Thousands of these decisions are made every day. Proposals that require new or additional government, acquiring experience in a number of departments
Although the program was designed to acquaint colleagues from Ukraine with the inner workings of the Canadian system of government, we believe it is a very
useful resource for those interested in how government works. It is a concise window on the institutions, processes and players involved in decision-making in
Canada.
Cabinet documents are designated ‘secret’ and are circulated on a strictly need to-know basis, usually to Ministers and their deputies, PCO and PMO senior officials.
The sensitivity of these documents makes it necessary to control access and track their every movement. Consequently, every Cabinet document is assigned a barcode
and entered into a computerised database. Since thousands of such documents are in circulation at a time, a robust system is required to manage them. In 1999, the Unit managed 129,000 documents, distributed to 95 offices (27 Ministers, 9 Secretaries of State, 24 Deputy Ministers, 27 at PCO, 3 at PMO, 5 agencies or other). Departments are audited to ensure that proper safeguards are taken to protect and keep track of the documents
The Government Communication section at PCO works closely with officials in the PMO. There are approximately 1,500 people involved in communications in the
government, though this secretariat in PCO employs only about 30. $250 million are spent on communications each year across government. There are a number of
functions that this PCO secretariat oversees in relation to the government’s communication and consultation plans.
Ms. Spencer’s Secretariat supports the Clerk of the Privy Council and the Prime Minister on appointments (selection, evaluation, compensation, etc.). In Canada, the
highest level of appointments are called ‘Order in Council’ (OIC) appointments.
These appointments are made formally by the Governor General on advice of the Prime Minister. In reality, they are the prerogative of the Prime Minister, who may or
may not accept the advice of Ministers. OIC appointees include Deputy Ministers, the heads of 148 agencies, commissions or boards, 25 administrative tribunals (quasijudicial bodies) and 42 Crown Corporations. There are approximately 2,500 positions,
of which 80% are part-time appointments (paid a perdiem or retainer).
The Department of Justice employs 2000 people, half of whom are lawyers and the other who provide support and research.
The Department of Justice drafters draft 60-70 bills a year. Of these, 25% are new laws and 75% are amendments to existing legislation. The timeframes vary, and are
set by the Minister and political factors.
An important part of the office’s work is tracking changes made to legislation once it has been tabled in Parliament. They track these changes and make the necessary
corrections to the bill. The sector keeps a hard copy of the document, and changes are pasted onto the original. Each act and regulation has a binder where every
revision to the legislation is recorded.
Drafters will refer to this version to ensure that they are using the most current document. The same team of five English-speaking
and five French-speaking editors edit, proofread and revise. In a year, roughly 12,000 pages of regulations and 10,000 to 11,000 pages of acts are reviewed.
The Public Service Commission of Canada finances these programs. But, because the Canadian public service is ageing, even these special development
programs will not generate the quantity of executives required to replace current EXs. Canada faces a crisis: it will be increasingly difficult to replace ageing managers and executives. There are currently
20,000 middle managers that must be prepared to replace executives. On average,
these managers are 42 years old. The average age of the 1,600 Directors is 52.
Public Service Executives
25 Deputy Ministers
175 Assistant Deputy Ministers (EX4-5)
300 Directors General (EX 3)
400 Directors General (EX2)
1,600 Directors (EX1)
20,000 Managers to be trained
One piece of legislation, the Municipal Act, governs all municipal government, no matter a municipality’s size or location. Municipalities are governed by elected
representatives. There are 2,800 such representatives in Ontario. Elections are held province-wide every three years.
(From another site) Texas state agencies make hundreds of decisions every day affecting public health and the environment.
----- Original Message -----To: wddm@world-wide-democracy.netSent: Saturday, June 09, 2007 7:49 AMSubject: Re: [WDDM] Proposal
("turtle" banner was here)
George L. Kokkas
and some comments for WDDM Movement :
