Class of January 27

• Who is the US ambassador to Canada? Canadian ambassador to the US?

• State of the Nation – McGuinty government• Transition to a new government• Student presentation on Obama and Harper websites• Accountability• Upward delegation• Student presentation on fiscal framework• Priority setting

Managing the Transition to a New Government

• Election campaign an inter-regnum, no significant decisions being made

• Public service responsible to any “government of the day”: prepares briefing books on current context, implementation of platform proposals, organizational implications: discreet contact with party leaders and offices

• PM-designate: choose cabinet, his/her office staff, possibly some senior public servants

Key Events in a Transition

• Swearing-in of new Government: date agreed between old and new Government (archiving or destruction of old Government’s political files), oaths of office for new Government before Queen’s representative (Governor-General for feds, Lieutenant-Governor in provinces)

• Canada: 2-3 week transition, UK overnight• When to meet the legislature, deliver speech from

the throne• When to present a new budget• When to present new estimates (fiscal year starts

April 1)

Student Presentation

• Students to compare the Obama administration website (whitehouse.gov and/or change.gov) with Prime Minister Harper’s website (pm.gc.ca) in terms of balance between personality and policy, branding and look and feel, opportunities for citizen engagement, social networking, language use, provision for disabilities, privacy policy (Anita Paramalingam, Durka Kumarathasan, Harshida Acharya).

Institutions of Accountability

• Ministers accountable to Parliament – question period, debate, media attention, committees of Parliament

• Auditor General: audit of government departments and programs, results made public, Auditor General an agent of Parliament, not the government

• Judicial inquiries, testimony under oath, report issued to evaluate individual behaviour, make systemic recommendations (e.g. Gomery Commission)

• Criminal investigations and prosecution: sponsorship affair, RCMP investigation about insider trading in income trusts prior to Liberal government announcement of tax changes in 2005 resulting in charges against one senior public servant in Finance

Ministerial Accountability to the Legislature

• Government is accountable to and must have the confidence of a majority of the legislature (Martin government lost confidence vote in November 2005, hence 2006 election)

• Ministers are accountable to the legislature for their departments, i.e. their actions, those of their personal staff and departmental officials

• If ministers or personal staff make mistakes (errors of judgment, corruption, lying to legislature) the PM may “ask the minister to resign”

• If departmental officials make mistakes, ministers have responsibility to take corrective action, but need not resign

Accountability of Public Servants

• Public servants are professional and non-partisan, capable of serving any “government of the day”

• Legislative committees have party representation in same proportions as full legislature, discussions less partisan and more technical than in legislature; public servants are answerable to legislative committees by giving the facts, but not defending or promoting the policies, decisions, and actions of the minister

Upward Delegation

• What is it?Why does Blakeney think it is a problem for politicians?• Prevents politicians from judging wisdom of public

servants’ advice• Leads to overemphasis on administrative feasibility• Wastes politician’s time• Co-opts politician, leads to his unhappiness if

proposal rejected by Cabinet

Student Presentation

• Background to the budget: Students to discuss federal government fiscal framework (Mrinal Goswami, Dana Bastaldo, Yoo-ri Chung). Outline revenues (sources), expenditures (areas), surplus or deficit, accumulated debt and debt service. Look at current year and projections. (Finance Canada website, starting with Nov. 27, 2008 economic and fiscal statement)

Priority Setting

Where do priorities come from ?• Election mandate (GST cut, universal child care

benefit)• Forced on government (current recession, 9/11,

public sector debt problem in mid-90s, 1995 Quebec referendum)

• Chosen by PM (Mulroney and Free Trade, Chretien and support for universities – Goldenberg, chapter 21)

• Public opinion (Harper government’s evolving policy on climate change)

How many and when ?

• Have only a few priorities • Set priorities early in the mandate, announce

them in Speech from the Throne• Implement priorities quickly• Have programs running smoothly by next

election (e.g., universal child care benefit, child fitness tax credit)

Organizational Structure for Complex Priorities

• Special Purpose Agency (Blakeney secretariats, Chretien program review secretariat, Mulroney Trade Negotiation Office, new federal agency – infrastructure office?)

• Senior minister in charge (e.g. Manley on response to 9/11)

• ad hoc cabinet committee to oversee process• Oversight from PMO (Goldenberg role)

Organizational Structure for Priorities

• Agency or secretariat led by a deputy minister, sometimes from the outside

• Best public servants often seconded to the special purpose agency (the place to be)

Reading for Next Week

• Visit canada.ca for the budget• http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/progress/PRO

GREPORT08-English.pdf. Visit and read for Ontario Progress Report.

• Visit nyc.gov (scroll to bottom of page) for 2008 Mayor’s Management Report, look at the press release

• Make sure you’ve done all the reading for previous weeks

Student Presentation Feb. 3

• Read the New York City 2008 Mayor’s Management report press release and then look at the complete report in one area (e.g. education). For that area, are the objectives appropriate? Are there enough or too many? How are objectives linked to resources? Are the targets realistic? How will the recession affect next year’s overall report (i.e. press release)?

• (Christine To, Monica Xu, Mia Su)

Class of February 3

• Briefing on federal budget• The budget and the estimates in general• Results management in NYC• Information about mid-term