Running head: THE POLITICS OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT 1
The Politics of Public Management: The HRDC Audit of Grants and Contributions
Book Review
Charmaine Barton
Dr. Collette Oseen
August 15, 2014
THE POLITICS OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT 2
The Politics of Public Management: The HRDC Audit of Grants and Contributions
By: David A. Good
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003
Pp. xviii, 240. $34.95
0 8020 8587 3
In The Politics of Public Management, David A. Good, academic and public
administrator of thirty years, skillfully describes the sphere of the “Billion Dollar Boondoggle”
scandal that plagued Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) in 2000. Though more
than ten years has passed since the audit, this case study is still relevant as the author describes
how the public service (PS) works and the relationships between the PS, government, opposition,
media and the public. The overarching theme is that of “balance.” Good achieves his own
balance within the book by not casting it as an apologia for himself (Assistant Deputy Minister
in charge of grants and contributions during the audit) or the department; instead he positions
himself, and thus the reader, at various locations in the sphere of the HRDC audit and “looks” all
over the place to define and challenge the “truth” of what is represented by that location. The
book achieves the result of focusing on “the roles and relations among the players” (p. xvi) and
explains in clear language how and where balance could have been better achieved.
By “Looking Underneath,” Good introduces the reader to the general workings of the PS
and how, on any given day, PS employees must juggle competing priorities that, normally, seem
contradictory. Then in “Looking Back” at the history of PS reform Good describes how the
HRDC department was created, manned and functioned in the 1990s leading up to the internal
audit release in January 2000.
Good then repositions so as to be on the “Outside Looking In,” like the national media,
who informed and framed the public’s opinion. The author explains the “distorted mirror theory”
(p. 61) and how an aggressive and competitive media (electronic and print), not only reported the
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news, but in some cases appeared to create the news that became the lasting impression of the
public. Without “naming names” Good follows the media from the “bang” of “One Billion
Dollars Lost” (p. 64) to the “dying whimper” of overpayments of $85, 000. From twenty second
sound bites to 750 word articles the media, who had set themselves up as “the Official
Opposition” (p. 162), used the billion dollars as a starting point and then appeared to go on a
“witch hunt” that Good follows and describes for the reader.
From the “Inside Looking Out,” Good describes how the internal (file review) audit was
created; who knew what when; and how the department planned to respond. For everyone in the
department, the decision by the Minister to publicly release an internal audit was considered
“business as usual.” The sudden and precipitous fall into “crisis” mode is clearly described and
the “good, bad and the ugly” of the situation are described in language that is easily understood.
Good further describes “the pendulum” swing from decentralized decision-making authority
(based on service quality and less red tape, a characteristic of new public management [NPM])
violently back to bureaucratic “command and control” paperwork (1,800 data boxes on 24 forms,
where some of the data boxes linked to multi-page reports) (p. 117).
In “Looking Closer” at the audit and the resultant crisis, Good walks the reader through
the “Billion Dollar Job Fund” that never existed. He explains the workings of the“Transitional
Job Fund” and the “Canada Job Fund,” as well as public-private partnerships, devolution of
authority to the provinces, the “advisory role” of Members of Parliament, and the program
architecture (framework). The notion of “accountability,” is quickly discussed because as Good
states “[i]n short, accountability was confused and accountability looked confused” (p. 148).
Good then floats through the sphere while “Looking Around” at the impact of the
“Canadian model” of NPM and its effects on accountability in greater depth. Like the Savoie/
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Borins debate of the early 1990s, accountability became the central and pivotal point of the
HRDC audit scandal. The “Canadian model” of NPM has not down-played or ousted the
traditional Westminster style of accountability to, from, or by the Minister, instead NPM “has
made accountability increasingly more complex and more confusing” (p. 163).
Finally, in “Looking Forward” Good calls for “[m]odest changes and adjustments by
everyone [that] can lead to important improvements for all” (p. 207). Balance must be achieved
between all of the players in the audit scandal: the PS, government, opposition, media and
public. It is at this time that the secondary theme of “education,” that is skillfully and subtly
woven into the background, becomes more explicit. Each player must learn more about the other
sectors so they can mutually support, defend and “look out for the interests of [the] others” (p.
183). Specifically, Good addresses the “language barrier” that started the whole scandal: audit.
An audit, is an audit, is not necessarily a bookkeeping exercise. The language of the PS must
become more publicly known so that everyone, including the PS itself realizes that it cannot
fulfill one hundred per cent of the expectations of the other parties involved all the time (p. 197).
Though not a space opera “romp through the stars,” Good’s travel through the sphere of
the HRDC audit, and his central theme of balance, kept injecting pictures of team rhythmic
gymnastics into my mind. The delicate turn of a wrist that sends meters of ribbon into
convoluted contortions; synchronistic volleyball bumps that purposefully sends three balls into
wild gyrations; and the possible tragedy if ball and ribbon intersect. Like a rhythmic gymnastics
team during competition, the PS is watched by the coach and choreographer (government and
Minister), the judges (academics), the sports media (political reporters) and the audience
(public). During most routines things are … routine. But what happens when the ribbon is not
twisted enough, or a ball is bumped to hard? The team receives a “failing” mark from the judges.
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The coach and choreographer are stunned and scramble to “fix things.” The sports media swoops
in to ask “what happened,” “who’s accountable,” and “will heads roll?” The audience rushes
home to get their understanding of how the routine turned into disaster from a twenty second
sound bite. In the end, it all comes down to a lack of balance and lack of practice (education); not
very different from the HRDC scandal.
Good’s prose does an admirable job of describing how the “routine” became a “crisis.”
Yet, I was left wondering, as I do after seeing a gymnastics disaster; “why don’t they ask the
gymnast what happened?” Good stated on page xvii that he had received many comments and
critiques on the book “from current public servants ranging from front-line employees, middle
managers …” and others. But in reading the book and notes, I could not find one citation that
was specifically attributed to a front-line employee. I have mixed feelings on this lack of
information. Part of me believes that is a case of a senior government executive who believes
that his point of view is shared by all levels of the department; whether that is true or not is
another question. Another part believes that this lack is because of the structure of the case study
and a lack of “word space” to include these findings. Yet another part believes that the lack of
front-line employee information is “okay” since it would not add to the knowledge base for
“serious” academics. Being a federal PS employee, I cannot say which “feeling” is correct; but I
do feel this lack is a weakness.
Despite any perceived weakness, The Politics of Public Management is a strong case
study that is still as relevant today as it was in 2003 when it was published. I would recommend
that students and practitioners of public administration/management, and budding politicians,
read the entire book. As well, students and practitioners of journalism, accounting, auditing, as
well as private-sector partners with government should read the Introduction, Chapters One and
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Two and then their respective chapters (detailed Contents page) a read, at a minimum. For
general readers, my advice would be to read the entire book. Why? If Team Canada wants to try
and win a “gold medal for governance” we need to have national conversations at Timmy’s,
Robin’s, Husky’s, Irving’s and at the water cooler. This book provides many thoughtful
questions that need to be answered before we can go for the gold in the twenty-first century.
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