Part-time fire fighters in Canadian municipalities: cost and effectiveness comparisons

Abstract: This article reports findings from a cross-Canada study of municipal fire departments. Data gathered from a survey of 104 fire departments in 1981 and 1982 indicate that the use of part-time fire fighters in Canadian cities over 10,000 population is widespread. Overall, municipalities that rely on mixed full-time and part-time fire departments or on all-volunteer departments enjoy substantial cost savings. Further, when fire department effectiveness is compared among full-time, mixed and all-volunteer departments, full-time and mixed departments are about equally effective. Fire departments employing a mix of full-time and part-time fire fighters, particularly in communities up to 50,000 residents, enjoy the benefits of lower fire service costs without sacrificing effectiveness.     

Policy versus practice: Third party behaviour in Canadian elections

Third party campaigners are widely noted to have the power to change the landscape of an election. Yet, in Canada, we know little about whether there is consistency behind third parties' motivations, expectations and strategies, or how these motivations parse with those of the legislators who are attempting to regulate their behaviour. This article explores these factors using data from Canadian federal elections from 2004 to 2015. Merging qualitative interviews and survey data of third parties with quantitative evaluations of third party and political party campaign spending, we assess whether the strategic motivations of third parties reflect the intentions and design of campaign policies that regulate their actions. The United Kingdom regulatory regime is briefly reviewed as an example of an alternative policy approach.     

Executive and legislature in Ontario: a case study on governmental reform

Abstract. In pursuit of the search common to many governments for a more rationalistic approach to policy-making, Ontario in the 1970s engaged in massive restructuring of its executive and administration. As that was nearing completion, a more modest essay at reform of the legislature was undertaken and is still in progress. The central argument of this paper is that the dominant drive on the executive-administrative side was to reduce rationality to technocratic efficiency (though more recent developments have offset that trend to an extent), while legislative reform to date has at best been a small beginning at reducing executive dominance over the legislature (though a potential is noted at the end of the paper for enhancing the legislature's role). Moreover, the two reform movements have so far followed parallel rather than intersecting courses, thus leaving the basic democratic issues of responsiveness and accountability largely untouched. Sommaire. Dans sa recherche d'une approche plus rationnelle pour l'établissement des politiques, recherche qui est commune à bien des gouvernements, l'Ontario s'est lancé en 1970 dans une restructuration massive du gouvernement et de son administration. Celle-ci éant presque terminée, il tenta plus modestement de reformer le Parlement et cette réforme se poursuit à l'heure actuelle. La thèse de l'auteur de cette communication est que le principal effort du côte du gouvernement et de l'administration a consistéà ramener la rationalisation à l'efficacité technocratique (bien que les développements les plus récents aient renversé la vapeur dans une certaine mesure), alors que jusqu'ici la réforme du Parlement a tenté timidement de réduire la domination du gouvernement sur le Parlement (bien que l'auteur mentionne à la fin de l'exposé la possibilité d'accroître davantage le rôle de la législature). De plus, les deux mouvements de réforme ont suivi jusqu'à présent des routes parallèles, ce qui laisse pratiquement intactes les questions fondamentales de la responsabilité et du contrôle.     

Electric power planning in Ontario: public participation at a normative level

Abstract: During the years 1974–1980, extensive opportunities existed for public participation at a normative level on the issue of electric power planning in Ontario through the Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning and the Select Committees on Ontario Hydro. In contrast, there is presently no adequate forum for public participation at a normative planning level. Based on personal interviews and available literature., this paper examines the need for public participation at a normative level in electric power planning in Ontario, and assesses three alternative approaches to the provision of participatory opportunities. Sommaire: Au cours des années 1974–1980, le public a pu, sur le plan normatif, participer largement à la planification de l'énergie électrique en Ontario, par le truchement de la Commission royale sur la planification de 1'énergie électrique ainsi que par les Comités restreints sur Ontario Hydro. À l'heure actuelle, cette situation s'est complètement modifiée en absence d'un forum adéquat qui permette la participation du public au niveau normatif de la planification. L'auteur de cet article, après avoir fait des interviews et consulté les publications existantes, examine le besoin d'une telle participation de la part du public et évalue trois approches possihles pour l'assurer.     

