Profiling of the public‐service élite: A demographic and career trajectory survey of deputy and assistant deputy ministers in Canada

Abstract: In the summer of 2006, a survey was sent to the 941 senior public administration executives who held the rank and title of deputy minister or assistant deputy minister in the federal, ten provincial and three territorial jurisdictions in Canada. The survey explored, among other variables, age, education, gender, ethno‐racial status, aboriginal background and career trajectory. The response rate to this survey was 43.61 per cent. Obviously those in the deputy/assistant deputy cadre (referred to in this article as the “public‐service élite,” or pse ) are important actors in the life of the Canadian state, but relatively little is known about them. The authors report on and analyse the meaning and significance of their findings not only for a Canadian perspective but also, on the value of such research in the broader comparative sense. Their data also allow the examination of various dimensions of representative bureaucracy at the most senior levels in Canada. Sommaire: Au cours de l'été 2006, un sondage sous forme de questionnaire a été envoyé aux 941 cadres supérieurs de la fonction publique qui occupaient des postes de sous‐ministres ou de sous‐ministres adjoints au gouvernement fédéral, au gouvernement des dix provinces et des trois territoires du Canada. Le sondage portait, entre autres variables, sur l'âge, l'éducation, le sexe, le statut ethno‐racial, les origines autochtones et la trajectoire de carrière. Le taux de réponse à ce sondage a été de 43,61 pour cent. Évidemment, les personnes qui occupent les postes de sous‐ministres et de sous‐ministres adjoints (désignés dans le présent article sous le nom d' «élite de la fonction publique» ou «éfp ») sont des acteurs importants dans la vie de l'État canadien, mais on les connaît assez peu. Les auteurs donnent un compte rendu et font une analyse de la signification et de 1'importance des résultats, non seulement pour avoir une perspective canadienne, mais aussi pour voir la valeur d'une telle recherche à des fins de comparaison plus vaste. Leurs données permettent également d'examiner diverses dimensions de la bureaucratie représentative aux niveaux les plus élevés du Canada.     

Minister's Caucus Advisory Committees under the Harper government

In 2010 Prime Minister Stephen Harper quietly created a system of Minister's Caucus Advisory Committees (MCACs), requiring ministers to consult with their backbench colleagues before taking policy proposals to cabinet. Based on interviews with Conservative MPs, ministers, political staffers and public servants, the paper argues that MCACs increase MPs' influence over government policy and enhance cohesion within the government's parliamentary caucus. By constraining ministers' policy freedom and providing the prime minister with regular political intelligence concerning policy proposals, MCACs reinforce his pre‐eminence within cabinet and represent a significant innovation in the relationship between the executive and government caucus.     

