How pay equity legislation came to Ontario

Abstract: This paper presents a detailed case analysis of the emergence of far-reaching pay equity legislation (Bill 154) in Ontario in 1987 in order to test a general analytical framework designed to explain major changes in public policy. Three factors are postulated to be instrumental in the attainment of new legislative initiatives: changes in environmental variables (e.g., economic and demographic variables, historical trends and precedents); shifts in political power (e.g., electoral changes resulting in a minority government or a new governing party, the perception of voter mandated change); and changes in pressure group behaviour (e.g., a shift in the “balance of power” amongst pressure groups due to changes in resources, leadership, political influence strategies or tactics, or the creation of new pressure groups). The authors conclude that all three factors were important in explaining this significant change in public policy, with the greatest weight being attributed to shifts in political power. This framework appears to be a useful step in developing a general theory of major changes in public policy. Sommaire: Cet article présente une analyse détaillée de la manière dont a été adoptée en Ontario, en 1987, une importante loi sur l‘équité salariale (projet de loi 154), afin de verifier la validité d'un cadre analytique général visant à expliquer des changements importants de la politique gouvernementale. Trois facteurs semblent requis pour que se réalisent de nouvelles initiatives législatives: une évolution des variables du milieu (les variables économiques et démographiques, les tendances et les précédents historiques par exemple); l’évolution du pouvoir politique (les modifications qui découlent d'une élection entraînant un gouvernement minoritaire ou portant un nouveau gouvernement au pouvoir, la perception des changements souhaités par les électeurs entre autres); et les changements de comportement des groupes de pression (par exemple, un changement de “l‘équilibre des pouvoirs” parmi les groupes de pression à cause du changement des ressources, du leadership, des stratégies ou tactiques d'influence politique ou la création de nouveztux groupes de pression). Selon les auteurs, chacun de ces trois facteurs a joué un rôle important dans ce changement considérable des politiques publiques, l’évolution du pouvoir politique éant sans doute le plus déterminant. Ce cadre semble utile pour amorcer l‘élaboration d'une théorie générale des changements importants des politiques gouvernementales.     

The dark side of public participation: Participative processes that legitimize elected officials’ values

The literature on public participation suggests that engaging the public in policy‐making empowers citizens and enhances democracy. Drawing on conditions of “authentic” participation derived from this literature, this critical analysis shows that the public consultation said to have informed Canada's new prostitution laws served to legitimize the governing party's policy orientation. The contribution of this article is twofold: providing an in‐depth, critical account of how a public participation process can endorse elected officials’ values; and identifying factors that may be associated to this outcome. Ultimately, this article shines the spotlight on a force often neglected in the public participation literature: power.     

Organizational change in Canadian public institutions: The implementations of GBA+ in DND/CAF

In 2016, the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) committed to the adoption of a Gender‐Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) toolkit across the forces. This article finds that the organizational culture of DND/CAF has helped them to adapt to this new policy approach, but that learning and transformation are not occurring. Based on DND/CAF documents, published internal DND/CAF studies, participant observation, interviews, surveys, and focus groups with DND/CAF staff, this article suggests that internal efforts to adjust to GBA+ continue to be challenging because of organizational culture.     

Technocracy or transformation? Mapping women's policy agencies and orienting gender (in)equality in the Canadian provinces

Canadian gender equality policy has taken a “technocratic turn” that favours bureaucratic expertise to monitor and measure (in)equality rather than participatory and consultative mechanisms. While the processes and impacts of this shift are well documented at the federal level, less is known at the provincial level. This article takes stock of provincial gender equality mechanisms, demonstrating variations in women's policy agencies (WPAs) across the ten provinces. It then links these variations to the discursive politics of gender equality within each province. We demonstrate that the potential for transformative orientations of gender equality emerges in WPAs with broad consultative mechanisms.     

