Politics and Administration. Review
Recently, the federal government implemented a new approach to awarding large shipbuilding contracts. This approach was ostensibly designed to remove politics from decisions, and ensure that the decisions were made in the best interests of Canada as a whole. You can read more about the new process here: http://www(dot)tpsgc-pwgsc(dot)gc(dot)ca/app-acq/sam-mps/snacn-nsps-eng.html Some, including Donald Savoie, have argued that this new model represents a threat to our system of accountability. http://www(dot)theglobeandmail(dot)com/news/opinions/opinion/procurement-politics-the-ship-stops-here/article2208430/ You can read my colleague, Dr. Cosmo Howard's, take here: http://www(dot)theglobeandmail(dot)com/news/politics/under-harper-its-tight-lips-that-build-ships/article2212048/ What impact do you think this process has had on our system of public accountability? In 500 words, outline your views, making reference to the readings above. What we are looking for here are your comments on a specific 'case study' of how a new approach to government financial management may - or may not -be working. You can agree or disagree with this new approach, but do so on the basis of what you have learned in chapters 19 & 20 of the text, the Instructor's Notes, and the insights into the complexities of public administration you have gained from other Units in the course.
Politics and Administration
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Separating politics from the administrative roles of the government official is a tough call to say the least. This is not to imply that the idea of separating the political influences from the ship building contracts awards is not a good step in the right direction, it is ill informed at the moment given that there is very little information on the accountability of the same (Barker & Kernaghan, 2007). It is very crucial to note that, if the process is discovered to be flawed sometime in the future, there is not a clear view of who should be responsible. We also have to consider the issue of the powers of the prime ministers, as they can fire the deputy ministers any moment. This would also mean that the deputy ministers are not necessarily free from the political influence as the prime minister would still have the powers to pull strings on them.
It should not be forgotten that, most of the major decisions that are made in the country are motivated by the politicians and it wou...