Decision-making: the role of the deputy minister

Abstract. This paper examines the role of the deputy minister in public decision-making. It notes the theoretical distinction between policy-making, on the one hand, and policy-execution or administration on the other, with the qualification that in practice the two are inevitably intermingled. It advances the view that changes in policy should be based on experience, in which the external impressions of politicians are complemented by the sense of continuity and inside knowledge of officials. The analysis by the Fulton Commission on the Civil Service of the United Kingdom of the fourfold functions of the permanent secretary as (1) the minister's most immediate policy adviser; (2) the managing director of the day-to-day operations of the department; (3) the possessor of ultimate responsibility for questions of staff and organization; and (4) accounting officer with ultimate responsibility for all departmental expenditures is compared with the duties and responsibilities of the deputy minister in Canada. The contribution to public policy-making by the recent developments in rationalizing the cabinet committee system and in arranging, inter alia, for the attendance of senior advisers at committee meetings, is noted and the influence of economists and other outside professional advisers is considered. Finally, the question as to who in government makes decisions is answered by the conclusion that in government decisions are made by ministers, or by officials in the name and on the responsibility of ministers at many levels of the administrative machine. Sommaire. L'auteur de cette communication examine le rôle du sous-ministre dans le prise de décision publique. Il prend note de la distinction théorique entre d'une part la prise de décision et d'autre part, l'exécution des politiques ou leur administration, tout en faisant remarquer que dans la pratique ces deux functions se fusionnent inévitablement. Il prétend que les changements de politique devraient se faire sur la base de l'expérience, les impressions extemes des ministres étant complétées par le sens de la continuité et les connaissances internes des fonctionnaires. Il compare les devoirs et responsabilités des sousministres au Canada à l'analyse qu'a faite la Commission Fulton sur la function publique du Royaume-Uni et plus précisément sur le quadruple rôle du secretaire permanent en tant que (1) » conseiller le plus proche du ministre «, (2) directeur des opérations quotidiennes du ministère, (3) détenteur de la responsabilité en dernier ressort des questions de personnel et d'organisation et (4), dans le domaine financier, responsable en dernier ressort de toutes les dépenses du ministère. Il souligne les apports à la prise de décision publique des derniers développements visant à rationnaliser le système des comités du cabinet et à assurer, entre autres, l'assistance des conseillers aux réunions des comités et évalue également l'influence des économistes et des autres conseillers professionnels de rextérieur. Finalement il répond à la question de savoir qui prend les decisions au sein du gouvernement en concluant que les décisions sont prises par les ministres ou par les fonctionnaires au nom de ceux-ci et sous leur responsabilité, à différents niveaux du mécanisme administratif.     

Movers and stayers: mobility patterns among senior public servants in Canadian provinces

Abstract: There has developed in Canada a well‐established literature on bureaucratic elites at the federal level. There has not, however, been a systematic study of bureaucratic elites at the provincial level. While individual scholars have studied particular provincial governments, there have been few studies that covered more than one province. This paper, which analyses a census of assistant deputy ministers and deputy ministers in every Canadian province between 1988 and 1996, considers the mobility of these top two levels of the senior public service. The findings indicate that there has only been a slight decline in the number of senior public servants as governments have downsized. The findings also show that, unlike at the federal level, there is limited mobility among these senior public servants, with roughly one‐third of them changing each year. In some provinces, mobility levels increase slightly in the year after an election. Levels of mobility and changes in the number of senior public servants also vary across provinces, but there is no pattern based on the size of the province. Finally, there are important differences in the mobility depending on the type of department. In particular, in departments where there is a core knowledge or skill, mobility levels are much lower than in departments that lack such a core. These findings throw some light on the difficulties provinces may have in solving some of their more intractable policy problems. Sommaire: Il existe au Canada une bibliographie solidement implantée concernant les elites bureaucratiques au niveau fédéral. Il n'y a pas eu, par contre, d'étude systématique concernant les élites bureaucratiques au palier provincial. Des chercheurs ont analysé un gouvemement provincial à la fois mais peu d'études ont examiné plus d'une province à la fois. Dans cet article, qui analyse un recensement de sous‐ministres adjoints et de sous‐ministres dans chaque province du Canada entre 1988 et 1996, nous examinons la mobilité des ces deux niveaux supérieurs du fonctionnariat. Face aux réductions d'effectifs gouvernementaux, le déclin du nombre de hauts fonctionnaires semble avoir été léger. On constate aussi que, à l'encontre du palier fédéral, il y a une mobilité limitée chez ces derniers, environ un tiers changeant chaque année. Dans certaines provinces, le taux de mobilité augmente légèrement l'année qui suit une élection. Les taux de mobilité et l'évolution du nombre de hauts fonctionnaires varient aussi d'une province à l'autre, mais la taille de la province ne semble pas être un facteur déterminant. Enfin, il y a des écarts de mobilité importants selon le type de ministère. Notamment, les ministères exigeant des connaissances ou des aptitudes particulières ont des taux de mobilité très inférieurs à ceux des autres. Ces constatations mettent en relief les difficultés auxquelles peuvent se heurter les provinces lorsqu'elles essaient de régler certains de leurs problèmes les plus ardus en matière de politiques.     

