Independent foundations, public money and public accountability: Whither ministerial responsibility as democratic governance?

Canadian Public Administration

Volumn 46, Issue 1, 2003, Pages 1-26

  Aucoin, Peter ^a  

^a DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0141768181     PISSN: 00084840     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1754-7121.2003.tb01577.x     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. For two excellent exceptions on the press side, see Bruce Little, "Foundations mock the notion of public accountability," The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 17 January 2002, p. B12; and Bruce Little "Government's decision to axe foundations a good one," The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 7 February 2002, p. B20. See also n.a., "Mr. Chrétien's contempt for the Auditor General" [editorial], The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 18 April 2002, p. A14.
2. For two excellent exceptions on the press side, see Bruce Little, "Foundations mock the notion of public accountability," The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 17 January 2002, p. B12; and Bruce Little "Government's decision to axe foundations a good one," The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 7 February 2002, p. B20. See also n.a., "Mr. Chrétien's contempt for the Auditor General" [editorial], The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 18 April 2002, p. A14.
3. For two excellent exceptions on the press side, see Bruce Little, "Foundations mock the notion of public accountability," The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 17 January 2002, p. B12; and Bruce Little "Government's decision to axe foundations a good one," The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 7 February 2002, p. B20. See also n.a., "Mr. Chrétien's contempt for the Auditor General" [editorial], The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 18 April 2002, p. A14.
4. See, for example, Jeffrey Simpson, "In search of a 'responsible individual,'" The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 6 December 2002, p. A27; and James Travers, "A rotten affair of state," The Toronto Star, 12 December 2002, at www.thestar.com.
5. See, for example, Jeffrey Simpson, "In search of a 'responsible individual,'" The Globe and Mail (Toronto) 6 December 2002, p. A27; and James Travers, "A rotten affair of state," The Toronto Star, 12 December 2002, at www.thestar.com.
6. S.L. Sutherland, "Responsible government and ministerial responsibility: Every reform is its own problem," Canadian Journal of Political Science 24, no 1 (March 1991), p. 100.
7. Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat, Policy on Alternative Service Delivery (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2002), p. 3.
8. Gregory Tardi, "Departments and Other Institutions of Government," in Christopher Dunn, ed., The Handbook of Canadian Public Administration (Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press Canada, 2002), p. 298.
9. J.E. Hodgetts, The Canadian Public Service 1867-1970 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1973), Chapter 7.
10. See Allan Tupper and G. Bruce Doern, eds., Privatization, Public Policy and Public Corporations in Canada (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1988), pp. 33-7.
11. Nicholas d'Ombrain, "Alternative Service Delivery: Governance, Management and Practice," in n.a., Change, Governance and Public Management (Ottawa: Public Policy Forum, 2000), p. 111.
12. Canada, Office of the Auditor General, Report to the House of Commons, December 2000 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2000), Chapter 18, "Governance of Crown Corporations," p. 7 (emphasis added).
13. Canada, President of the Treasury Board, Annual Report to Parliament: Crown Corporations and Other Corporate Interests of Canada 2001 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2001), p. 37.
14. Canada, Royal Commission on Financial Management and Accountability, Final Report (Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1979), p. 364.
15. Ibid., pp. 365-66.
16. Ibid., p. 366 (emphasis in the original).
17. Canada, Department of Finance, Budget Plan 2003 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2003), pp. 179-80.
18. st Session, 12 June 2002 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2002), p. 2 of 19.
19. Alasdair Roberts, "Lockbox government," Government Executive (May 2000), pp. 20-8. See also his "Lockbox government: Segregated funding strategies and the decline of governmental flexibility," Governance 15, no. 2 (April 2002), pp. 241-70.
20. Alasdair Roberts, "Lockbox government," Government Executive (May 2000), pp. 20-8. See also his "Lockbox government: Segregated funding strategies and the decline of governmental flexibility," Governance 15, no. 2 (April 2002), pp. 241-70.
