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The Administrative State
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Short Answer Questions
1. What is the merit principle and how does it differ from the practice that it replaced?
Under the merit principle, hiring and promotion in the public service are based on such qualifications as experience, academic achievement, professional credentials, and other attributes deemed to be necessary for the competent performance of the job. It replaced the practice of patronage, under which hiring and promotion were based on friendship, family, loyalty, exchange of money or gifts, and/or political party membership.
2. What is the politics–administration dichotomy?
It holds that only elected politicians should make choices between competing values and interests, choices that would be embodied in the laws. The function of non-elected state officials was to implement these decisions without regard for their personal views and preferences.
3. What did the courts determine in Fraser v. PSSRB, Osborne v. Canada, and Haydon v. Canada?
In Fraser v. PSSRB, the Supreme Court agreed with Fraser that public servants should be allowed non-job-related criticism of government policy. In the case itself, the Court determined that Fraser crossed the line in his criticisms of government policy. In Osborne v. Canada, the Supreme Court ruled that prohibitions on public servants from working for or against a candidate violated the Charter of Rights. In Haydon v. Canada, the Federal Court of Canada held that public servants have a loyalty duty. Public servants may engage in whistleblowing—bringing public attention to government actions or policies that they believe endanger public health or safety based on their careful examination of the facts. But in the case at hand, the Federal Court ruled that this is not what Haydon was doing.
4. What is meant by the term “positive state”?
The positive state refers to a state that is active in attempting to shape society and influence its direction.
5. What are the bases of bureaucratic influence?
Departments are a vast repository of information; departments have an ongoing relationship with social and economic interests; deputy ministers are the real managers of departments; most laws contain provisions delegating to bureaucrats the authority to interpret the law.
6. What is state capacity?
It refers to the requirement that the state have an adequate revenue stream to cover the cost of paying bureaucrats’ salaries and benefits, building and maintaining roads, funding for schools and hospitals, paying those on state pensions, social assistance, and all of the other expenditures of government.
7. With respect to state capacity, what have been two consequences of globalization?
One is that governments have become more sensitive to the demands of business and investors. A second is that governments now rely more on revenues from the taxation of individuals than from the revenues generated by business taxation.
8. What are the six functions of the bureaucracy?
Provision of services to the public; provision of services to other parts of the bureaucracy; generation of policy advice and the integration of policy in a particular field; adjudication of applications and/or the interpretation of regulations; disbursement of funds to groups or individuals; the production of a good or the operation of a service that is sold to buyers.
9. What are the arguments made for representative bureaucracy?
The argument made in favour of representative bureaucracy is twofold, says Brooks. Firstly, it can claim greater legitimacy by reflecting more of the nation’s demography (including many often-under-represented minority groups such as Indigenous peoples, or people with disabilities). As well, representative bureaucracy ensures that advice from bureaucrats to politicians is “sensitive to the values and aspirations of the governed,” including the minority groups that Brooks lists.
10. Do you believe that a completely representative bureaucracy is possible? Why or why not?
You can begin answering this question by considering the idea of bureaucracy that is wholly unrepresentative of the Canadian population. Think about the possible costs to society when a major segment of the population is almost shut out of the bureaucracy. This was the case of French-Canadians prior to the time of Lester Pearson. Was this part of French-Canadians’ sense of grievance? Would it be fair if women, who make up roughly half of the population, were represented by a tiny percentage of the public service? What would we think of a country, say, in Africa, whose national government excluded a major tribe? It would appear that there could be costs, in terms of national unity and fairness, associated with a completely unrepresentative bureaucracy. You can then return to the issue of a completely representative public service. Would the effort to achieve this excessively undermine the merit principle? Can all of the diverse communities that make up Canada be mirrored in the bureaucracy? Is that possible? For instance, it is reasonable to aim for a public service whose Aboriginal members are representative of the Indigenous population. But is it reasonable to aim for a public service that is representative of all of the Indigenous nations in the country? You may want to consider the idea that perhaps a completely representative bureaucracy is not what is really sought; only a public service that is reasonably representative of the population, that is, reasonably representative of the major communities within the society.