Comparing employment policy governance regimes in Canada and the European Union

This article assesses the performance of Canada's employment policy governance regime post‐1996 by explicitly comparing Canadian approaches to those used in the European Union (EU) through the open method of coordination (OMC). It concludes that Canada has moved so far along the decentralization continuum — with 13 provincial systems as well as a federal‐only system in place — that coordination, coherence, mutual learning and information sharing on a pan‐Canadian basis have been lost. While EU OMC approaches hold promise, to be realized stakeholders would need to become more engaged in the policy domain and provinces, rather than the federal government, must take the initiative for enhanced coordination.     

Trust but verify: Ministerial policy advisors and public servants in the Government of Canada

Political advisors in Canada are comparatively numerous and highly differentiated in role. Based on a recent survey, this article examines how senior ministerial policy advisors, a subset of the political staff community, perceive their support for ministers and their relationships with public servants. It finds that they increase ministers' policy capacity, encourage greater responsiveness from public servants, and generally feel that they enjoy good relations with officials and respect their role. Since much depends on advisors' personal maturity, however, the paper endorses the Trudeau government's release of a code of conduct for ministerial‐exempt staff as a means of embedding accountability more deeply within political staff culture.     

Research use capacity in provincial governments

Despite advances in research‐informed public policy, research remains underutilized in government. To develop a firmer understanding of governmental capacity to use research in decision making, we investigate Canadian provincial ministries overseeing education, higher education, and science and technology. The findings from semi‐structured interviews indicate that capacity to generate and access research is limited. However, we find evidence of a recent change in which provincial agencies sought to bolster capacity with research use strategies and by leveraging relationships with researchers. Leaders’ support for well‐coordinated research use initiatives also seems critical to instilling a culture of research‐informed decision making in government agencies.     

Explaining the resurgence of Métis rights: Making the most of “windows of opportunity”

Characterized as “Canada's forgotten people” since their defeat in the 1885 Battle of Batoche, the Métis have recently re‐emerged on Canada's policy agenda. How did the Métis, once vilified as traitors of Confederation, come to re‐position themselves as a rights‐bearing Aboriginal group in the Canadian federation? In this article, we apply John Kingdon's (1995) multiple streams model to help explain the resurgence of Métis rights on Canada's contemporary policy agenda. We argue that the changing legal and political landscape that surrounded Canada's crisis of unity provided a window of opportunity that allowed Métis policy entrepreneurs to bring the issue of Métis rights onto Canada's policy agenda.     

Brian Mulroney a-t-il politisé les sous-ministres?

Sommaire: Cette étude teste s'il est vrai, comme on l'a prétendu, que le gouvernement Mulroney a procédéà un remaniement sans précédent du personnel des sousministres lors de son premier mandat. Il s'agit d'établir si 1) le remaniement a été exceptionnellement important comparativement aux pratiques antérieures à l'arrivée des conservateurs et 2) si ce remaniement a marqué une politisation accrue des sous-ministres dans le sens que le gouvernement conservateur aurait donné la préférence aux hauts fonctionnaires qui partagent ses orientations idéologiques ou ses programmes d'action. Deux techniques d'enquête ont été mises à contribution: l'indice de mobilité des sous-ministres calculé en nombre de départs, nominations et mutations, et une série d'entretiens semi-directifs conduite auprès de hauts fonctionnaires et de responsables politiques. La conclusion est que les sous-ministres ont échappéà une politisation accrue de leur fonction même s'ils ont été soumis à un remaniement d'une ampleur exceptionnelle lors des deux premières années du mandat conservateur. Abstract: This study examines whether it is true, as some have claimed, that the Mulroney government did an unprecedented reorganization of the deputy ministers' staff during its first term. We had to determine whether the reorganization was exceptionally extensive as compared to the practices prior to the Conservatives, and whether that reorganization constituted greater politicization of the deputy ministers in the sense that the Conservative government would have given preference to senior officials who supported its ideology and action programs. Two investigative techniques were used: the mobility index of deputy ministers, based on the number of departures, appointments and transfers, and a series of semi-focused interviews with senior officials and politicians. The conclusion is that the deputy ministers escaped increased politicization of their role even though they underwent an exceptionally deep reorganization during the first two years of the Conservative mandate.     

