Ontario

Review of Public Administration

Study Visits

Study visit to Ontario, Canada

Background

Canada is a decentralised federation with three levels of government: Federal; Provincial; and Municipal. The Canadian constitution separates the powers between federal and provincial government. The federation comprises 10 provinces and 3 territories, each with its own constitution, the ability to raise taxes, borrow money, and legislative powers. It operates a parliamentary system with strong executives at both federal and provincial levels, but no formal role for the provinces within the federal parliament. Municipalities are not recognised as a separate "order of government" – they come under the provincial jurisdiction.

The responsibilities that fall to each level include the following:

Federal Canada	Provincial Ontario	Local City of Toronto
Immigration National defence Multicultural Unemployment insurance Food & Drug Admin Airports & National Highways Environment Cda Federal Justice Economic Development	Education Healthcare Social Services Prov. Justice Natural Resources Labour relations Environ. & Energy Drivers’ Licensing Consumer Protect. Birth & Death data Provincial H’ways Agriculture Devl’t Parks and Econ. Development	Solid waste collection, disposal and recycling Water and sewer services Emergency services (Fire, Police, and Ambulance) Local Roads Public Transit Local School Boards Public Libraries Economic development Parks and Recreation Arts, culture, and heritage City planning and development (licensing, bylaw enforcement, planning and development) Social and health services (welfare, homes for aged, childcare, hostels, supportive housing, and public health)

Federal government

The Prime Minister of Canada (the leader of the largest party elected to the federal Parliament) appoints the cabinet assigning portfolios to ministers. He/she also appoints deputy ministers (the most senior public servant in charge of each ministry). These public servants serve "at pleasure" and can be dismissed or moved by the Prime Minister at any time. Below this level public servants are politically neutral, permanent appointments.

Deputy ministers (DMs) are also accountable to the Clerk of the Privy Council (the senior DM), to the Public Service Commission, and to Treasury Board for carrying out authorities delegated to them under various Acts. They are also responsible for managing their departments in accordance with principles laid down by the Access to Information and Privacy Acts (ATIP), the Official Languages Commission, and the many other agencies, offices and commissions that have a say in the conduct of government business.

Deputies frequently take on special, corporate tasks above and beyond their departmental duties either in the form of Deputy Ministers’ Task Forces, COSO sub-committees (Committee of Senior Officials) or other assignments designated by the Clerk of the Privy Council.

The Parliament consists of 301 elected members in the House of Commons.. Elections are normally held every five years. An appointed Senate of 105 members also has a revising and investigative role.

The number of departments and agencies in the federal government fluctuates largely at the will of the Prime Minister, although changes do require the consent of Parliament. Federal organizations range in size from 5 people (Civil Aviation Tribunal) to over 40,000 (Canada Customs and Revenue Agency). As of 1997, federal employees made up 33.2% of all government employees in Canada (provincial governments accounted for 30.1% and local governments for 36.7%). About 60% of public servants work in a few large departments and agencies: Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Human Resources Development, National Defence, Correctional Services, Public Works & Government Services, Fisheries & Oceans and Transport. In total, there are just over 20 operating departments and more than 100 other organizational entities.

There are also 44 Crown Corporations. Many of these are not funded from public funds, they raise their own revenues (e.g. the Post office). The Financial Administration Act lays down accountability for Crown Corporations. They are controlled by the Federal Government through the approval and monitoring of performance against business plans. They are set up like private sector corporations, but the boards are entirely composed of Ministerial appointees (approved by the Cabinet).

The Prime Minister has primary responsibility for the management of the federation. Supported by a minister for Intergovernmental Affairs and the Privy Council Office, contacts with the provinces are through both formal and informal channels. One formal mechanism for dialogue with provincial governments is First Ministers’ meetings. These may be convened by the Prime Minister from time to time, but the frequency with which they occur is entirely dependent upon the Prime Minister.

Much intergovernmental work is taken forward through sectoral ministerial councils (e.g. meetings of federal and provincial ministers of agriculture, or health). Contacts between officials are more regular. There are also arrangements for working in formal partnerships with Provincial and Municipal governments on specific issues. Federal government involvement is a visibility issue, as the federal Government can be seen as relatively far removed from the citizens. The partnerships are managed through intergovernmental committees.