11. Are you well-served by the state in Canada? Explain your answer.
You can reflect on the times that you and the people to whom you are close interact with the state. Are those interactions generally positive? Do you get your mail on time? Are you fairly treated when you apply for government assistance (e.g., employment insurance, student assistance)? Are government regulations fairly enforced? You can respond on two levels. First, as suggested above, are your interactions generally positive? Secondly, is the state there when you need it? If, for instance, your community was hit by a tornado, would you expect the state to be there for you? You can reflect on less dramatic examples. If, for instance, a relative suffered a heart attack and needed serious medical care, would it be likely that the state would be there to help out financially, or at least make some provision so that the family was not left destitute? In answering this question, you should keep in mind the extent of the state’s resources.
12. What did American writer Henry David Thoreau observe in the Canadian government?
Thoreau observed a statist culture, where the impacts of British aristocracy and French feudalism impacted the political landscape. He noted that hierarchy, distinction, and deference were woven into the Canadian political culture, and observed more deference and respect for the state in Canada than in the United States.
13. Do you favour the model of targets or quotas for Canadian bureaucracy. Explain why.
Your answer will vary based on whether you favour targets or quotas, but it should be supported using evidence from the textbook and your own prior knowledge. Brooks describes the proponents of both: he explains that since the 1986 Employment Equity Act, the federal government has avoided quotas, will setting targets from time to time. He also notes that some, including NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson, “believes that anything short of legislative quotas is not enough.”
14. What are the different ways that public sector employees can be counted?
Public sector employees can be counted at the 1) the federal level, where there are 530,000 employees across approximately 400 organizations, 2) at the federal, provincial, territorial, and local levels, where the number of employees swells to 1 million, or 3) if also counting employees of hospitals, health care facilities, schools, etc. that are owned by these levels of government, the number of employees grows even further to approximately 3 million.
15. What is a crown corporation? Describe some examples.
Crown corporations are organizations that perform commercial functions at “arm’s length” from the government. Brooks explains that there are 43 such crown corporations in Canada, the largest of which is Canada post with 60,000 employees.
Essay Questions
1. In the textbook, Brooks suggests that Canadians are open to the idea that the sovereignty of the nation-state should not be regarded as sacrosanct. Would you agree with those who argue that a nation-state’s sovereignty should not be seen as sacrosanct? What might be gained and what might be lost if this view became widely accepted by citizens of many countries?
You can begin by talking about the odds of this happening. You can research the origins of the idea of the nation-state. You can focus on Canada and what it might mean, how governance would occur, the possible diminution of citizen control of their governments, how multinational corporations would be regulated, the impact on citizens’ sense of attachment to their country, the possibility of less inter-ethnic strife, and the possibility of a more equitable distribution of income throughout the globe.
2. Does the idea of a strong state appeal to you or would you prefer one that purposely sought to minimize its involvement in Canadian life?
You can begin by defining the terms, “state” and “strong state,” and then talk about the benefits it might bring. Then you can identify the drawbacks and dangers. You can also make some assessment about the strength of the Canadian state.
3. Do you think that it is a positive move for the Government of Canada to insure its agencies, departments, and Crown corporations continue in the effort to make the country’s bureaucracy more representative of Canadian citizens?
To answer this question, you can start by analyzing the federal government’s programs intended to improve the representativeness of the public service in Canada. It may be interesting to examine how other states have dealt with the issue, particularly the efforts of the American government on this issue. It may also be beneficial to examine the positive and negative effects of bringing forward “affirmative action” programs intended to better include all Canadians in the public service.
4. How has the size and functions of Canadian government employment changed over time? Why are there gaps in the information surrounding this?
You may choose to look at a number of different ways employment in the public sector or, more specifically, public service and other sections of the Canadian government have changed over time, as outlined throughout the chapter. For example, since 1900, there has been overall growth in the number of employees, an increase in spending, and an expansion of the number of departments, their scope, and expertise required. There are gaps in information surrounding Government of Canada employment because, Brooks says, there was no information kept prior to 1900 and an organizational chart only came into place with the Financial Administration Act (1951).
5. What ought to be the limits of a public service employee’s right to criticize the government that they work for on social media. What have various actors already said about this?
Your answer will vary based on what you believe this role ought to be. Brooks lists a number of different opinions on the topic. In the case of Tony Turner’s Harperman video on YouTube in 2015, Turner retired before any decision could be rendered on the matter. However, PSAC, the largest union of public service employees, has commented on social media protocol for bureaucrats. They note that with social media, bureaucrats are subject to the same protections as other forms of political expression, but may not be Charter-protected if, for instance, they shared such sentiment during work hours or used a government device (phone, computer, etc.) to do so. PSAC also advises that employees do not criticize policies directly related to their work.