Are non‐government policy actors being heard? Assessing New Public Governance in three Canadian provinces

This article is based on select results taken from a survey of NGO and provincial government policy workers. The purpose is to provide an empirically based assessment of how government and non‐government policy workers engage with one another in the policy process. The data suggest that policy co‐construction and co‐production are a significant feature of the process but there is some need for nuance. The data presented here indicate that the extent of policy engagement may not be as broadly inclusive as the proponents of New Governance suggest.     

Early childhood education and care reform in Canadian provinces: Understanding the role of experts and evidence in policy change

In over half of Canada's provinces, a recent commission has recommended major reform of ECEC systems; in response, provincial governments in nearly all cases have chosen to implement full‐day kindergarten funded by the province and delivered through public schools. We analyze the commission processes that led to changes to investigate the relationship between experts, policy makers, and policy outcomes. Our analysis of processes in BC, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and PEI leads us to conclude that governments rarely fully implement the programs supported by the evidence base and recommended by their own experts. Instead, recent policy changes have been driven by a highly selective and path‐dependent approach to the complex issue of early childhood care and education.     

Les sous-ministres du Nouveau-Brunswick: de I‘ère des technicians à I’ère des gestionnaires

Sommaire: La haute fonction publique du Nouveau-Brunswick, comme celle du gou-vernement fédéral, a subi ces vingt dernières années des transformations importantes tant dans sa composition que dans ses fonctions. Ceci a fait dire à certains que l'on était passé de l'ère des techniciens à 1'ère des gestionnaires. En examinant 1'évolution des profils d'origine et de carrière des sous-ministres néo-brunswickois ainsi que l'évolution de leurs fonctions, nous essayerons de voir en quoi leur évolution diffère de celle du fédéral et si les sous-ministres sont devenus des gestionnaires plutôt que des techniciens. Un regard sur la relation politique-administration viendra compléter ce portrait. Abstract: At the top of the civil service in New Brunswick, as with the federal government, major changes in composition and functions have occurred over the last twenty years or so. It had been said therefore that the technocrats were becoming managers. By looking at the changes in the career and background profiles of New Brunswick deputy ministers and at the evolution of their functions, an attempt is made to determine the differences between their evolution and the evolution within the federal government, and to see whether the Deputy Ministers have become managers instead of technocrats. This overview is completed by a survey of political-administrative relations.     

The General Development Agreement approach and the bureaucratization of provincial governments in the Atlantic provinces

Abstract. In an attempt to promote joint planning in the field of economic development, the federal government signed General Development Agreements with the provinces. Under the agreements, the two bureaucracies are linked together and are charged with jointly developing and implementing programs. Decision-making authority is delegated to a series of federal-provincial committees. To make these committees work and to carry out joint planning and decision-making with provincial governments, Ottawa through its Department of Regional Economic Expansion decentralized to offices located in provincial capitals the required authority. An examination of the GDA decision-making process reveals that this new approach to decision-making holds far-reaching consequences for provincial political-administrative institutions. The interdependence which the GDA approach creates between provincial government and provincial DREE officials has strengthened considerably the role of the provincial bureaucracy. The impact is such that the established boundaries between provincial government officials and provincial cabinet ministers have been altered. This in turn has also altered traditional relationships which have existed between provincial cabinet ministers and other members of the Legislative Assembly. In short, while the GDA approach has had only a limited impact on the large federal bureaucracy, it has entailed significant consequences for the smaller provincial government bureaucracies. Sommaire. Dans le but de promouvoir une planification conjointe dans le domaine du développement économique, le gouvernement fédéral signe avec les provinces des accords généraw de développement. Dans le cadre de cesaccords, la deux bureaucraties travaillent ensemble et sont responsables conjointement de l'élaboration et de la mise en oeuvre des programmes. La prise de décision est confiée à différents comités fédéraux-provinciaux. Pour permettre à ces comités de fonctionner et d'exécuter la planification et la prise de décision de concert avec les gouvernements provinciaux, Ottawa, par l'intermédiaire du Ministère de l'expansion économique régionale, a décentralisé et confié l'autorité nécessaire à des bureaux situés dans les capitales provinciales. Un examen du processus de prise de décision dans le cadre des AGD révèle que cette nouvelle approche a des conséquences de très grande portée pour les institutions politico-administratives provinciales. L'interdépendance entre le gouvemement provincial et les autorités provinciales DREE, que crée l'approche AGD, a consolidéénormément le rôle de la bureaucratie provinciale. L'effet a été tel que les champs d'action des responsables du gouvernement provincial et des ministres du cabinet de la province en ont été modifiés, ce qui, à son tour, a eu pour effet de changer les rapports traditionnels qui existaient entre les ministres du cabinet provincial et les autres membres de l'assemblée législative. En résumé, l'approche AGD n'a eu qu'un effet limité sur l'importante bureaucratie fédérale mais ses conéquences sont beaucoup plus lourdes pour les bureaucraties plus restreintes des gouvernements provinciaux.     