What are the challenges of multilevel governance for urban sustainability? Evidence from Ottawa and Canada's national capital region

Urban sustainability is a priority for cities, challenging public administrators to coordinate action on environmental policy, economic development and social policy. Multilevel governance is now a popular theoretical framework but research must illuminate the constraints on local administrators. This case study reviews efforts of public administrators in the City of Ottawa and Canada's national capital region to implement sustainability policies with collaborative governance, but new governance relationships are constrained by traditional intergovernmental relations. Case study research illuminates the challenges of multilevel governance for local governments and provides insights on the pursuit of sustainability with environmental programs, land use, and urban and development by Crown corporations.     

Power and smart meters: A political perspective on the social acceptance of energy projects

Social acceptance has become a key consideration for promoters, government officials and citizens when instituting new energy infrastructures and technologies. Often theorized in normative terms, it is not clear whether and when social acceptance matters. This article explores the rollout of smart meters in Quebec, which proceeded despite significant opposition from municipalities, community groups and unions. Drawing on core concepts from punctuated equilibrium theory—policy monopoly, policy venue, policy image—we argue that this opposition had no policy venue to express its grievances. Quebec's electricity sector, with a stable policy environment controlled by a policy monopoly and buttressed by a strong policy image, provided few opportunities to expand the conflict. We conclude from this analysis that public administrators should consider power when measuring social acceptance in political processes.     

The formation Of a Canadian privacy policy: the art and craft of lesson-drawing

Abstract: For some cases of policy innovation, traditional models of the policy process based on assumptions of power and conflict are not helpful guides. This article suggests that it is often just as important to understand the pattern of learning or lesson-drawing that takes place during policy development. With reference to the formation of Canadian privacy policy, as expressed in the Privacy Act of 1982, it is demonstrated that the lessons drawn from the experience of other countries' legislative attempts to protect personal data were instrumental in shaping a Canadian policy. Lessons about the principles of data protection, the exemptions to those principles, and the policy instrument to implement them were drawn at critical stages from American, and other, experience. The fact that some lessons were drawn and not others, from some countries and not others, helps us understand why Canadian privacy policy is as it is today. The article concludes by noting the conditions for lesson-drawing across boundaries to influence policy: a basic consensus on goals; a low salience in public opinion; a dominant role for bureaucrats; a high degree of innovation; and the existence of exemplars. The timing, then, of foreign privacy laws was crucial, highlighting the importance of studying public policy in both comparative and historical perspectives. Sommaire: Dans certains cas d'innovation politique, les modéles classiques d'étude du processus politique fondés sur des hypotheses de pouvoir et de conflit ne constituent pas de bons guides. Cet article montre qu'il est souvent aussi important de comprendre dans quelle mesure on a tiré parti des lecons étrangéres au cours de I'élaboration d'une politique. Faisant référence à la formation de la politique canadienne de la vie privée, exprimée par le biais de la Loi de 1982 sur la vie privée, il démontre que I'expérience des tentatives législatives d'autres pays pour protéger les informations personnelles ont eu un rôle prédominant dans I'élaboration de la politique canadienne. À des moments cruciaux, on a tiré de I'expérience américaine et de celle d'autres pays des lecons sur les principes de protection de I'information, sur les exceptions à ces principes et sur les moyens de mettre ces derniéres en oeuvre. Le fait qu'on ait, de façon sélective, tiré certaines leçons de certains pays, nous aide à comprendre pourquoi la politique canadienne sur la vie privée est ce qu'elle est aujourd'hui. En conclusion, I'auteur décrit les conditions dans lesquelles les renseignements puisés d'autres pays sont susceptibles de contribuer à la politique nationale: un consensus fondamental sur les objectifs rechercheés, peu de préoccupations pour le sujet dans I'opinion publique, un rô1e prépondérant pour les bureaucrates, un degréélevé d'innovation et I'existence d'exemples concrets. De même, le moment ou les lois sur la vie privée d'autres pays ont été adoptées s'est avéré important, ce qui démontre I'importance d'étudier les politiques publiques dans une perspective comparative aussi bien qu'historique.     

