The Public Servant's Guide to Government in Canada PDF Download

Author: Alex Marland
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 148759478X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
The Public Servant’s Guide to Government in Canada is a concise primer on the inner workings of government in Canada. This is a go-to resource for students, for early career public servants, and for anyone who wants to know more about how government works. Grounded in experience, the book connects core concepts in political science and public administration to the real-world practice of working in the public service. The authors provide valuable insights into the messy realities of governing and the art of diplomacy, as well as best practices for climbing the career ladder.

Author: J. E. Hodgetts
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 600

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Book Description

Author: Donald Savoie
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442659297
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
Canada's machinery of government is out of joint. In Breaking the Bargain, Donald J. Savoie reveals how the traditional deal struck between politicians and career officials that underpins the workings of our national political and administrative process is today being challenged. He argues that the role of bureaucracy within the Canadian political machine has never been properly defined, that the relationship between elected and permanent government officials is increasingly problematic, and that the public service cannot function if it is expected to be both independent of, and subordinate to, elected officials. While the public service attempts to define its own political sphere, the House of Commons is also in flux: the prime minister and his close advisors wield ever more power, and cabinet no longer occupies the policy ground to which it is entitled. Ministers, who have traditionally been able to develop their own roles, have increasingly lost their autonomy. Federal departmental structures are crumbling, giving way to a new model that eschews boundaries in favour of sharing policy and program space with outsiders. The implications of this functional shift are profound, having a deep impact on how public policies are struck, how government operates, and, ultimately, the capacity for accountability.

Author: John E. Hodgetts
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487590091
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 563

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Book Description
The Canadian Public Service is now so large that it employs over ten per cent of Canada's labour force, and among its many boards, commissions, and corporations there is a constant juggling of conventional departmental portfolios in an effort to keep pace with changing public priorities. As these bureaucracies penetrate our lives more and more, there is increasing need for a study which describes and explains them. This book is the first to offer the necessary clarification. It says nothing about public servants themselves; rather it focuses on the physiognomy and physiology of the structures in which they work and through which programmes are allocated, work distributed, and policy decisions made for all of Canada. It also examines the way in which environmental forces have helped to shape our so-called administrative culture, as well as the monumental difficulties that are involved in co-ordinating the administration of this vast country, three-quarters of whose public service concerns are located outside the capital. It concludes that all of our public organizations, the public service has proven the most responsive to the forces of change, but that it has been so caught up in structural and managerial adaptation that its capacity to concern itself with substantive policy issues has been subverted.

Author: John E. Hodgetts
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487590075
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Book Description
This book makes a new approach to Canadian politics, from the administrative side. It provides, first, a description of the evolution and structure of the administrative machine which, with few fundamental changes, still serves the Canadian nation, and in the process it attempts to acknowledge and appraise the hitherto unsung contributions of the public servant to the welfare of a pioneer community. A second objective is to disclose the presence in the pioneer public service of certain basic administrative issues which today still rise to perplex both the student and practitioner of public administration. And, finally, this study reveals a neglected aspect of the winning of responsible government in Canada—the author contends that the recognition of the constitutional principle on the political level, did not, in fact, coincide with its practical implementation at the administrative level. As Dr. R. MacGregor Dawson points out in his Foreword, "Few students, on suspects, appreciate how great has been the influence of the permanent officials in the years before Confederation, nor do they have an adequate comprehension of the degree to which administrative decisions of those days, both by Ministers and officials, determined many of the present practices. An astonishingly large number of the problems, moreover, will be found to have remained substantially the same for the past hundred years. The scheme of departmental organization, the delegation of authority and the allotment of responsibility, the application of financial controls, the intricate give and take between the political non-technical Minister and the technically trained specialist—these in some aspect or another have been the constant concern of the administrator: a different time, a different place, has simply shifted the emphasis a little one way or the other." Professor Hodgetts writes with humour and point; his book is a brilliant addition to the Canadian Government Series, in which it is the seventh volume to appear.

Author: Canadian Government Publishing Centre
Publisher: Supply and Services Canada, Canadian Government Publishing Centre
ISBN: 9780662530589
Category : Depository libraries
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description

Author: Amanda Clarke
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774836954
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Opening the Government of Canada presents a compelling case for the importance of a more open model of governance in the digital age – but a model that also continues to uphold democratic principles at the heart of the Westminster system. Drawing on interviews with public officials and extensive analysis of government documents and social media accounts, Clarke details the untold story of the Canadian federal bureaucracy’s efforts to adapt to new digital pressures from the mid-2000s onward. This book argues that the bureaucracy’s tradition of closed government, fuelled by today’s antagonistic political communications culture, is at odds with evolving citizen expectations and new digital policy tools, including social media, crowdsourcing, and open data. Striking a balance between reform and tradition, Opening the Government of Canada concludes with a series of pragmatic recommendations that lay out a roadmap for building a democratically robust, digital-era federal government.

Author: Michael Wernick
Publisher: On Point Press
ISBN: 077489055X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Have you ever wondered how the day-to-day business of government actually works? What do prime ministers and ministers do when away from the spotlight of Question Period? How does a government stay on track, and how can a career be derailed? How can a new minister balance the conflicting demands of their chief of staff, their department, their constituency office, and their family at home? In this practical handbook, Michael Wernick, a career public servant with decades of experience in the highest levels of Canadian government, shares candid advice and information that is usually only provided behind closed doors. From cautioning against common pitfalls for neophyte ministers to outlining the learnable skills that are needed to succeed, Wernick lays the business of governance bare. It’s a first-time look behind the curtain at how government functions, and essential reading for anyone interested in the business of Canadian politics.

Author: Luc Juillet
Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
ISBN: 0776618253
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
In 1908, after decades of struggling with a public administration undermined by systemic patronage, the Canadian parliament decided that public servants would be selected on the basis of merit, through a system administered by an independent agency: the Public Service Commission of Canada. This history, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Commission, recounts its unique contribution to the development of an independent public service, which has become a pillar of Canadian parliamentary democracy.

Author: David Johnson
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442635215
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
"Thinking Government: Public Administration and Politics in Canada, fourth edition, is a comprehensive introduction to public administration and public sector management. This book places Canadian government and public administration within its political context and covers such important topics as the institutions of the federal government, financial and human resources management, and accountability and responsibility. Fully updated throughout, Thinking Government, fourth edition, is perfect for Canadian public administration courses."--