Governments Come and Go, But What of Senior Civil Servants? Canadian Deputy Ministers and Transitions in Power (1867–1987)

Political‐Administrative Relations: Impact of and Puzzles in Aberbach, Putnam, and Rockman, 1981

“…The degree of politicization depends more upon institutional factors as countries in the Westminster tradition show. For example, the ideological closeness between parties and the low number of political transitions keep Canadian deputy ministers from being politicized (Bourgault and Dion 1989, 139–140). The Belgian bureaucracy is an interesting case.…”

“…Next to these two special issues, several articles have been published since 1988 that explicitly revisit elements of the APR study (Aberbach et al. 1990, comparing United States and Germany; Bourgault and Dion 1989, 1993, on Canada; Campbell 1988, on Image IV in various countries; Genieys 2005, on France; Gregory 1991, on Australia and New Zealand; Hacek 2006, on Slovenia; Hart and Wille 2006, on the Netherlands; Mayntz and Derlien 1989, on Germany) 13…”

Les transitions de gouvernement et la théorie des conflits: Le cas de la transition de 1984 au gouvernement du Canada

“…La premikre stratkgie de pouvoir est la stratkgie du placement de ses pions pour remplacer les gens dont on ne peut pdvoir le comportement. Ainsi donc, on enlke le pouvoir B certains et on le distribue A d'autres : le jeu de chaises musicales, typique lors des changements de gouvernements (Bourgault & Dion, 1989b), h t pratiquk lors des trois remaniements majeurs de la haute fonction publique fMkrale ainsi que lors des nominations a la direction des grandes agences gouvernementales. La deuxi6me stratkgie de pouvoir consiste A niveler les r6les par l'kgalisation des symboles de pouvoir.…”

Minority government and senior government officials: the case of the Canadian federal government

“…When politicians come to power, they often tend to view the senior officials inherited from the previous government with suspicion (Bourgault & Dion, 1989). Their level of distrust may be more acute in a minority government or coalition situation, which can be expected to present low levels of compromise and uncertain stability (Marchildon, 2010: 14).…”

“…Clearly, this situation demands discipline within the governing party and Cabinet, as well as readiness to listen on the part of the PM. Senior civil servants are often regarded with suspicion (MacDonald, 1980;Bourgault & Dion, 1989) and it can be tricky for them to inform the political leadership of potential implementation problems with apparently popular initiatives, unless they can also offer solutions at the same time (Good, 2004). Nevertheless, one experienced DM from the 1970s did recommend candour (Hodgson, 1976: 233).…”