The Anti-Inflation case: the anatomy of a constitutional decision

Abstract. The Supreme Court's decision upholding the Anti-Inflation Act may have been the Court's most important decision since becoming Canada's final Court of Appeal. While the federal government's wage and price control policy escaped a judicial veto, the Court's decision gave that policy only a temporary constitutional mandate. In so doing, the Court laid to rest, for the time being, any possibility that the national peace, order and good government power was to be dramatically expanded, but opened up the possibility of fairly easy access to the emergency use of the power in peacetime. By examining this decision in the context of the political and legal strategies of the parties, we may gain some valuable insights into the nature of judicial review in Canada. Among other things the case demonstrates the limited importance of judicial review in the politics of Canadian federalism. The Court's decision signals that a constitutional revolution is not about to occur, but the decision itself is not the major factor in preventing a centralizing shift in the balance of power. In fact the Supreme Court's decision reflects fairly accurately the balance of political power in the country. But while the case reveals how political the process of judicial review can be in Canada, still the end product of the process—the opinions of the judges—continues to be cast in a relatively legalistic' style. The Court may adjudicate constitutional disputes but it is not about to dispense constitutional wisdom. The case also teaches us something about the relative importance of economic and judicial resources in the political process. The main lesson is clear: bodi politicians and interest groups will risk losses in terms of long-run constitutional doctrine in order to secure important short-run policy objectives.     

Partners in clime: Public‐private partnerships and British Columbia's capacity to pursue climate policy objectives

Governments are increasingly using public‐private partnerships (P3s) to draw the private sector into more active participation in infrastructure development. Climate action initiatives have not typically yielded profitable results for the private sector, and might therefore constrain the placing of conditions by governments on P3 arrangements. This article investigates a major P3 infrastructure project in British Columbia – the Canada Line extension to Vancouver's urban rail transit network – and concludes that the P3 organization did not constrain the government's capacity to pursue policy objectives for climate action. This counterintuitive result occurred because public sector leadership enabled an effective engagement with environmental policy priorities.     

The politics of discretion: toward a critical theory of public administration

Abstract: This article explores the possibility of critical theory as a framework for analysing public administration. Critical theory has a tradition of resisting the predominance of instrumental rationality as the building-block for bureaucracy. The most sophisticated attempt at such an approach is the theory of communicative action developed by Jurgen Habermas. Adapting Habermas's theory to the realities of public administration in the welfare state, the author argues that current forms of administrative action are neither as rational nor as democratically legitimate as they could be. By relying on rules rather than on consensus, and by minimizing the participation of those affected by public administration, bureaucracy under the welfare state has resulted in a general loss of meaning within the public sphere and a high degree of social alienation. By focusing on the potential of discretionary decision-making to foster a dialogue about the important judgments administrators make, it is possible to see the value of a critical approach to administrative structures. The author concludes by briefly exploring the application of a critical theory framework to the question of discretion in the context of Canadian tax administration. Sommaire: Cet article explore la possibilité d'utiliser la théorie critique comme cadre d'analyse de l'administration publique. Traditionnellement, la théorie critique tend à résister l'utilisation de la rationalité instrumentale en tant que pierre angulaire de la bureaucratie. La version la plus sophistiquée d'une telle approche est la théorie de l'action communicative élaborée par Jurgen Habermas. En adaptant la théorie de Habermas aux réalités de l'administration publique au sein de l'État-providence, l'auteur soutient que les formes actuelles d'action administrative ne sont ni aussi rationnelles, ni aussi démocratiquement légitimes qu'elles pourraient l'être. En faisant appel aux règles plutôt qu'au consensus et en minimisant la participation de ceux qui sont touchés par l'action administrative, la bureaucratie, dans l'État-providence, a entraîné une perte généralisée de sens et d'orientation dans le secteur public, ainsi qu'un niveau élevé d'aliénation sociale. En mettant l'accent sur le potentiel qu'offre la prise de décisions discrétionnaires pour amorcer le dialogue au sujet des jugements importants pris par les administrateurs, on conçoit la valeur que revêt une approche critique envers les structures administratives. L'auteur conclut en explorant brièvement l'application du cadre de théorie critique à la question de la discrétion dans le contexte de l'administraiton fiscale au Canada.     

