Backgrounder: An Accountable Government that is Responsive and Innovative: Our Track Record

The government has made good management a key priority and is now entering a more active and comprehensive phase in its commitment to modernize public sector management. But much work has already been done to support this increased pace and scope of change over the past almost two years. 

This document provides an overview of the government’s track record to strengthen Canada’s public sector management and to be the accountable, responsive and innovative government Canadians expect. 

Good public sector management not only matters – it is an essential underpinning to good policy, good programs and good services for Canadians.

Making Continuous Management Improvement a Priority – Key Milestones

The government’s approach has been to act decisively and to make changes to ensure the federal public service is accountable and transparent, effective and efficient, and provides better service to Canadians.

Building on previous work including Results for Canadians and the coming into force of the Public Service Modernization Act, the Prime Minister announced, on December 12, 2003, an ambitious agenda to strengthen the social foundations of Canadian life, build a twenty-first century economy, and ensure Canada’s independent place in the world. 

These commitments: Attaining the Highest Ethical Standards and his announcements of A New Approach and Changing Government, included measures to strengthen public sector management.

The government took immediate steps to address management failures related to sponsorship, advertising and public opinion research activities outlined in the November 2003 Report of the Auditor General, including:

• Canceling the sponsorship program;
• Disbanding Communication Canada;
• Producing an Act to Amend the Canada Election Act and the Income Tax Act (political financing), which came into force on January 1, 2004;
• Creating the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act in October 2004;
• Reforming the way government advertising is procured and managed;
• Reforming public opinion research contracting;
• Committing to providing Parliament with an annual report on government advertising;
• Eliminating the Unity Reserve;
• Appointing a special counsel to recover funds that may have been misappropriated; and
• Creating the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities.

On March 24, 2004, the President of the Treasury Board presented a first set of initiatives to Strengthen Public Sector Management. 

On February 23, 2005, the Government reiterated its commitment to Strengthen and Modernize Public Sector Management in Budget 2005 and announced additional measures to achieve this.

Accountability is based on three principles:

1. Clear roles and rules to ensure everyone in an organization has the knowledge to act properly;
2. Integrity of audit and independence of oversight;
3. Transparency of information so people can judge whether individuals are truly accountable.

The government has acted and continues to act in each of these areas.

1. Clarifying Rules and Roles

The government has put in place a number of measures to clarify rules and roles and responsibilities. In particular, it has:

• Strengthened guidelines for Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Heads of Agencies;
• Updated the Guidelines for Ministers’ Offices;
• Published Ethics, Responsibility, and Accountability: An Action Plan for Democratic Reform;
• Introduced a Conflict of Interest and Post-Employment Code for Public Office Holders;
• Introduced a Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service;
• Established fully independent Ethics Commissioners in the House of Commons and Senate;
• Introduced Bill C-11, the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act;
• Strengthened governance and accountability in Crown corporations;
• Initiated reviews of the responsibilities and accountabilities of Ministers and senior officials and non-compliance under the Financial Administration Act;
• Introduced the Management Accountability Framework (MAF);
• Introduced the Management, Resources, and Results Structure Policy; and
• Introduced the Expenditure Management Information System (EMIS).

As well, as the first step in its two-year initiative to renew its management policy suite, aimed at streamlining and clarifying policy requirements and consequences, the government has reformed its official languages policy framework.

2. Strengthening Integrity of Audit and Oversight

The government has introduced a package of further measures to bring the clarity and discipline of audit practice to the management of the public sector. These changes are part of an ongoing, comprehensive initiative that also includes a new Policy on Internal Audit.

The new policy, in particular, will lead to:

• The increased independence of the internal audit function from departmental operations through the creation of audit committees that include professional and experienced members drawn from outside the federal public service, as well as the creation of a Chief Audit Executive position in departments and agencies that is separate from the daily operations of their organization and that has direct reporting to the deputy head.
• Enhanced oversight, monitoring and reporting through annual opinions on controls and processes from Chief Audit Executives and annual reporting on the overall state of controls and processes across the federal government by the Comptroller General of Canada.
• The strengthening and professionalizing of the internal audit function through the establishment of, and adherence to, stringent, professional standards and the application of internationally-recognized internal auditing practices; the recruitment of additional skilled professionals; and the certification and/or accreditation of accounting and audit professionals.
• The provision of a comprehensive, government-wide approach to internal audit through the implementation of rigorous, common methodology and the conduct of ongoing internal audit practice inspections and assessments.