21. st Session, 29 May 2002 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2002), p. 18 of 25 (emphasis added).
22. See G. Bruce Doern and Richard Lévesque, The National Research Council in the Innovation Era (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002).
23. Ibid., pp. 136-37.
24. David Strangway, in Canada, Parliament, House of Commons, Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, Evidence (Hansard), 37th Parliament, 1st Session, 3 April 2001 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2001), pp. 4, 8 and 29 (emphasis added).
25. Bevilacqua, in Canada, Parliament, Senate, Standing Committee on National Finance, Proceedings, p. 5 of 19.
26. Canada, Department of Finance, Budget Plan 2003, p. 308.
27. D'Ombrain, "Alternative Service Delivery," n.a., Change, Governance and Public Management, p. 153.
28. Canada, Office of the Auditor General, Report to the House of Commons, November 1999 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 1999), Chapter 23, "Involving Others in Governing: Accountability at Risk," p. 5.
29. Canada, Office of the Auditor General, Report to the House of Commons, April 2002 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2002), Chapter 1.
30. Canada, Office of the Auditor General, Report to the House of Commons, December 2002 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2002), Chapter 9.
31. Canada, Office of the Auditor General and Treasury Board Secretariat, Modernizing Accountability Practices in the Public Sector. Discussion Draft, 6 January 1998 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 1998), p. 3. Available at http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rma/account/oagtbs_e.asp.
32. Ibid., p. 8.
33. Canada, Office of the Auditor General, Report to the House of Commons, November 1999, p. 23 (emphasis added).
34. Ibid, (emphasis added).
35. Canada, Office of the Auditor General, Report to the House of Commons, November 1999, p. 26 (emphasis added).
36. Ibid., p. 27 (emphasis added).
37. Ibid., p. 32.
38. Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat, Policy on Alternative Service Delivery (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2002), p. 3.
39. Canada, Office of the Auditor General, Report to the House of Commons, December 2002, p. 1.
40. Ibid., p. 5.
41. Ibid., p. 8.
42. Ibid., p. 16 (emphasis added).
43. I b i d.
44. Ibid., p. 32 (emphasis added).
45. st Session, no. 140, 6 February 2002 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2002), p. 1420.
46. Canada, Parliament, House of Commons, Debates and Proceedings (Hansard), 37th Parliament, 1st Session, nos. 142, 140, 157 and 140, 8, 6 February, 15 March, 6 February 2002 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2002), pp. 1000, 1545, 1220, 1650, respectively.
47. See, for example, S.L. Sutherland and J.R. Mitchell, "Parliament and Administration," in Jacques Bourgault, Maurice Demers and Cynthia Williams, eds., Public Administration and Public Management: Experiences in Canada (Sainte-Foy: Les Publications du Quebec, 1997), pp. 25-43.
48. Simpson, "In search of a 'responsible individual,'" The Globe and Mail.
49. Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat, Canada's Performance 2001 (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2001), pp. 2-3.
50. For an illuminating and magisterial analysis of the traditional Quebec experience in this regard, see Ralph Heintzman, "The political culture of Quebec, 1840-1960," Canadian Journal of Political Science 16, no. 1 (March 1983), pp. 3-60.
51. See Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Distributed Public Governance: Agencies, Authorities and Other Government Bodies (Paris: OECD, 2002). This report, which includes a chapter on Canada, discusses the great diversity of government organizations used by governments in a number of countries to pursue these very objectives. The principles of good governance outlined in this report assume ministerial control for democratic purposes even when these organizations are set at arm's length.
52. See Peter Aucoin and Ralph Heintzman, "The Dialectics of Accountability for Performance in Public Management Reform," in B. Guy Peters and Donald J. Savole, eds., Governance in the Twenty-first Century: Revitalizing the Public Service (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2000), pp. 244-80.
53. See Peter Aucoin and Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, "Designing a merit-based process for appointing boards of ABCs: Lessons from the Nova Scotia reform experience," CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 45, no. 3 (Fall 2002), pp. 301-27.
54. Canada, Department of Finance, Budget 2003: Improving Expenditure Management and Accountability (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2003), p. 6 (emphasis added).
55. Ibid., pp. 12-13.