GOVERNANCE PROCESSES

In March 2009, and thanks to the collaboration of the Quebec Ministère du Conseil exécutif (Executive Council Office) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the members of the network of government secretariats (an association of the representatives of the provincial Executive Council Offices and Premiers' Offices) were invited to fill out a monograph on the subject of the organization of the core executive and the process of governance. The data, which were gathered in summer 2009, covered such topics as: 

• the budget and staff of Executive Council support organizations; 
• central ministries; 
• ministerial committees; 
• cross-ministerial rules framing governance-related operations;
• executive council operating rules;
• relations between political and administrative leaders.

Partial data concerning the federal government are presented in order to highlight the differences and similarities between levels of government. It nevertheless remains that the provincial levels remains the main focus of the comparative analysis.

The data thus compiled have been used to describe and compare the modes of organization and the practices of the core executive. A focus of analysis consisted in determining whether a phenomenon similar to the centralization of powers by the Federal Prime Minister can be seen occurring at the provincial level. To that end, ten comparison tables were developed on the basis of the monographs to deal with: 

• the operating rules and procedures of the Executive Council, coupled with ministerial committees; 
• the organization and size of central ministries and agencies; 
• senior public servants and the relations between political and administrative leaders.

Download the final report concerning the core executive in Canada