Other accomplishments since December 2003 include:

• The establishment of a new position for the Comptroller General of Canada separate from the Secretary of the Treasury Board with the responsibility to ensure expenditure plans are sound, and the appointment of a new Comptroller General.
• The establishment of a new model for Chief Financial Officers.
• Strengthening of the ‘Budget Office’ role to improve expenditure management and accountability, including ongoing review of programs and reallocation from lower to higher priorities.

3. Strengthening Transparency

Transparency and accountability go hand-in-hand - transparency allows citizens to make judgements about the government’s effectiveness in ensuring solid managerial accountability.

The government introduced a comprehensive package of measures to further guarantee a high level of transparency regarding its operations, including proactive disclosure of information, bringing more Crown corporations under the Access to Information Act, reporting on the government’s spending and actions on commitments and priorities, and developing in collaboration with the private sector a Code of Fair Contract Practices, an integrity pact with suppliers, that will consolidate all existing measures in place to ensure contracting is conducted in an open, fair and transparent way.

Other accomplishments since December 2003 include:

• Introducing a new format for the Estimates to improve the consistency of information and include more horizontal and summary information;
• Proactively disclosing travel and hospitality expenses of Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, political staff, and senior public servants;
• Proactively disclosing government (goods and services) contracts over $10,000;
• Proactively disclosing public service position reclassifications;
• Introducing a new, more transparent appointment process for boards of directors, chairs, and CEOs of Crown corporations; and
• Expanding the application of the Access to Information Act to a further ten (10) Crown corporations.

Strengthening the Professional Public Service of Canada

To support the talent that is in the public service, the government began to clear away layers of complex rules and burdensome process in human resources. It introduced the Public Service Modernization Act in 2003, the first significant change to human resource legislation in four decades.

 Other accomplishments since December 2003 include:

• Establishing the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, including a Centre of Excellence on the integration of human resources and business planning;
• Establishing the Canada School of Public Service;
• Amending the Financial Administration Act to clarify roles and responsibilities for human resources management and accountability; and,
• Implementing the new Public Service Labour Relations Act;
• Introducing a Learning Strategy for the public service that will provide orientation for all new employees, specialized training for specialists in the fields of finance, audit, procurement, materiel, information management and human resource as well as training for managers.

Strengthening Government Responsiveness

The government has taken a citizen-centred, single-window, service improvement approach to service delivery in order to better respond to Canadians’ needs and expectations.  It has:

• Completed the Government On-Line initiative and made 130 of its most commonly used services available on the Internet;
• Increased client satisfaction with government services through the Service Improvement Initiative;
• Adopted measures to reduce wait times in offices and improve the quality of telephone service;
• Launched Service Canada to provide Canadians with one-stop access to information and services from a range of departments and agencies;
• Updated policies on the use of official languages in communications, services to the public, Web sites, and electronic communications. 

Furthermore, to protect the health and safety of Canadians, ensure a sustainable environment, and create the conditions for an innovative and competitive economy, the government:

• Launched Smart Regulation;
• Commissioned advice from the External Advisory Committee on Smart Regulation and stakeholders on major regulatory; and
• Released Smart Regulation: Report on Actions and Plans to update Canadians on progress.

Strengthening the Internal Operations of Government

To increase the efficiency and effectiveness of its internal operations, the government:

• Reviewed a number of core operations, such as capital assets management, procurement and contracting processes, and information technology management;
• Completed essential analytical and planning work to pave the way for more efficient corporate, administrative and IT systems and services;
• Evaluated the benefits of a common approach, and the potential of having single organizations provide key internal administrative and information technology services to departments and agencies;
• Implemented initial measures to reform management of assets and acquired services, including pilot projects, new procurement policies, publication of standards, an improved certification regime, and improved training courses and tools;
• Reviewed government spending and freed up $1 billion per year from annual spending and redirected it to promote economic growth and social progress; and
• Identified efficiencies in government operations to free up another $11 billion over five years beginning in 2005-2006 to direct at emerging priorities.

What Does This All Mean?

Together these measures represent a balanced approach to continuous improvement in public sector management to support more effective, efficient and responsive service to Canadians.

This means that in the public service:

• We now have a system of checks and balances to:
  • Catch problems early;
  • Deal with them consistently and decisively; and
  • Report on them in an open and transparent fashion.
• We have clear roles and responsibilities so that everyone knows what they are accountable for.
• We have a new learning strategy to ensure that public service employees and managers as well as new employees have the training they need to do their jobs even better.
• We have a plan to streamline our internal operations to reduce duplication and waste.
• We have a process to review our spending to ensure we are allocating funds to the top priorities of Canadians.

Together, these allow us to build for the future, and to provide better service to Canadians.