Provincial government

The Province of Ontario joined the confederation in 1867. It has a population of 12m, which represents 37.8% of the total population of Canada. Ontario has 40% of Canada’s GDP, is Canada’s business and financial centre and is the United States’ third largest trading partner. The Provincial Government has an independent constitutional basis of authority with few constrains on spending, taxation and the ability to borrow. It also has separate executive and legislative powers.

Government is organised at the provincial level along much the same lines as the Federal Government. The head of the government, the Premier, heads a cabinet of ministers he/she appoints. There are three branches of government: the Executive, the Legislative branch, and the Judicial branch.

As with the Federal Government, the fundamental principles of this cabinet model are that cabinet ministers are responsible and accountable for what happens in their ministries, accountable to both the Premier and the Legislature. Collective responsibility operates within the cabinet – decisions are consensual, there are no votes, and decisions are communicated as "Cabinet decisions". Cabinet ministers also have individual responsibility for their ministries and specific legislation, and are guided by conflict of interest guidelines.

Deputy Ministers are full-time public servants appointed by the Premier and they serve "at pleasure". They assist the minister in managing the ministry and are responsible for ministry administration. They report to the Premier through the Secretary to the Cabinet.

Below this level, public servants are politically neutral, providing public policy advice. Ministers’ offices, however, are staffed entirely by political appointees paid for from allowances given to each minister for that purpose. The Government of Ontario directly employs 61,000 public servants, 10% of the overall workforce (this figure does not include teachers etc. who are employed by local government organisations - Ontario's school boards operate the Province's publicly funded schools, the boards administer the funding they receive from the Province for their schools).

There are 1,800 locations for Provincial Government offices across the Province, and 23 ministries, central agencies and secretariats.

Municipal government

Each province in Canada is split into a number of municipalities that deliver the local level of government. Municipalities are entirely creations of the Province and derive all powers and authority from the Province. They can’t act unless specifically granted the authority to do so by the Provincial Government. In some areas a two-tier system operates with regional councils and municipalities at a lower level within the region. The region provides major services, while the municipality provides services such as leisure, fire, local roads, local development etc. Municipalities are co-terminous with regions, and the mayors of municipalities sit on the regional council.

In 1998 the Province of Ontario reorganised municipal government in the Greater Toronto area creating the new City of Toronto by amalgamating one regional and 6 local governments. The city of Toronto now serves a population of 2.5m people.

The council comprises 44 councillors and one mayor. The councillors are each elected by the residents of a specific ward. Councillors are elected on personal mandates, as the political party system (seen at federal and provincial levels) does not operate at the municipal level (although many councillors will have particular political allegiances). Business within the council relies on horse-trading and the formation of alliances between individuals. These alliances tend to be fluid.

The council operates a committee system. There is considerable competition for membership and chairmanship of committees. Committees consider issues that fall within their remit, and hold hearings for delegations of citizens. All decisions, however, must come to the full council. The councillors have legislative duties (serving on the council and committees; passing by-laws; and setting policies, including the budget), and executive duties (providing oversight of city bureaucracy and appointing senior administrative officials).

The mayor is elected "at large" by all the residents of the city every 3 years and serves on the council and all its committees. He/she recommends appointments to the committees and is the chief representative and spokesperson of the city. The mayoral office is described as "weak" in that the mayor carries no more power or authority than any of the other councillors. Every member of the council, including the mayor, is equal, and this can make decision-making within the council a protracted process.

Councillors and the mayor are full-time, salaried posts. They also receive expenses to maintain constituency offices within the council. Council officials provide support to the council as a whole and its committees, and run the day-to-day operations of the council, providing and managing council services as directed by the council. The chief executive, however, has no authority to take decisions and must seek council’s approval before implementing new policies, programmes or services. This lack of a strong chief administrator post, coupled with the weak mayor system, has meant that council can spend a considerable amount of time debating essentially frivolous issues or prevaricating over important ones.

