I think it's probably widespread, especially among elected officials, who may have an incentive to act that way. There's certainly a culture of studying/consulting an issue to death in order to avoid making a decision that appears in many public sectors, particularly in the Anglosphere. It's hard not to contrast with a lot of Eastern European/former Eastern Bloc countries where there's a greater willingness not only to move quickly on policy change but also be the first mover - and that requires being pretty in-tune with a full suite of policy solutions.
Yes! 100% agree with you the urge to 'pretend' that a policy question has not been solved is so common.
Is this a Canada-specific issue or is it more widespread? What do you think?
I think it's probably widespread, especially among elected officials, who may have an incentive to act that way. There's certainly a culture of studying/consulting an issue to death in order to avoid making a decision that appears in many public sectors, particularly in the Anglosphere. It's hard not to contrast with a lot of Eastern European/former Eastern Bloc countries where there's a greater willingness not only to move quickly on policy change but also be the first mover - and that requires being pretty in-tune with a full suite of policy solutions.
Interesting to hear about the contrast with Eastern Europe. I'll have to look more into this.