The bureaucracy and public policy: Canadian merger policy and the Combines Branch, 1960–71

Abstract. This paper investigates the implications for public policy in general and merger sections of the Combines Act in particular of the hypothesis that bureaus, when carrying out their administrative duties, attempt to maximize their private utility functions rather than the social utility function expressed in the legislation. The analytical procedure, given alternative utility goals of power, prestige, convenience, and security and the appropriate constraints, is to predict the behaviour of the Combines Branch (from 1960–71) and to test these predictions against actual Branch behaviour. The evidence on the Branch's behaviour (all cases prosecuted and discontinued) suggests that its conduct can be better explained by security maximization than by any alternative private or altruistic goal. However, it is not clear that this was a bad thing for public policy because it can be argued that the Branch's behaviour brought public policy in this area closer to the social welfare function implied in the legislation than would have been the case if the government had successfully maximized its private utility function. Sommaire. L'auteur de cet exposé enquête sur les implications, pour la politique publique en général et les articles sur le fusionnement de la loi sur les coalitions en particulier, de l'hypothèse suivant laquelle es bureaux, dans l'exercice de leurs responsabilités administratives, essaient de maximiser leurs fonctions privées plutôt que leur fonction sociale, telle qu'elle est indiquée dans la législation. La procédure analytique, étant donné le choix des buts: pouvoirs, prestige, commodité et sécurité, avec Ies limites appropriées, consiste à prédire le comportement du service chargé des coalitions (de 1965 à 1971) et à vérifier ces prédictions à la lumière de son comportement réel. Les faits relatifs au comportement de ce service (tous les cas amenés en justice et ceux qui ont été abondonnés) indiquent qu'il s'explique plus par une maximisation de la sécurité que par tout autre motif privé ou altruiste. Il ne semble pas cependant que cela ait été néfaste à la politique publique parce que l'on peut argumenter que le comportement du service a fait jouer à la politique publique un rôle plus orienté vers le bien-être social, comme cela était sous-entendu dam la législation, que ce n'aurait été le cas si le gouvernement avait maximisé avec succès sa fonction privée.     

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.     

Assessing policy capacity in Canada's public services: Perspectives of deputy and assistant deputy ministers

Abstract: The state of policy capacity within Canada's various levels of government has for some time been the subject of discussion both within the public services themselves and among the academic research community. Drawing on the results of a 2006 survey of deputy and assistant deputy ministers working in Canada's federal, ten provincial and three territorial governments, this article presents assessments made by the most senior leadership. The survey results show that ninety per cent of deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers agree that policy capacity has changed but that the change is not uni‐directional. Both improvements and decline in policy capacity were observed, although assessments of decline were somewhat more pronounced. Moreover, improvements in policy capacity were found to be associated with a reduced focus on direct service delivery, a greater concern with long‐term planning, and the presence of a political leadership interested in innovation. Conversely, declining policy capacity was found to be linked to centralization of power, the loss of institutional memory, and “churning” within the ranks of the executive leadership. Additionally, level of government was also observed to be linked with change in policy capacity, with provincial deputies reflecting more negatively on policy capacity decline in their government than deputies at other levels.     