The City of Toronto also has a system of "community councils" - there is no comparable system elsewhere in Ontario. These are sub-sets of the City council, and can also be described as geographic standing committees although their duties and authorities are different than those of the policy standing committees. They are made up of the City councillors for the wards of a specific geographical area. They consider business of a local nature and provide a forum for local input into council’s decision-making process. They can make recommendations to the City Council on local planning and development issues as well as neighbourhood matters including traffic plans, parking regulations and exemptions to certain by laws. Each community council currently covers several electoral wards with the area having between 300,000 and 6000,000 residents. There is currently a debate as to the number of these councils with suggestions that they would be reduced to four covering larger areas.

Other public services in Ontario are provided outside of local municipal control. Many of these services are delivered by Provincial organisations, but as a result of the reforms over the past number of years many are also delivered through alternative service delivery organisations.

In addition to the responsibilities of local government listed in paragraph 2, the Board of Health, which is a statutory board, reports directly to the City Council. Members are appointed by the Council and include council members and members of the public.

The Council itself also relies on a range of separate agencies, boards and commissions (ABCs) to administer important services. These ABCs range from large institutions that have considerable authority over their own operations (e.g. Toronto Public Library and the Toronto Police Services Board) to other much smaller, advisory bodies that are involved with local projects and facilities. In addition the City of Toronto is the sole, or a major shareholder in a number of corporations that deliver vital municipal services and programmes. Examples are Toronto Hydro and The Toronto Community Housing Corporation.

Transformational change programme in Ontario

The Catalyst for reform of the public service in Ontario was the change of provincial government in 1995. The new government came into power with a major budget deficit to tackle and a vision for improved public services. It provided strong political direction that set in train a major programme of reform across the Ontario public service. This reform involved improving the way government does business, making government more citizen centric, and streamlining and downsizing government to reduce the burden on Ontario taxpayers. The size of the public sector has been dramatically reduced (from over 81,000 in 1995 to 61,000 at present), electronic services have been introduced, and they are working towards integrating services, not just across ministries, but between different tiers of government.

The vision

The Ontario government recognised that the public’s expectations of government are higher than ever. Not only do they want convenient, anytime, anywhere services, they also want greater transparency and involvement in the processes of government. The government’s vision is to increase Ontarian’s satisfaction with government services by being a world leader in electronic service delivery by 2003. By December 2002 over 400 services were available electronically. Innovations in multi-channel (i.e. counter, telephone, and internet) integrated service delivery have provided Ontarians with unprecedented access to routine government transactions. These have been coupled with innovations in the way the public sector works to make public services more efficient and effective.

Ontario’s vision is to be the world leader in providing customers with seamless and speedy access to government information, expertise and processing of routine transactions. The strategy to deliver this vision involves:

building an integrated, cost-effective, customer-driven service delivery system (electronic, telephone and counter) for accessing government services;
work with all ministries to make all appropriate Ontario government services available to customers through the integrated service delivery system (giving priority to providing access to high-demand services through electronic service delivery);
work collaboratively with other levels of government to facilitate seamless, speedy access to all government information and services;
leverage resources of other organisations (e.g. non-profits, private sector)
maximise customer use of the most cost-effective channels through branding, marketing etc.
benchmark and measure performance.

Quality services

The key questions at the start of the change process were:

what are the key roles and responsibilities of government?
what are its core businesses?
what should public servants deliver?
what are the best ways to provide different kinds of services?
what kind of accountability frameworks are necessary?

The secretary to the cabinet set up a restructuring secretariat with a mandate to "review and improve the organisational structures from a customer-centred point of view and built on existing best practices within the Ontario public service".

The change programme that flowed from the government’s vision had a number of closely related elements: the introduction of an integrated service delivery system; an E-government strategy; and a quality service strategy. The quality service strategy is about being clear about the core business of government, and delivering that business in a way that suits the customer. Integrated service delivery is another step in getting officials to think about the way the business is organised and how to meet rising customer expectation, e-government provides greater access for customers and helps with the process of integrating services, but it must all be underpinned by a change in the culture of the organisation to a citizen-centric approach.

Quality service strategy

The first step in the strategy was to focus on defining the core business of government – only do what government needs to do, reduce the core business and focus on quality.

Secondly, know who your customers are and what they want from government services. The Citizen First survey is carried out across Canada every two years and provides useful information on the perspective of the citizen. This regular survey allows changes and the reform agenda to be tracked over time.

