lens (Question, Context, Assumptions, Sufficiency, and Early Options). It is used throughout the day to help participants calibrate scope, analytical depth, and the role of provisional options in a defensible and consistent way. This one-day workshop is designed for policy and policy-adjacent professionals who contribute to early analysis and influence direction without owning the final decision.

Public servants, whether they are policy or program analysts or managers, work in a complex evolving policy environment, consisting of multiple stakeholders with different mandates, agenda, plans and priorities. The issues they have to tackle are multidisciplinary and cut across jurisdictions. Policy development work requires a sound understanding of all these factors and their relationships. This two-day workshop provides a framework for effective public policy development, which includes: the dynamic nature of the public policy arena, the factors that influence decision makers, as well as an understanding that public policy in Canada involves a number of players who contribute to it. This workshop is different from our sister workshops, Policy Analysis ToolBox Parts I and II. Those workshops are concerned with the analysis that you would personally undertake to create a policy or program, whereas the workshop described here explains at a higher level how policies are developed.