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Note: In this paper "region" means federal department officials in a
particular province or provinces.
December 18, 1998
Introduction
This paper has been prepared in response to the challenge from the Clerk of the Privy
Council as well as the government's desire to ensure that federal policies take
account of regional considerations. Policy is defined, as the Clerk has defined it, in its
purest form, as "how we make decisions." Some improvements have been made, with
the creation of the Policy Research Secretariat and an emphasis on citizen-centred service
delivery, but the real issues which must be addressed centre on people and changing the
way departments do business — building a sense of trust and changing attitudes. Regional
federal councils believe that decision-making can be greatly improved by ensuring that
regional perspectives are taken into account at all levels of the policy process. A more
active role for regions in the process recognizes that the environment is changing and
that Canadians across the country expect policies to be responsive to their needs.
This paper is a starting point. It is not intended to be a "blueprint" of
what councils should or should not do, but, rather, attempts to analyse how the system is
working now and where it may be improved. With this in mind, some suggestions are proposed
for further discussion and deliberation. It is recognized that all regions are different
in terms of the issues they feel are most important and their capacity to pursue the
suggestions raised in this paper. It is also important to emphasize that the paper is
about "regional" participation in the policy process and not exclusively
regional federal council participation. While councils can play an important role in
improving regional input to the policy process, some of the most important changes must
occur within departments and central agencies.
It is often the informal day-to-day aspects of policy making within departments that
are the most critical to regions. The multitude of decisions taken by departmental
managers are the key vehicles through which the "broad" policy directions of the
government are translated into actions that affect the lives of ordinary Canadians in the
most fundamental ways. It is these decisions that must also benefit from an on going
sensitization to regional issues and circumstances. It is all too often the case that we
get the "broad" policy directions right but fail in implementing them because of
a lack of sensitivity to regional circumstances. In this sense, the challenge is to change
departmental management culture to place a premium on regionally sensitive
decision-making.
Regional sensitization of departmental decision-making must also be supported by
government-wide policy and decision-making processes. Central agencies need to give a
higher priority to regional sensitivity. They need to ensure that national programs have
sufficient flexibility to allow departments to tailor them in ways that address regional
differences. To do this effectively, central agencies and departments need to rely more
extensively on the capacity for interdepartmental coordination and regional intelligence
that exists within regional offices, regional agencies and regional federal councils.
In the end, the objective is simply to make better decisions — using the existing
federal-regional apparatus more effectively. From a regional perspective, this is a key
policy issue and a win-win objective. The federal government as a whole will gain greater
regional relevance and credibility, and the regions will acquire programs and policies
that are better tailored to their realities.
Regions are interested in adding value to the process — through improvements in
their relations with their respective Headquarters, and through their involvement with
Councils. Either way, what the regions have to offer is the benefit of contributing
something extremely valuable to any policy issue - the perspective of operating in a
department outside the central agency and headquarters framework. They can help in
defining the needs of citizens, providing ideas on how needs can be met, identifying
issues for research, implementing policies and communicating how the Government of Canada
is directly affecting the lives of Canadians across the country. While it is recognized
that the regions of this country are different in many respects, all councils believe that
they have something real to offer, in varying degrees, at all stages in the policy
process.
We face some serious challenges if we want to move from the present situation into one
where — in capacity terms — we can have meaningful peer-to-peer interaction between the regions and "the centre" on policy. Central agencies, departments, Councils and
others have an important role to play in improving the policy process to better take
account of regional considerations. For their part, Councils welcome an opportunity to
debate and discuss the suggestions for action contained in this paper.
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