Organizing to govern: getting the basics right

The Canadian government is unable to perform its primary responsibility of allocating scarce resources among the countless needs and desires of its citizenship in a comprehensive, coherent and timely fashion. This inadequacy is due largely to the fragmentation of key decision points that inevitably arises from having excessive ministerial posts. The involvement of too many people in a decision-making process, 39 cabinet ministers and 32 departments as of Dec 1992, only breeds compromises which ultimately lead to unfavorable solutions. To address this problem, the Canadian government should re-establish a strong decision-making system that concentrates authority and power in less government departments. It should have the resolve to fulfill this responsibility because forces that are aligned with the status quo are out to defend their current positions.
During my 32 years in the federal public service, I observed, criticized and ultimately participated in the process of changing, fracturing and re-arranging the structure of government. The conclusions I [...]