Administrative Reform and Political Control in Canada

Abstract

The federal and provincial governments elected in Canada over the last ten years have defeated their opponents in promising to manage government in a more productive manner, especially through the intro duction of businesslike managerial practices. After a first series of across the board cuts in the operational expenditures of the governmental departments and agencies, they have undertaken very significant manage rial reforms, especially at the federal level. These initiatives have gener ated important savings in the operational budgets of the government departments and agencies. However, any significant additional productiv ity improvement is likely to require substantive information on programs that central decision-making arrangements such as the federal and provin cial treasury boards are not likely to obtain. Finally, the productivity gains to be expected from the introduction of businesslike managerial practices in government are likely to reach, in a short while, their threshold of decreasing marginal returns in a context where governments have already privatized or employed user charges wherever government services had a market.