I made a conscious choice to leave behind my old serious life as a policy executive with the Government of Canada. I much prefer my new lemons to lemon pie life of travelling and writing (although I do try to move beyond the fluff with some pieces on responsible tourism, helping developing nations enhance their tourism industries, and helping people travel without damaging a local economy and culture).

Now that I’m retired from the Public Service I can speak more freely about politics. Many friends have listened to me rant on Facebook and in person about Canada’s election on October 19, 2015. I’m tremendously hopeful that Justin Trudeau’s win will mean my Canada will again be a nation I can be proud of, where we value human rights, diversity, equality and making Canada and the world a better place.

As hopeful as I am, I believe a key component isn’t ready to contribute as much as we need them to.

Here’s an op-ed I wrote for The Ottawa Citizen. It’s about the state of my old employer, the Public Service of Canada, and its lack of readiness to take on the challenges of the new Justin Trudeau government:

• Trudeau is ready, but the public service isn’t (online version published October 20, 2015).
• Trudeau is ready but the Public Service clearly isn’t (print version published October 31, 2015).