The Executive

Executive Government in Canada: Cabinet Committees

In responding to the challenges of governing in a modern society, Prime Ministers have utilized committees of Ministers to maintain the effectiveness of the Cabinet as a decision-making forum. These committees operate as an extension of the Cabinet to examine specific issues in detail and to make recommendations for final decision by the Cabinet as a whole. The Prime Minister decides the composition, organization, and methods of operation of the Cabinet and the committees of Cabinet.

Decision-making under Mackenzie King largely followed the oral tradition. Proposals went first to full cabinet; only if disagreement resulted were they referred to the usually ad hoc committees. Interdepartmental committees of officials were prevalent. These features persisted under prime ministers St-Laurent? and Diefenbaker, although under them decision-making centred more in the prime minister than before. Under Pearson, efforts were made to develop the cabinet committee system and to require advance notice and documentation before items appeared on the agenda.

Liberal Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau implemented an elaborate system of Cabinet committees. The Trudeau cabinet has been characterized by the application of the principle of collegiality. Detailed scrutiny of proposals was the rule. Documentation included full discussion of alternatives, of financial and federal-provincial implications, and of caucus consultations. Generally, proposals went first to committee. An important innovation was the priorities exercise, which, contrary to the usual process, established a general course to be implemented subsequently by particular proposals.

The Trudeau approach required ministers as never before to become knowledgeable about their own and other departments. The result was less dependence on civil servants for policy guidance. It is erroneous to view this reinforcement of collective responsibility as centralization of power in the prime minister’s hands. The results of this were mixed. For example, foreign policy was brought into a much more interdepartmental context. Interdepartmental consultation greatly increased, especially in areas that may have had important international dimensions but were also of great significance domestically, such as the environment. The department found it difficult to adjust to this system, and annoyed the Prime Minister by being too slow and too wordy in the documentation it submitted to him.

When Kim Campbell became Conservative prime minister in 1993, following Brian Mulroney, she reduced the number of committees from 11 to five. After Jean Chrétien replaced Ms. Campbell with a majority government in the 1993 election, however, he did not increase the number of committees to make a return to the larger structure Pierre Trudeau had used. Instead, Mr. Chrétien kept them at four, eliminating the Priorities and Planning Committee.

Current Prime Minister Harper's Cabinet structure includes six committees under the full Cabinet. These are: the Priorities and Planning Committee; the Operations Committee; the Social Affairs Committee; the Economic Affairs Committee; the Foreign Affairs and National Security Committee; and Treasury Board. Two of them, the Priorities and Planning and Operations committees, are executive, which act as filters for proposals and decisions before they move up to the full Cabinet. The Priorities and Planning, chaired by Mr. Harper, provides strategic direction on the government's priorities and the Operations Committee discusses communications, House planning and the government's day-to-day agenda. The other four committees, the Treasury Board, Social Affairs, Economic Affairs, and Foreign Affairs and National Security, are lower committees where ideas are initially discussed.

Cabinet committee structures can reflect styles of governing, and Mr. Harper's trimmed-down Cabinet structure can allow for further control from within the Prime Minister's Office.

Treasury Board

The Treasury Board is the only statutory committee of Cabinet (thus formally a Privy Council committee), and was created in 1867. The president of the Treasury Board chairs a board which comprises the finance minister and 4 other ministers appointed by the governor-in-council. The board is served by a central agency, the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), under the direction of the President, its ministerial head. The TBS is responsible for preparing recommendations to Cabinet on the selection of programs and appropriate allocation of funds; administrative policy for financial management in the public administration and for matters related to personnel, office space, supply and contracts for service; and government negotiations in collective bargaining arrangements with public service unions and associations. In 1978 the addition of the office of comptroller general, with special responsibility for upgrading the quality of financial administration and program evaluation, enlarged the board's role as controller of the expenditure budget.

---

Related Links

• List of Current Cabinet Committees