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.     

The conundrum of absenteeism in the Canadian public service: A wicked problem perspective

Absenteeism has received increasing attention in public sectors across the world. In Canada's federal public service, absenteeism cost the government approximately $871 million in lost wages in 2013 alone (Barkel 2014a ). Current and previous Canadian governments have attempted to reform sick‐leave policy to reduce absenteeism, but simple solutions to a complex problem will likely result in negative and unforeseen consequences. This article conceptualizes absenteeism as a “wicked problem” to explore its complexity. Addressing absenteeism requires a deeper understanding of issues and factors by government representatives, unions, NGOs, and policy experts, which can lead to multifaceted solutions.     

Canadian cities and the American example: a prologue to urban policy analysis

Abstract: The developmental pattern that characterizes metropolitan areas in the United States often serves as a basis for evaluating the condition of Canadian cities and attributing a distinctive thrust to Canadian urban policy. To be meaningful, however, comparative evaluations have to take account of the way government activities have helped to shape U.S. metropolitan areas over an extended period of time. A criticism implicit in much US. urban analysis is that government activities have persistently contributed to large inequalities in the social and economic condition of metropolitan area municipalities. In Canada, by comparison, interjurisdictional equalization has played a larger role in federal-provincial relations than it has in federal-state relations in the United States. It also seems to have influenced the way provincial governments dealt with municipalities during the 1960s and 1970s. At the present time, however, provincial governments are allowing the governmental systems of metropolitan areas to become more fragmented. They are also under pressure to reduce or abandon their efforts to equalize services and property tax burdens among municipalities. How they respond to that pressure will help to determine how closely the development of Canada's metropolitan areas conforms to the pattern of urban development characteristic of the United States.     

What is a meeting? Municipal councils and the Ontario ombudsman

In recent decisions, the Ontario ombudsman has developed his own definition of a “meeting” of a municipal council. The definition derives more from American statutes and judicial decisions than from any prior interpretation of Ontario (or other Canadian) law. The ombudsman's rulings claim that the law prevents municipal councillors from meeting together informally “to lay the groundwork necessary” for the council to exercise its authority. He mistakenly suggests that the policy‐making process is much more open at the federal and provincial levels of government. His rulings unduly restrain groups of municipal councillors from organizing themselves to promote policy change.     

