September 27th
Service Canada will test new accountability model - Critics wonder what's to prevent 'another sponsorship scandal'
Kathryn May, The Ottawa Citizen
The Martin government's much-touted Service Canada is a test case for a new model of accountability as Justice John Gomery prepares his report on who's responsible for the sponsorship scandal.
Because of Service Canada's unique status -- it was created without legislation -- the new agency provides a snapshot of the conundrum the Martin government faces as it wrestles with how the antiquated doctrine of ministerial accountability can be squared with the way government works today.
The absence of a bill creating the new agency leaves some wondering who is responsible if something goes wrong. One official worries the lines of accountability are so diffuse that Service Canada is "shades of another sponsorship scandal sitting out in the future."
Another noted that for a government obsessed with improving and clarifying accountability, Service Canada's unorthodox structure could be a "nightmare."
"You have got to ask that if the agency has no statutory authority who is accountable. Is it the minister, is it the deputy minister. Where is the dividing line between the minister and the deputy minister?" asked Ned Franks, professor emeritus at Queen's University and a recognized expert on accountability. "We're dealing here with a service that affects most Canadians. It's fraught with risk."
The question of accountability is at the heart of the inquiry into the $250-million sponsorship scandal. The government has also launched its own review into the issue as part of its public management reform agenda.
But all signs are that the government is adapting the old notion of accountability -- in which ministers were responsible for anything wrong in a department -- to a new system of "shared accountability," where ministers and bureaucrats divvy up responsibilities.
Such a system pairs well with the current form of government in which policy-making and service delivery cross department boundaries.
Gilles Paquet of the Centre on Governance at the University of Ottawa said the sponsorship scandal shows the old "top-down" doctrine no longer works. Instead of "fixing humpty dumpty," the government should look for new ways to hold politicians and bureaucrats to account. He argued Service Canada is a step in the right direction.
"Why cling to an old collapsing system and not experiment with new ways of accountability?" asked Mr. Paquet.
The 200-year-old doctrine of ministerial accountability is the foundation of Canada's democratic institutions. It was introduced when government was managed as a hierarchy and departments were created to handle big policy issues. For example, the Agriculture Department oversaw farming policy.
But issues are much more complex today and demand "horizontal" policy-making, with all departments pitching in. Farm policy, for example, goes beyond agriculture and into the departments of environment, trade, finance and health.
Service Canada, the government's first "horizontal" department, was created to be a "one-stop shop" where Canadians can go for government services.
The agency will be one of the biggest organizations in the federal government, employing about 22,000 people who will eventually take over most of the programs and services that departments now provide directly.
It's also a key piece of the drive to turn the government into a single giant enterprise, rather than 120 departments and agencies. This new approach to service would help departments focus on policy-making.
The idea has been in the works for years but was only formally announced in the most recent budget and launched several weeks ago by Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Belinda Stronach.
Since Service Canada doesn't legally exist like most departments, it can't get any money or "appropriations" from Parliament because money can only flow through departments.
But senior officials say Service Canada is intended to be different from other departments. They argue it makes sense to experiment before setting the agency's parameters in stone with legislation. It is expected that legislation will eventually be drafted once ministers and bureaucrats figure out how best to run the agency.
Service Canada is being put together using orders-in-council, memorandums of understanding and other contractual arrangements. Over the coming months, it will have agreements with about 12 departments, allowing it to take over services such as the Canada website, the Canada Enquiry Centre, Publiservice from Public Works and Government Services, or passport applications from Foreign Affairs.
The ministers in these departments remain accountable for these functions, but their reports to Parliament will clearly say Service Canada is providing the service.
Ms. Stronach said the government added another layer of accountability by creating a new cabinet subcommittee, chaired by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Joe Volpe and co-chaired by Ms. Stronach, with ministers from the 12 departments who will be using Service Canada as it rolls out over the the next 18 months. A similar committee of high-level bureaucrats headed by Treasury Board Secretary Wayne Wouters is also wrestling with how Service Canada will operate.
Although Service Canada is a huge change in how government works, Ms. Stronach said the deputy minister is still responsible for its management and she, as minister, carries the ball in Parliament if something goes wrong.
"There's shared accountability in the sense of making sure things are co-ordinated properly and services are delivered efficiently and we work together across departments ... but there is a deputy minister in charge of making sure the end product to citizens is delivered well and efficiently," she said.
The agency's top bureaucrat, Maryantonett Flumian, is a controversial and tough-minded boss who has been a key player in creating Service Canada. Ms. Flumian, named as a deputy minister, gets her power "delegated" to her by the deputy ministers and cabinet ministers at Skills Development Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development. As a result, she gets direct control of staff and money.
Ms. Flumian has a reputation as a fixer whose career has been marked by several difficult assignments. More recently, she took some of the heat over the cost overruns of the gun registry, which was in deep trouble when she was dispatched to turn things around to meet the firearms program's implementation deadline.
Mr. Paquet believes Service Canada, "although imperfect," will improve accountability because under contracts "if you don't deliver, you don't get paid or you get fired."
He likened the agency to a kind of "internal contracting out." Departments will negotiate contracts with Service Canada to take over their services, and that spell out what's expected, service standards demanded and ways to measure performance, which Mr. Paquet argues is more scrutiny than any department faces now. If Service Canada fails to deliver, the deputy minister is on the hook. "If she fails, she's out. It takes some courage to accept such a challenge. Can you name another deputy minister who would take this up?"
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September 2nd
campaign. Social and trade union activists from around the world are wearing the white band, symbol of the campaign and of their commitment to fighting poverty.
05_conference_poster.pdf
September 14th
below)and also gives directions on what to do if you find yourself facing a picket line at your work site. It also lists different actions you can continue to take in support and solidarity of these mistreated workers.
September 27th
posted September 27th