This survey produced some interesting results. It showed that the number one driver of satisfaction was timeliness. It also showed that a sizeable proportion of the population (69% of those surveyed) felt that simply knowing where to start was the biggest challenge in getting government services. In terms of patterns of interaction with government, it was found that the majority of people use walk-in or telephone services first.

These results helped identify priorities for the change programme and the quality strategy. Challenges identified were: the need to make government services easier to find and access; provide one-stop –shops; strive for speed and completing service at first contact; and provide choice in channel and more on-line services.

An early achievement in improving ease of access to the government system was the re-writing of the telephone directory (the "blue pages" – the Canadian equivalent of the Yellow pages). All references to "ministry of.." were removed and government contact numbers are now listed under services provided by government, described in a way that is meaningful to the citizen. The only indication of the structure of government is a small letter in the margin (F, P, or M) indicating (for those who might be interested) whether the phone number connects with the federal, provincial or municipal government office. A very simple idea that achieved immediate results in terms of accessibility and customer satisfaction. Converting the old directory that listed ministries, divisions, branches etc., into a list of services and grouping these services (e.g. all services relating to children, regardless of the tier of government providing that service are listed under the heading of "Children’s Services) had its difficulties. Officials were forced to think beyond the organisational structure to the products being delivered by government.

To help drive the reform process the Ontario government published a framework for action each year (there are now six, one for each year of the reform process) setting out the vision, goals and telling the story of the reform process. This was to encourage staff involvement and spark ideas.

A major stand of the quality strategy was the setting of common standards (e.g. for answering phones, dealing with correspondence, and operation of offices interfacing with the public) across the whole of the Ontario Public Service. This meant that public servants had to rethink their ways of working and change from being organised to suit public servants, to being organised to meet the needs of the public. There were significant difficulties to be addressed in implementing these standards, but the process itself brought benefits in increasing the creative thinking of staff.

When looking at the needs and expectations of customers/clients it was found that customers do not distinguish between branches, divisions, departments, ministries or levels of government. Customer satisfaction is dependent on timely service with minimum of "bouncing around". The first point of contact with government by the customer represents "the face of all government". Therefore, the seamless and speedy service being demanded by customers required not only an integrated service delivery approach, but also a change of culture within the public service to a more citizen-centric approach.

Culture change

The key to the successful shift in the culture of the public service was that it was driven from the top. The common standards mentioned above were imposed from the top. Prior to the setting of these standards each individual office set its own hours of operation etc. The citizen would need to check the opening hours of individual offices, and during certain times (e.g. lunchtime) the office might be closed and only an answering service available by phone. The common standards ensured that all government offices had common opening times, that the offices remained open over lunchtimes, and that during office hours a customer on the telephone would always have the option to speaking to someone in person (the "zero-out" option).

Many offices experienced practical difficulties in meeting the set standards. In trying to finds solutions new ways of thinking and working were generated – people had no opt out clause and so were forced to come up with creative solutions. Attitudes changed from being negative and barrier-focused, to being creative and solution focused. As a result new opportunities for co-location of different offices, and sharing of workloads were identified and introduced. Emphasis was placed on practical, low cost, local approaches to achieving the standards.

The Ontarians felt that the key factor in successful change management was to ensure that innovation "sticks" by changing the organisation’s culture so that new processes and methods of working become "simply the way things are done". Some of the tools used to refocus the organisation included the appointment of a quality champion in each senior management team, and the establishment of "communities of interest" – working groups/team organised around common themes/activities, providing opportunities for learning new information/ways of doing things/networking/ problem solving/ disseminating information quickly across the organisation.

Another key to achieving this change of culture was ensuring that the quality service strategy was strategically aligned with key deliverables of the organisation and instilling requirements into the performance management system. Individual performance contracts for senior officials are linked to the achievement of the government’s reform agenda.

Evaluation

Critical to the success of the quality strategy was the measurement of achievement. Evaluation was built into the strategy, and was carried out by independent consultants who tested the standards using a variety of methods (including the "mystery shopper approach"). Different consultants were used, and evaluation is repeated to track improvements. Continuous improvement, and the measurement of that improvement are key elements of the strategy.

Ontario is the only jurisdiction in North America to set common, government-wide standards for transactional services, and to measure the results through independent evaluation.