Policy capacity in Saskatchewan: strengthening the equilibrium

Abstract: This article examines the views of provincial public servants concerning how policy capacity can be strengthened. The findings are based on interviews conducted in 1997 with thirty-three senior public servants in the Province of Saskatchewan. Findings indicate that most public servants regard their role in policy-making as both natural and important to maintain, but they all accept the division of responsibilities in the policy process between themselves, as system stabilizers, and politicians, as the providers of energy in the system. In this regard, the public servants interviewed welcome clearly articulated goals that apply directly to their departmental concerns. Overall, the responses indicate that policy capacity can be strengthened by improving the government's policy processes, especially those linking cabinet and the bureaucracy, and those that operate horizontally across departments. These views are consistent with the traditional self-image of senior career officials who see themselves as policy managers overseeing a process that invests decisions with a high degree of legitimacy, power and accuracy. Sommaire: Dans cet article, on examine I'avis des functionaries provinciaux en ce qui conceme le renforcement de la capacité de prise de décisions politiques. Les constatations découlent d'entrevues avec 33 hauts fonctionnaires de la Saskatchewan, effectuées en 1997. Selon les constatations, la plupart des fonctionnaires voient leur rôle de décideurs politiques comme étant naturel et important à maintenir, mais ils acceptent tous le partage des responsabilités dam le processus décisionnel, entre, d'une part, eux-mêmes en tant que stabilisateurs du système, et d'autre part, les politiciens comme source de dynamisation. Sur ce point, les fonctionnaires interviewés aimeraient voir des objectifs clairement formulés s'appliquant directement à leurs préoccupations ministérielles. Dans l'ensemble, les réponses indiquent qu'on peut renforcer la capacité décisionnelle en améliorant les processus décisionnels du-gouvernement, particulièrement ceux qui relient le conseil des ministres au fonctionnariat et ceux qui assurent le lien horizontal entre les ministères. Ces avis cadrent bien avec la perception de soi classique des hauts fonctionnaires qui se perçoivent comme des gérants de politiques souhaitant que le processus qu'ils surveillent accorde aux décisions plus de légitimité, de puissance et de précision.     

Enhancing government's policy management and decision‐making system: The case of Ghana's central governance reforms project

Countries around the world are investing in the improvement of policy capacity in their public services. Ghana has made similar investments during the last decade, in order to achieve the government's far‐reaching policy agenda of transforming Ghana's economy. The Ghana Central Governance Project was initiated during the year 2000 in order to develop a skilled civil service, capable of moving coherently and effectively from policy and strategy to detailed policy options, budgeted programs and concrete results. This reform was deemed essential to the realization of the government's ambitious agenda.     

Public managers and policy communities: learning to meet new challenges

Abstract: Comprehending external environments is an increasingly important facet of the work of senior public servants. The purpose of this paper is to introduce concepts that will help practitioners and academic observers to describe and analyse the structure and dynamics of policy communities. The paper first draws from the political science literature to identify different networks in policy communities, considering how the role of public managers changes from network to network, and then models policy communities as “learning” entities consisting of advocacy coalitions responding to policy challenges in competitive and cooperative interactions. The paper concludes that public managers have a special stewardship function in facilitating more productive learning within policy communities. Sommaire: Dans le cadre du travail des fonctionnaires supérieurs, il devient de plus en plus important de bien comprendre l'environnement extérieur. Le présent exposé vise à présenter des concepts qui aideront les professionnels du métier et les théoriciens à décrire et à analyser la structure et les dynamiques des communautés qui formulent les politiques. L'exposé se fonde d'abord sur la littérature dans le domaine des sciences politiques pour identifier divers réseaux'au sein de ces communautés, en tenant compte de l'évolution du rôle du gestionnaire public d'un réseau à l'autre, puis il présente un modèle de ces communautés en tant qu'ensembles «d'apprentissage» composés de coalitions qui militent en faveur d'un certain objectif et qui interagissent de façon concurrentielle et coopérative aux défis que posent les politiques. Selon la conclusion de l'exposé, les gestionnaires publics ont un rôle-clé dans la facilitation d'un apprentissage plus productif au sein des communautés qui décident des politiques.     

