Ministerial Accountability - part 2

I've been thinking some more on the issue of Ministerial Accountability as a result of the fallout of the eHealth debacle in Ontario and past issues in other governments across Canada that resulted in the resignation of a Minister as a result of what is in fact an administrative matter.

There has been quite a lot written on ministerial accountability and ministerial responsibility. One of Canada's preeminent scholars, Donald Savoie, has written on this topic. In his recent book Court Government and the Collapse of Accountability in Canada and the United Kingdom (published as part of the IPAC Series in Public Management and Governance), Mr. Savoie writes about ministerial accountability and responsibility. He writes about the UK model, where "under the Minister, the head of the department, as the Accounting Officer, is also personally responsible and accountable to Parliament for the management and organisation of the department..." I would encourage anyone interested in learning more about this topic to read Mr. Savoie's book. (IPAC members get a 20% discount on these books - order here).

Another interesting read is the report from the Library of Parliament entitled"The Accountability of Deputy Ministers before Parliament"(March 2006). This short paper succinctly lays out the history and evolution of accountability of Deputy Ministers for the administration of their department as well as the concept of Ministerial Accountability. The paper provides a background on the role of the Deputy Minister at the Federal level and the debate about her/his accountability. The Lambert Commission (1979) recommended that the Deputy be clearly accountable for the administration of the department. The McGrath Commission (1986) echoed this recommendation.

It is only logical that the permanent public service be held accountable for the operational/administrative functioning of their department or agency. After all, they are the experts in terms of administration. A Minister often does not even have the subject matter background in the portfolio that has been entrusted to them. They rely on the professional public service and their Deputy Minister for advise on how best to implement their political direction. I believe that there is a need to clarify the roles of the Minister and Deputy Minister to ensure clear accountability.