To date the quality strategy was confined to offices of the Ontario Government, but there are now plans to roll out the standards to all agencies, boards, commissions and third party public service deliverers (including private sector deliverers).

Integrated service delivery

An ambitious integrated service delivery strategy is another major feature of the Ontario reform process. The aim is to produce an "adaptive, cost –effective, customer-centred, multi-channel service delivery system" to provide the citizen with speedy, seamless access to government information, services and products.

How can governments contribute to integrated service delivery?

Define government’s services using common methodologies, tools and terminology to enable common processes, applications and points of service and thereby save time and money
Identify opportunities to integrate services as offices conduct fundamental reviews of programmes
Avoid stand alone service delivery strategies and standards
Avoid repetitive procurement
Use enterprise service management
Use shared infrastructure (technology, bricks & mortar, and people).

One of the key principles employed is the "no wrong door" policy. Whatever channel the citizen chooses to access the government machine is the right door. The onus is on the public servant to ensure the customer gets the service required, therefore the official has to ensure that the referral is to the correct person and the query will be handled without further delay. This principle is built into the common standards mentioned earlier – the customer should expect no more than one referral to reach the appropriate person to handle the query. Again, instilling this approach across the service required the change in organisational culture discussed earlier.

Policy clusters were developed to improve working across ministries – integrated policy & programme and service management. They created a "virtual organisation". Recognising that there were greater efficiencies to be made through horizontal rather than vertical reorganisation, strategies had to be developed to facilitate this. Similar activities in different ministries were identified (e.g. transactions, entitlements, internal support, inspectorate) and horizontal groupings were created to work together and therefore provide a more seamless, integrated service across the administration. Officials remained within their own ministries, but were linked to others doing similar jobs in other ministries, thus creating a virtual organisation. The E-government strategy made this approach possible. Seven clusters have been created, all bar transportation serve more than one minister and promote commonality of use. The clusters are all underpinned by the same quality service principles.

Collaboration – working horizontally within and between governments is essential in an integrated service delivery system. Horizontal working was also shown to produce more efficiencies. Challenges to working horizontally are:

conflicting priorities between organisations
differing resourcing and budgetary processes
complex governance structures
lags in strategic framework development
inadequate enterprise-wide processes, standards and structures
communication dissemination challenges
giving up control
increased complexity
cultural issues – integrating different cultures, attitudes to risk.

Critical success factors

Critical elements in delivering quality services through an integrated service delivery system have been identified by the Ontario Public Service (OPS) as:

involved leadership
customer focus
a system of continuous improvement
benchmarking (against internal, competitors and "the best")
employee satisfaction employee involvement
education and training
communications
extensive metrics, processes, surveys.

E-Government strategy

Ontario’s E-government strategy is an integral part of the overall quality service and integrated service delivery strategies. It provides the technology for the OPS to achieve the necessary innovations to meet the rising expectations of customers. However, while internet use in Ontario is high (70% have access to the internet in their homes, and 50% have broadband, and there are internet access points in all schools and libraries) the public still like human contact, therefore the electronic channel is used to supplement but not replace counter and telephone channels.

It was found that the public mostly use the internet option for information rather than transactions. Businesses are more concerned about transactional services, and for that reason OPS is concentrating on getting transactional services to businesses online first. One of the early innovations is to "bundle" related transactions to the client based on their needs. Another is to streamline business information collection by ministries.

Early service improvements include: internet gateway; internet transactions; internet address change; E-laws; life events information bundles. Key to enhancing public acceptance of electronic services, and dispel any nervousness, was the early introduction of kiosks. These have been located at strategic public places around the province (shopping malls, community centres, inside government offices) and allow the public to make simple transactions (such as notifying government of a change of address, or renewing a driving licence). These have proved very popular and a highly visible success for the government.

Lessons from the Ontario E-government strategy are: design service delivery, IT infrastructure, business models on communities to accommodate customers’ future needs – develop common standards, processes and technology across the whole service.

