That s one reason why we need to ensure that the public service is representative. Before I started my job as Clerk of the Privy Council, I met with my predecessors. It s a process that I found highly stimulating and beneficial. I think he means that we should vigilantly test ideas, challenge the established wisdom, and consider the implications of policy choice from a broad perspective. Getting that one piece of advice right requires a spirit of inquiry, a spirit of humility.
Government sometimes conducts itself as if it has all the answers.
Not only is this transparently wrong and profoundly irritating to our partners, but this false assurance curbs the spirit of inquiry, the essential doubt from which wisdom springs. The duty to think things through exists regardless of policy fads and fashions. We all know that the incubation period of that one piece of crucial advice is highly variable. It can be measured in moments, months or years. Sometimes, it draws on a career of experience.