Administering child protection: a feminist analysis of the conceptual practices of organizational power

Abstract: This article explores textually-mediated administrative technology such as that being implemented by Ontario's Ministry of Community and Social Services to organize more effective control over the delivery of contracted services to children and families under child welfare legislation. A case study of the development and testing of a related technology, case-weighting, initiated by the Metro Toronto Children's Aid Society, offers the opportunity for an in-depth analysis of “conceptual practices” for exercising organizational power. It is argued that the use of conceptual practices, made practicable by improvements in computer facilities, represents a major development in managerial method which restructures organizational meanings, outcomes, and relations among participants in human service organizations. Feminist scholarship contributes both a critical stance on the approach being taken to child protection services and appropriate methodology for the analysis. Sommaire: Le présent article explore les technologies administratives fondées sur des textes, comme celles mises en oeuvre actuellement par le ministère des Services communautaires et sociaux de l'Ontario, afin de resserrer les contrôles sur la prestation de services contractuels aux enfants et aux familles, en vertu des lois sur l'assistance à l'enfance. Une étude de cas concernant la mise au point et la validation d'une technique connexe, la pondération des cas, lancée par la Société d'aide à l'enfance du Grand Toronto, permet de faire une analyse approfondie des “pratiques conceptuelles” qui permettent d'exercer le pouvoir organisationnel. L'article soutienl que l'utilisation des pratiques conceptuelles, rendue possible par le progrès de l'informatique, a grandement changé les méthodes de gestion, qui restructurent les significations, résultats et rapports organisationnels entre les participants au sein des organismes de services. Des études féministes apportent à la fois une perspective critique en ce qui concerne l'approche adoptée envers les services de protection à l'enfance et une méthodologie appropriée à leur analyse.     

Policy implementation in multilevel environments: Economic development in Northern Ontario

Abstract: Recent research on policy implementation has focused on policy intervention across multiple jurisdictions with large numbers of actors, loci and layers. The present study seeks to contribute to this endeavour by weaving together theoretical insights drawn from conventional policy implementation, organization theory and governance. The effectiveness of the integrated framework is verified by examining the economic development efforts of the Canadian government in Northern Ontario over the past two decades, focusing on how the federal government's main economic development agency engages with its provincial and local counterparts, as well as with organized community and private‐sector groups within the region.     

Neither public nor private: The efficacy of mixed model public service delivery in two Canadian municipalities

The New Public Management emerged in the 1980s, and with it, alternative service delivery (ASD) mechanisms, which removed service delivery from the public bureaucracy and separated policy making from policy implementation. Most western governments implemented measures including privatization or contracting out of service delivery to the private sector. By the mid‐1990s, many governments started reversing ASD policies and sought new ways to deliver services, leading to a mixed model approach to service delivery, which combines the benefits of the public and private sectors. We examine the adoption of the model in the Canadian municipalities of Hamilton and Ottawa to determine if and how it enhances competition, cost‐savings, efficiency, effectiveness, and good governance in the delivery of public services, during an era of fiscal constraint. Our findings indicate the model is better in enhancing the five variables when compared to solely public or private services delivery.     

Navigating the principle of open court in the digital age: The more things change,the more they stay the same

The belief that courts should be open to the public is a guiding principle of the Canadian legal system. This article examines the principle of open court in the digital age by analyzing policies governing live text‐based communication in Canadian courtrooms. We argue that courts have and have not responded to the changing digital landscape. While Canadian journalists have the ability to use live text‐based communication in courts, the general public does not despite new affordances provided to them by digital technologies. This article explores the tensions between administrative judicial independence, open court, and digital technology.     

