Events

Enhancing Intergovernmental Collaboration

February 5, 2025

How can we sustain collaboration in times of reduced political cooperation?

Explore strategies to enhance intergovernmental collaboration on critical policy issues like healthcare and climate change.

Panelists:

Basile van Havre is a senior executive in the Department of the Environment and Climate Change and special advisor for Biodiversity for the Canadian Wildlife Service. He is a member of Ouranos Scientific Advisory Committee and of the North American Biodiversity and Climate Change Assessment Guidance Committee.

Basile has led Canada in several international environmental negotiations (IUCN, CITES, etc.). In 2018, he was appointed by the Convention on Biological Diversity parties to co-lead the Global Biodiversity Framework negotiations. He received the first Global Excellence Award from the Biodiversity Law and Governance Society and the Public Service Award of Excellence for his leadership in the development of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework as well as the 2023 Canadian Public Service Excellence Award.

Ralph Heintzman is a Senior Fellow of Massey College in the University of Toronto and Honorary Senior Fellow in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. He is also a Fellow of the Canadian public sector’s Institute for Citizen- Centred Service Delivery.

In the Government of Canada he held senior executive positions in a variety of departments and agencies, including Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet for Federal-Provincial Relations, and Assistant Secretary in the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

He also served, among other capacities, as the founding chair of the Public Sector Service Delivery Council; Vice-Chair of the Task Force on Public Service Values and Ethics (Tait Report); head of the Office of Public Service Values and Ethics; and Associate Constitutional Advisor to the Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons on a Renewed Canada. The Public Sector Service Delivery Council, the Public Sector CIO Council and the Institute for Citizen-Centred Service created the Heintzman Leadership Award in his honour in 2003. In 2006, Mr. Heintzman was awarded the Vanier Medal, Canada’s highest honour in public administration, by the Institute of Public Administration of Canada.

Brigitte Diogo was appointed Associate Deputy Minister of Transport Canada, effective May 6, 2024. Prior to this, she served as Deputy Commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agency starting in April 2022.

From 2020 to 2022, Brigitte was Vice-President, Health Security and Regional Operations, at the Public Health Agency of Canada during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She led the multidisciplinary and interdepartmental efforts on the development and implementation of Canada’s emergency border measures to reduce the risk of importation and transmission of COVID-19 due to international travel.

As Director General of Rail Safety at Transport Canada from 2015 to 2020, Brigitte was responsible for overseeing safety requirements for federally regulated railway companies including compliance monitoring and enforcement. In this role, she led significant legislative and regulatory changes aimed at strengthening rail safety and the safe transportation of dangerous goods in Canada following the rail tragedy of July 6, 2013, in Lac Megantic (Quebec).

From 2008 to 2014, Brigitte worked at the Privy Council Office on economic and regional development policy as well as on national security and intelligence. Brigitte started her career at Citizenship and Immigration Canada where she worked on international migration policies and on requirements for admission to Canada including visa policy.

Brigitte graduated from the University of Ottawa in economics, public administration, and political science. She also holds a Masters Certificate in Operational Risk Management from the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University.    

Moderator:

Alex Robinson is the public service editor for the Ottawa Citizen. He oversees the paper’s coverage of the federal institutions and the 150,000 federal public servants who work and live in the National Capital Region. He has worked in newsrooms across North America, covering everything from murders to mergers.

Timing and Details:

Each session runs from 8:00 am to 10:00 am.

Enjoy a buffet-style breakfast starting at 8:00 am, with networking opportunities before the event begins at 8:30 am. Sessions will conclude by 9:45 am to accommodate participants’ schedules.

In-person at 60 George Street, Suite 203.

Series: Navigating Today’s Public Service Challenges

Our exclusive speaker series addresses the critical challenges facing Canada’s modern public service. Bringing together top experts from various fields, this series offers a unique opportunity to gain insights and solutions on key issues such as workforce transformation, combating disinformation, managing reduced resources, and fostering intergovernmental collaboration.

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