Human resource issues

Since 1995 the Ontario Public Service has reduced in size by 24% from a high of 81,000 to around 61,000 in 2002. However, only 4,000 staff actually lost their jobs with the other 16,000 transferring to "alternative service delivery organisations". The changes have also resulted in problems ahead. While staff were moved out or made redundant there was also a freeze on recruiting new staff, this has resulted in the age profile of the overall workforce increasing. 55% of employees will be eligible to retire in the next 15 years. If this situation is not addressed urgently this will result in a major skills gap at the centre of government. Already certain skill shortages have been identified (e.g. policy, IT, and communications). With increased competition for skilled knowledge workers within both public and private sectors there is upward pressure on pay that will have implications for the human resource planners. Lesson: when reducing staff numbers develop a succession plan to ensure adequate numbers of skilled staff for future years.

Other innovations in Ontario

Shared services bureau

A shared services bureau was established to provide uniform central service, HR, finance, procurement, IT etc. across the OPS. This has resulted in significant savings without loss of service. Individual ministries retain their budgets, but the services are purchased from the central bureau.

211 Information line

211 is a free information line available to everyone in Ontario to help people find the services they require. It is run by an independent community agency that is core funded by government, with additional funding from charities and foundations. This voluntary organisation sells other services to government. It is able to respond to changing situations more quickly than the government machine. 211 is the main information point for human services relating to all three levels of government. It is not just a directory service, however, it is staffed by professional social workers who are able to make assessments of situations and provide advice on the best solutions (often callers are not sure what service to ask for and so this advice can be invaluable). In some cases, with the permission of the caller, they provide an advocacy service and help those less capable of working the system to meet their needs. Without the core funding from government this service would not be possible.

Lessons

Improving services

In embarking on a major programme of public sector reform there needs to be a clear and agreed understanding of the core business of the public service. The focus should be on the citizen, meeting the needs of the citizen and delivering services in a way that citizens want rather than in a way that suits the bureaucracy. For example, the Ontario Blue Pages initiative, where all public services are listed as services that would be recognised by the citizen rather than just agencies, departments, division and branches was an early success.

Two other successes were the "no wrong door" policy, which ended the frustration of individuals who were directed from one office to another in search of someone to answer their query; and the multi-channel access that allows individuals to interact with government using whichever means (in person, telephone, or internet) with which they feel most comfortable.

Another factor in the success of the Ontario programme was the linking of a number of different strategies (the quality strategy, e-government strategy, and development of an integrated service delivery system). The successful implementation and longer-term success of these strategies required a major change in the culture of the organisation, which had to be managed. Communication with staff at every stage, involvement of front-line staff in the development of new systems, and attention to the development of new skills and the capacity of the organisation to move forward with the reform agenda are all important factors.

Services were also improved through exploring alternative ways of working within the organisation, and different ways of delivering public services. In short, a better, more effective and efficient use of public service resources. At the same time there is a need to ensure all public services are delivered to a required standard. Therefore no matter what organisation actually delivers the service (public, private, or community/voluntary) the contract requires certain minimum service standards to be delivered. It was also found that there were more efficiencies to be made through horizontal working, therefore the development of networks across the public service, and better use of technology to support this work (virtual organisations) also brought improvements to services. The development of a Shared Services Bureau also brought efficiencies while providing an effective service.

Enhancing democracy

It was interesting to note that there is no dual mandate allowed in Canadian public life. Politicians serve at either the local, regional or municipal level. On boards and other bodies appointees are only permitted to hold one appointments at any given time – this is to provide as many opportunities as possible for citizens to participate in public life.

Arrangements at the local level are interesting. There is no political party structure, councillors have to stand on a personal mandate and are therefore personally accountable to their electorate. There are a relatively small number of councillors (44 in Toronto representing a population of 2.5 million), but they are full-time salaries posts with a full time staff.

Within the council, the system of community councils allows groups of councillors to work together specifically on issues that affect the geographical area they represent.

The Health Service has a strong input from non-professionals with the health Board appointed by and accountable to the Council, and having members who are councillors and members of the public.

At both Federal and Provincial levels the most senior official in each department/ministry serves "at pleasure", linking them more directly with the government of the day while the remainder of the services are independent and politically neutral.

Citizens are able to make a direct connection between the taxes they pay and how the services are provided. The breakdown of each individual’s tax bill to show how much was allocated to each service, including the administration costs of the council, increases the accountability of the council to the citizen for the proper use of the taxes paid by that citizen.