Refocusing the lens: Drinking water success in First Nations in Ontario

This article examines the definition of success in First Nations drinking water service as voiced by the First Nations technical community of practice. The research explores success stories to identify success themes and factors to formulate a workable definition for policy‐makers. Researchers interviewed sixteen technical practitioners in Ontario using a semi‐structured approach. Data analysis revealed a definition of success that extends beyond the technical boundary to include professional growth, employment, local action and a facilitating policy environment. This comprehensive definition provides a basis for policy and program considerations to increase First Nations buy‐in and foster a constructive environment for drinking water improvements.     

Restructuring mental health policy in Ontario: Deconstructing the evolving welfare state

Abstract: Ontario's mental health sector offers an insightful case study of the welfare state restructuring in which governments have engaged, having recently undergone turbulent reform involving the divestment, closure or amalgamation of nine psychiatric hospitals and a fifty per cent reduction in psychiatric beds. While premised on a shift to community‐based care, investment in the community sector has been slow to occur, increasing the risk of off‐loading vulnerable members of society to the community without appropriate supports, as occurred in previous movements of de‐institutionalization. To understand why community sector reforms have not kept pace with institutional downsizing, we analyse the process of health system restructuring to clarify the obstacles contributing to delay. These include successive arm's‐length governance processes with varying bases of authority, an absence of political will to allocate funds to the community and devolve the coordination of care to local networks, and insufficient engagement of the policy community in policy implementation. Finally, complexity ‐ including the cross‐jurisdictional nature and coordination of services on which community care relies ‐ remains an important challenge. Not only have such obstacles diminished the pace of reform and led to regional disparities in Ontario, they reflect common barriers to effective reform across most provinces. Sommaire: Le secteur de la santé mentale de I'Ontario offre une étude de cas approfondie de la reshucturation de 1'État‐providence a laquelle ont participé les gouvernements, en entreprenant récemment des réformes tumultueuses comportant le dessaisissement, la fermeture ou la fusion de neuf hôpitaux psychiatriques et une réduction de 50 % de lits en psychiatrie. Fondé sur un virage vers les soins communautaires, l'investissement dans le secteur communautaire a été lent à se matérialiser, augmentant le risque de « décharger » la responsabilité des members vulnérables de la société sur la communauté sans que celle‐ci ne dispose d'un soutien approprié, comme cela a été le cas lors des précédents mouvements de désinstitutionnalisation. Pour comprendre les raisons pour laquelles les réformes du secteur communautaire n'ont pas suivi le rythme de la réduction des effectifs dans les établissements, nous analysons le processus de restructuration du système de la santé pour faire la Iumiére sur les obstacles qui ont contribué au délai. Ceux‐ci comprennent des processus du gouvernance successifs et indépendants avec des bases d'autorité variables; une absence de volonté politique d'allouer des fonds à la communauté et de déléguer le contrôle à des autorités régionales; et l'engagement insuffisant du milieu politique en ce qui concerne la mise en Ceuvre des politiques. Enfin, la cornplexité, y compris la nature inter‐organisationnelle et la coordination des services sur lesquels comptent les soins communautaires, demeure un défi important. Non seulement de tels obstacles ont ralenti le rythme de la réformes et conduit à des disparités régionales en Ontario, mais ils reflètent aussi des obstacles communs à une réforme efficace dans la plupart des provinces.     

Spheres of decision‐making in small and isolated municipalities: The Thompson‐Nicola Regional District

While there is extensive American literature that examines the interface between elected officials and administrators in cities and municipalities, there is virtually nothing written about Canada, particularly for small and isolated cities and villages. Based on a survey consisting of twenty‐one operational questions conducted in the Thompson‐Nicola Regional District (TNRD) of British Columbia, the study fills that void. We found varying degrees of shared decision‐making between the two parties, but the respondents also reported incursions from their counterparties in a number of areas.