Role of the Public Service
Ontario Public Service Mission
Our mission is to serve the public interest and to uphold the public’s trust.
- We support the elected government by providing Ministers with honest, impartial
and objective advice.
- We carry out the decisions and policies of the elected government and administer
public services to the highest professional standards.
- We conduct ourselves with integrity.
- We exercise responsible stewardship of public resources and information.
- We fulfill all our duties in accordance with the law, including The Public Service
Act of Ontario, and in compliance with our Public Service Oath.
- We are accountable for how we fulfill our public service roles.
The public service delivers the policies, programs and services that government
provides.
The OPS is a professional body that is non-partisan. This means that it supports
and provides impartial advice to the government elected by the people of Ontario.
The public is entitled to expect the highest standards of conduct from all individuals
who work for the OPS. This means that public servants need to be sure that government
activities are conducted in an open, fair and transparent manner.
One way to ensure this type of conduct is to identify and resolve any conflicts
of interest. In most cases, potential conflicts of interest could not be identified
at the application stage. Any concerns applicants might have can be discussed during
the Evaluation Process.
For more information about OPS employment, including the public service oath, go
to FAQs.
Departments in the provincial government are called ministries, and each has an
elected Minister who is accountable to the Legislative Assembly, and ultimately
the public, for that ministry. The Premier and the Ministers together make up the
Cabinet.
Deputy Ministers head up the public service in each ministry. The chief Deputy Minister
and head of the OPS is called the Secretary of the Cabinet.
If you want to know more about:
- Parliamentary tradition and practices, go to About Ontario on the ontario.ca site
and select “Government”;
- Role of the Lieutenant Governor, who is the Head of State in Ontario, go to About
Ontario or go to the website of the Lieutenant Governor;
- The Legislative Assembly, how it works and how laws are made.
