Changing the design: cabinet decision-making in three provincial governments

Article Abstract:

The subject of this investigation is cabinet decision-making in the provincial governments of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and British Columbia. Specifically, it attempts to examine the forces that underlie the initiation and persistence of cabinet institutionalization in the postwar period. The postwar period has witnessed the replacement of the unaided (or traditional) cabinet by the institutionalized (or structured) cabinet. In other words, unstructured and relatively uncoordinated central executives have given way to those which are more structured, more collegial, and more prone to emphasize planning and coordination. The factors promoting initial cabinet institutionalization in the three provinces were a mixture of ideology, pragmatism, and historical precedent unique to each province. There were both endogenous factors (those growing from within government) and exogenous factors (those acting from without) which affected the persistence of institutionalized cabinets. They were common to more than one province but their relative weight differed between premiers. Not surprisingly, the institutionalization of provincial cabinets has had major effects on political actors and functions in the three provinces studied. Cabinet structure has both changed and been changed by power relations within cabinet. Full cabinet appears to have been overshadowed as a decision-making centre. It is apparent that central agencies and central departments do not always yield similar political effects. Lastly, planning and budgeting have grown in both complexity and complementarity. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Decision-making, Decision making, Planning, British Columbia, Political science, Saskatchewan

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"Who does what" in Ontario: the process of provincial-municipal disentanglement

Article Abstract:

Since the election of the Mike Harris Conservative government in 1995, Ontario has been the site of some of the most turbulent provincial-local relations ever experienced in a Canadian province. The province's agenda has included restructuring and realigning the responsibilities and resources of municipal governments and asserting control over the financing and governance of Ontario's education system. The sheer size of this agenda and the interconnections between its two main elements have made the quest to simplify or disentangle provincial-local relations impossible to achieve. This article documents events as the Conservatives moved from their "Common Sense Revolution" election manifesto to develop and implement a plan for disentanglement of provincial and local government services. It also identifies themes and potential lessons that emerge for government agenda setting and intergovernmental relations. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Ontario, Municipal government, Central-local government relations, Provinces

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Political rights: a Manitoba perspective

Article Abstract:

Merit principle administration can be accomplished independently of restrictions on public workers' political activity. The Canadian province of Manitoba removed most such restrictions below the deputy minister level in 1974. Successful elimination of the 'rule-of-three' in job candidate selection and the increased application of the merit principle in deputy minister position appointments are cited as examples of how the merit system has been strengthened by liberalization of laws governing public employee political activity.

Civil service, Political participation, Civil service reform, Political rights

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