COMPARE AND CONTRAST NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT TO THE EMERGING GOVERNANCE MODEL. WHICH MODEL IS BETTER SUITED TO LEAD CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND WHY?
Category : Public Administration
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE MODEL
Canadian government is considered to have a significant effect on the lives of the people living in the states. The programs, policies and services have been the key aspect for having competitive economy. In addition, the government is the one which are responsible for ensuring the stability of the social and cultural infrastructure of Canada and the well-being of their citizens and communities. Hence, the key issue for the government of Canada is to have a good and effective management to achieve its objective. The goal of this paper is to determine whether the new governance model will be suitable for Canadian public administration or not. This will tend to compare the old and new public management system imposed in the country.
Canadian government implements a constitutional monarchy and recognizes Elizabeth II as the Queen of Canada. On the other hand, it also employs a parliamentary democracy with a federal system of parliamentary government which has strong traditions for democracy. Canada has taken over from Great Britain the principle of what is known as "cabinet government" or "responsible government." This system is the result of a slow historical development. Its beginnings are seen in the seventeenth century ( 115). Like many other British institutions it was gradually developed for reasons of purely practical convenience, and only in the later stages of the historical development do we find the political theory stated in dogmatic form. It has been adopted without substantial alteration by all the autonomous dominions, and is the governing principle in a number of other European countries.
Under this theory executive responsibility is shared by a group of high officials who individually preside over the chief departments of government. They are universally known as "the Cabinet," and are legally described as the "Governor-General in Council," but the formal phrase is never used outside official documents and may be ignored. It hardly need be said that the governor-general does not attend cabinet meetings and has no personal responsibility for their decisions, his duties in this connection being confined to signing the documents which are presented to him ( 43).
The largest organisation in Canada is its Government. The government of Canada is considered to have more than four times larger than the next largest employer and hake seven times more revenue than the next largest corporation in the country. The government of Canada initiates 1,600 programs and 2000 points of supports and services in the national and international environment. It plays a significant role in supporting international trade and security ( 148), in protecting the natural resources, regulating and overseeing commerce and in enhancing the stability of social safety systems. All in all, the major role of the Canadian government is to ensure that the Canadians will have social, cultural and economic well-being. The Government of Canada has been supported by 450, 000 federal public sectors employees including the civil servants, members of the military and the RCMP offices. These employees are dedicated in protecting the interests and values of the nation, specifically their people. In addition, the employees also ensure that they provide quality service for the Canadians.
It is noted that the federal public servants of Canada come from every region of the nation. These employees embrace the diversity in Canada and have been able to contribute to the quality of life that Canadian enjoys. However, in spite of this the current government of Canada is facing new challenges in this particular period. Because of the emergence of information revolution, globalization, increased scrutiny and greater demand for openness, the government of Canada are facing pressures to strengthen its accountability, demonstrate results, enhanced transparency, and management across public sector and show value-for-money among Canadians. Hence, the realization of the members of the government is now trying to develop new governance which will adhere to the needs of the whole nation ( 84).
The conventional structure of the Canadian government is now ineffective in adhering to the needs of the public. The programs and services initiated by one sector of the government are sometimes not integrated with other sectors. Such problem makes it harder for government to respond to the changing needs because the human, program and financial resources are locked-in to structured defined by the home organization. In this manner, the result is that the public sector is facing greater challenges in terms of its ability to meet the expectations of the public for having quality service, openness and accountability within the Canadian resources.
There is a need to make a better utilisation of new information and communication technology to enhance decision-making, focus on citizen-driven service delivery and responding to changes. With this, the Canada is facing a transformative moment in terms of public sector management. To be able to meet this challenge and to have the assurance that Canada will be able to initiate an effective management required to established a strong economy, social foundations and secure Canada’s position in the world. The Canadian has been able to transform its government and use a new governance model to be followed. In this manner, the government has worked efficiently since it came to office last December 12, 2003 to initiate a far-reaching program which enhances the strength of the public sector management within the country.
The changes for the Government of Canada includes comprehensive measures to enhances the stability of comptrollership and oversight, review the government practices and modernize management practices, ensure accountability, good governance, transparency and enhanced role for parliament and to build capacity across the federal public service (10).
Further, the new governance model gives focused on five key priorities for Canadians. These include the cleaning up government by initializing the Federal Accountability Act, protection of the Canadian families as well as communities by improved justice system, delivering the health care Canadian need by addressing the fiscal imbalance and creating a patient wait times guarantee with the provinces. It also include the support that will be given to the parents for child care choices by giving direct assistance or by establishing more daycare spaces and by lowering the taxes for taxes. Accordingly, if the government officials will effectively implement such new governance model, Canada may be able to strengthen its position the world.
Being able to realise the shortcomings of the old public management approach in Canada, it can be said that the New Governance model has a potential for enhancing the management efficacy within public sector of Canada. The main goal of a nation is to impose a government which will meet the needs and expectations not only the people within the nation but also in the outside environment. I can say that I will choose to use the new governance model to ensure that Canada will be able to meet the challenges of globalization and other significant factors that may affect the delivery of the quality service among Canadian.
With the objective of the Canadians of achieving good governance, I can say that the new government model is the most suitable approach in the public administration and public management. Through this, Canadian will have the assurance that their government and public administration are being managed effectively for the betterment of the whole nation. Through the new government model, it can guarantee a quality public sector management which will reflect the effectiveness of the Parliament as well as the quality of the federal public service. Furthermore, through this new government model, the government departments will certainly assure that the information will be disseminated properly in all levels. With the features and objectives of the new government model, I can say that Canada will not only enhance the capability of the public sector but also the capability of the nation to have a place and be recognized in the world.
The main purpose of this report is to analyse whether Canada should apply the new government model or not. Analysis shows that because of the challenges of different factors (globalization, information technology); the traditional public sector management is faced with greater challenges. With this, Canadian government tried to solve such problem by imposing a new model for managing the public sector. The new model focuses on enhancing the management ability of the Government of Canada to ensure quality service delivery and quality nation. It can be concluded that the new model will be a big help for the country and I recommend that Canada should continue to impose the new model for public sector management.
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