The Committee on Public Administration: ten years of continuity and progress.

• Author: Ford, Nancy

The Quebec Committee on Public Administration was created on April 10, 1997, on an experimental basis, and received permanent status five months later following amendments to the Standing Orders. Henceforth, this new Committee would hear the Auditor General concerning his annual report and, in the presence of the deputy ministers and the chief executive officers of public bodies, would examine the various matters raised in this report. The Public Administration Act, passed in 2000, established new mechanisms for accountability within the framework of a results-based management policy, conferring an important role to this Committee. This article looks at the work of this committee over the last decade.

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Sponsored by Henri-Francois Gautrin, a Government MNA, the Act respecting the accountability of deputy ministers and chief executive officers of public bodies underwent lengthy consideration before finally being passed and receiving royal assent in 1993. In effect, the passage of this Act led to making senior public servants responsible for their administration and enabled parliamentary committees to summon them for the purpose of discussing their management. At the time, the carrying out of this task was given to the sectoral committees according to their respective fields of competence. However, this legislative initiative would serve as prelude to the establishment of a standing parliamentary committee whose mission would be centered exclusively on the control of the government administration.

Responsibilities of the Committee

The Standing Orders of the National Assembly attribute three main functions to the Committee.

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Examination of the financial commitments of the Ministries

The Committee must examine all financial commitments equal to or exceeding $25,000 of all ministries and government agencies whose estimates have been approved by the National Assembly. The purpose of this exercise is to ensure a constant surveillance by Parliament of government expenditure, more specifically as regards the compliance with rules and regulations pertaining to the allocation of contracts and grants.

The work load is considerable, given that it represents an average of 20,000 financial commitments per year. In order to fulfill its obligations, the Committee had to seek new ways of functioning.

Traditionally, a sitting to examine financial commitments always called for the presence of the minister responsible within the framework of a public hearing. However, in March 2004, in an effort to clear its backlog and make this exercise more efficient, the Committee substantially revised its operating procedures and working tools. On an almost monthly basis, the Committee now holds a deliberative meeting to examine recent financial commitments. Thereafter, it sends its written requests for supplementary information to the ministries concerned. The hearing of a minister is not excluded from the verification process, but the Committee will resort to it only if the information obtained is insufficient or if the situation warrants a hearing. More recently, in order to reinforce the administrative responsibility which lies with the upper-level management of ministries and agencies, the Committee has opted for meetings with the deputy ministers and chairs of organizations, rather than with ministers, during the process of examining financial commitments.

Hearing the...