Les gestionnaires de l'ombre: les directeurs1 de cabinets ministériels québécois

Sommaire: La proximité du ministre pour les directeurs de cabinet ministériel, leur accès à des informations stratégiques et sensibles et leur possibilité d'influencer le ministre ainsi que les hauts fonctionnaires sur des décisions de nature politique ou administrative, sont parmi les facteurs qui expliquent l'importance des rôles qu'ils peuvent jouer dans la gestion des ministères et organismes gouvernementaux. Pourtant, on trouve relativement peu d'écrits sur le sujet et les études sur le personnel politique datent de plusieurs années. À partir d'une enquête et d'entrevues réalisées avec des directeurs de cabinet du gouvernement du Québec ainsi qu'avec des sousministres, cette étude trace un portrait des principales caractéristiques des directeurs de cabinet ministériel. Elle examine la façon dont ils assument leurs fonctions et la nature des relations qu'ils entretiennent avec le ministre, le personnel du cabinet qu'ils dirigent et l'administration. Abstract: Proximity to the minister, access to strategic and sensitive information, and the ability to influence the minister and senior public servants in decision‐making are among the factors that explain the importance of the role of chief of staff to the minister in the management of ministries and government organizations. The literature on the subject, however, is relatively limited, and available studies on political staff are several years old. Based on a survey and interviews with chiefs of staff and deputy ministers in the Quebec government, this study describes the main characteristics of chiefs of staff. It examines the way they carry out their functions and the nature of the relationships they have with the minister and the staff that they manage.     

La commission parlernentaire: mécanisrne d'imputabilitéà l‘égard des sous-ministres et des dirigeants d'organismes

Sommaire: Plusieurs parlementaires, divers analystes et deux commissions d'étude récentes, l'une au palier fédéral (Lambert) et l'autre au Québec (Bisaillon), ont traité de la possibilité d'implanter un régime d'imputabilité pour les administrateurs publics, particulièrement les sous-ministres et les dirigeants d'organismes. Les modifications apportées, au début de la présente année, aux règles de procédure de l'Assemblée nationale vont permettre une certaine expérimentation à cet égard. Une telle réforme améne l'auteur à examiner diverses contraintes qui pourraient influencer et même jouer contre son implantation, notamment: les principes de la responsabilité et de la solidarité ministérielles, l'évolution des rapports entre le gouvernement et l'administration, les différences de statut entre les sous-ministres et les dirigeants d'organismes et les précédents relatifs à la participation des sous-ministres et des dirigeants d'organismes aux travails de l'Assemblée. Ces contraintes sont assurément sérieuses car elles remettent en cause des éléments majeurs du système politique. Reste à savoir si, comme cela se produit souvent, les hommes politiques réussiront encore une fois à concilier ce qui paraît incompatible. Abstract: Several members of Parliament, various analysts and two recent commissions of inquiry, one federal (Lambert Commission) and the other from Quebec (Bisaillon), have studied the possibility of implementing an accountability system for public administrators, particularly deputy ministers and chief executive officers of agencies. Amendments brought forth earlier this year to the procedures of the National Assembly of Quebec will allow for experimentation in that area. Such a reform leads the author to examine various constraints in its implementation; in particular, the principles of ministerial responsibility and soolidarity; the evolution of relationships between government and administration; the status differences between deputy ministers and chief executive officers of agencies; the precedents concerning the participation of deputy ministers and chief executive officers in the work of the Assembly. Those constraints are of great importance since they challenge some major elements of the political system. It remains to be seen whether politicians will succeed once again in reconciling what appears to be incompatible.     

Women's ministerial careers in cabinet, 1921–2010: A look at socio‐demographic traits and career experiences

This article probes two aspects of women's ministerial careers in federal, provincial, and territorial cabinets from 1921 to December 2010. First, we examine whether the socio‐demographic profile of women ministers differ from female legislators of the governing party. Logistic regression analysis shows that women holding cabinet portfolios differ from female legislators with no ministerial responsibilities with respect to education, parliamentary experience, and age when first elected. Women legislators elected in Quebec, and more so at the federal level, were less likely to become ministers than women legislators nominated in other provinces. Second, we consider what portfolios women had over time, and how many different portfolios they were assigned to. The results are sobering: women ministers are still largely concentrated in socio‐cultural and socio‐economic portfolios, and most only occupy one or two of these portfolios. We conclude by identifying avenues for further research.