Bureaucracy and innovation

Abstract: As public bureaucracies have increasingly assumed responsibility for the satisfaction of human needs a logical adjunct is that they be innovative and creative in fulfilling these tasks. While the literature on conditions necessary for innovative behaviour in public organizations is slim, this paper suggests that such a list should recognize that innovation is most likely to occur when a government wants action for symbolic reasons but does not know or care about what sort. This might best be characterized as a policy of benign neglect, but for purposes of innovation it allows the policy implementators a free hand in developing programs to fit local conditions and circumstances. The dilemma or paradox here is that while this relationship is necessary for innovation to occur it contains within it the seeds of its undoing. Increasing political prominence of the activity in question, and the growing demand on public resources to fund it lead to greater public awareness of the policy area; interest among other bureaucratic actors in one's activities and often subsequent competition for policy primacy; bureaucratic expansion to accommodate this increased public and political interest; and given this, the necessity for greater external review of policy developments and expenditures - all of which ultimately kills innovation. One of the best examples of this type of policy development is the federal government's experiments in designing “better” housing for Canadian Eskimo/Inuit peoples between 1953 and 1959. By the use of this case, the paper explores the innovative process in some detail, demonstrating the kind of creativity possible in public bureaucracies and the limits to such innovative activity once politicization of a policy field and bureaucratic growth occurs. Sommaire: Puisque les bureaucraties publiques ont assumé de plus en plus de responsabilités pour satisfaire aux besoins de l'humanité, un complément logique veut qu'elles soient innovatrices et créatives dans l'accomplissement de ces tâches. Même si la documentation relative aux conditions nécessaires pour une conduite innovatrice dans les organismes publics n'est pas très considérable, cet article propose qu'une liste de ces conditions devrait reconnaître que l'innovation a plus de chance de se manifester lorsqu'un gouvernement veut agir pour des raisons symboliques, mais ne sait pas trop comment ou ne se soucie guère des modalités. C'est ce que Ton pourrait appeler une politique de négligence bénigne, mais pour les fins de l'innovation cela laisse à ceux qui mettent en oeuvre les politiques le champ libre pour déveloper des programmes adaptés aux conditions et circonstances locales. Le dilemme ou paradoxe ici est que, même si cette politique est nécessaire pour que se produise une innovation, elle contient en elle les germes de sa perte. La visibilityé politique accrue de l'activité en cause et la pression qu'elle crée pour avoir accés à des resources pubnliques de plus considérables conduisent à une prise de conscience plus grande du public à l'égard de ce secteur de politiques: à un intérêt de la prt d'autres acteurs bureaucratiques pour cette activité et souvent à une concurrence vive a l‘égard du rang qu'elle occupe dans des politiques; à une expansion bureaucratique pour s'adapter aux intérêtes publics et politiques qui se sont accrues; et, par conséquent, au besoin d'un examen éxterné plus elabore des nouvelles politiques et des dépenses qu'elles occasionnent - tout ce qui en fin de compte détruit l'innovation. Les expériences du gouvernement fédéral pour mettre au pour mettre au point un “meilleur” système de logement pour les Exquimaux/Inuit entre 1953 et 1959, représentent l'un des meilleurs exemples de ce genre de développement de politiques. À laide de cet exemple, l'article examine d'une manière assez détaillée le processus innovateur en démontrant le genre de créativité possible dans les bureaucraties politiques et les limites d'une telle activité innovatrice une fois que se produisent la politisation d'un secterur de politiques et la croissance bureaucratique.     

The role of citizens in the “soft law” of select social policy areas in Canada and the European Union

This article compares the role of citizens in public reporting exercises of Canada's National Child Benefit and health care service delivery to that of the European Union's open method of coordination (OMC) for social protection and social inclusion. It finds that the institutional infrastructure providing for coordination across social policy areas and possible roles for non‐governmental actors in policy development is more extensive in the OMC than in the “new modes of governance” in Canada. However, there are obstacles to developing such infrastructure in Canada, given the different histories and political contexts of the European community and the functioning of federalism in Canada.     

整体性治理视阈下地方政府政策执行力提升的新思路

作为最前沿的公共治理理论之一,整体性治理理论与地方政府政策执行力研究具有一定的适切性,以整体性治理理论作为分析工具,勾勒出了以整体性治理理论作为分析框架的地方政府政策执行力提升的新思路。     

公民参与公共政策的路径选择

公共政策是民主国家治理社会的主要工具,公民参与则是当今世界政治发展的基本趋势。我国公共政策公民参与面临＂内输入＂公共决策系统、＂附属物＂社会利益团体、＂官本位＂政治参与文化、＂残缺化＂制度保障机制、＂喉舌论＂大众传媒体系等问题,要改善我国公民参与公共政策,还需从还原利益团体的政治本色,构建以民为本的参与文化,增强大众传媒的公共话语权,完善公民参与的制度框架等方面着手。