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ALBERTA
I DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
The Alberta formal decision-making process
is not an exclusive executive function. In December 1992, the Premier announced the
establishment of a new decision-making process for the Alberta government centred around
Standing Policy Committees and developed in conjunction with Members of the
Legislative Assembly from the party constituting the Government. All existing committees
of Cabinet and caucus, with the exception of Treasury Board and the Legislative
Review Committee, were disbanded. Following the general election held in March 1997,
the Standing Policy Committees were again restructured. There are currently seven Standing
Policy Committees: *
- Agriculture and Rural Development (7/7);
- Community Services (6/6);
- Education and Training (6/6);
- Financial Planning and Human Resources (6/6);
- Health Planning (6/6);
- Jobs and Economy (6/6); and
- Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection (6/6).
Each Standing Policy Committee is chaired by
a Private Government Member and the Premier designates a Minister to
act as vice-chair. The Standing Policy Committees are composed of an equal number
of Ministers and MLAs; the unique membership of these committees flows directly from the
Premier’s commitment to provide caucus with a greater say in the newly reformed
decision-making process.
In addition to these committees, the Agenda
and Priorities Committee (6/2), Treasury Board (6/2), the Legislative Review
Committee (1/8) and the Audit Committee (1/0/6) are also an integral part of the Alberta
decision-making process. Not one is exclusively composed of Cabinet Ministers and, in the
case of the Audit Committee, most members are not even MLAs. The Premier is a member of
all committees with the exception of the Legislative Review Committee and the Audit
Committee.
Government policy and legislation all flow
as a natural progression from the three-year business planning process. This
is a cyclical process that begins in June of each year with Treasury Board setting the
overall fiscal framework. In July, the departments are provided with the fiscal framework
within which their business plans must be developed. In August and September, each
department presents to the appropriate Standing Policy Committee a draft of its annual
report which outlines the department’s actual performance of the prior year in
relation to its projections for that year. This review sets the stage for the October
review by the appropriate Standing Policy Committee of the department’s revised
three-year business plan.
The Standing Policy Committees will report
the results of their review to Treasury Board, either confirming their support for the
business plans or highlighting where necessary any plans that may have strayed from the
overall fiscal framework established by Treasury Board. These reports, along with any
other issues raised by the Treasury Department, form the basis for the representations by
individual departments to Treasury Board during the months of November and December.
The decisions and recommendations of
Treasury Board are reviewed with Cabinet and caucus; the final directions from Treasury
Board are formalized into three-year budget targets and final departmental business plans,
culminating in the Budget and the tabling of the business plans in the legislature.
Once a Standing Policy Committee has signed
off a departmental business plan, the departments can begin submitting draft legislation
for consideration by the appropriate Standing Policy Committee. This occurs through
November and December, in preparation for the spring sitting of the legislature. While
policy submissions to Standing Policy Committees occur throughout the year, the sign off
of the departmental business plans also acts as a trigger for work on the bulk of policy
initiatives.
New government policy can be
initiated from a variety of sources (e.g., the general public, interest groups, industry,
etc.). An initiative must first be approved and sponsored by a Minister, then researched
and drafted by the department. The Minister presents the proposed policy to the Agenda and
Priorities Committee which provides direction and refers the item to the appropriate
Standing Policy Committee. The Standing Policy Committee will study the policy in detail,
hear public submissions, and send its recommendation to Cabinet for final approval; in
some cases, Cabinet may refer the matter to full caucus for discussion. The Standing
Policy Committees are the gate-keepers of the decision-making process: any issue that has
been rejected by a Standing Policy Committee will not be considered by Cabinet; should a
Minister wish to pursue the matter further, changes will have to be made to the proposal.
New government legislation can
also be initiated from several sources (e.g., department, MLA, general public, interest
group). Once the initiative has been approved by a Minister, the conceptual framework for
the bill is taken to Cabinet and, if Cabinet feels the legislation is necessary and sound,
it is routed to the appropriate Standing Policy Committee for an in-depth review. A draft
of the bill is then forwarded to caucus for discussion and approval. After caucus review,
the legislation, which by this time is very close to a final draft, is submitted to the
Legislative Review Committee which is responsible for ensuring that the legal text
contains the policies the caucus intended. This committee is comprised of a Minister, the
chairs of the Standing Policy Committees, an MLA and legal counsel. Once the bill has
received the approval of the Legislative Review Committee, it is ready to be introduced in
the Legislative Assembly.
The chairs of the Standing Policy Committees
attend Cabinet meetings to represent their committee’s view and they participate in
reaching a final decision. However, because the chairs are not sworn Ministers, they must
swear an oath of secrecy to ensure Cabinet confidentiality and to foster
frank and open ministerial deliberations.
Since the creation of the Standing Policy
Committees, the Premier has moved away from conventional Cabinet decision-making
structures: the "Cabinet committee" distinction is simply not made anymore in
Alberta. The Standing Policy Committees were designed to be very flexible and to empower
caucus, a goal the government believes it has achieved.
There are 83 members of the Legislative
Assembly; 63 sit on the Government benches, of whom 19 are Ministers (including the
Premier). Currently, all Government backbenchers sit on at least one of the eleven
committees. Also, six non-members of the Legislative Assembly sit on the Audit Committee.
II OFFICE OF THE PREMIER AND EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OFFICE
The Premier, as leader of the governing
party, is supported in the exercise of his responsibilities both by the Office of the
Premier and by the Executive Council Office.
1. Office of the Premier
The Office of the Premier is
coordinated by a Chief of Staff who manages the staff required for the
running of the office. The Office of the Premier is comprised of the Director of
Operations, the Director of Communications, the Director of Scheduling and
Appointments, and the Southern Alberta Office of the Premier.
The Director of Operations
participates in the coordination and monitoring of the government’s
legislative agenda and acts as a liaison between the Standing Policy Committees, caucus and the Office
of the Premier. The Communications Office is responsible for coordinating
the Premier’s media requests and the information disseminated to the media by Members
of the Executive Council (that is, Ministers), and for providing communications advice to
the Premier and Members of the Executive Council. The Director of Scheduling and
Appointments coordinates the Premier’s schedule and supervises the
correspondence unit responsible for coordinating written responses to public inquiries
dealing with a wide range of issues.
The Southern Alberta Office of the
Premier is located in Calgary and provides administrative support to the Premier
and Members of the Executive Council for meetings and events which occur in the Calgary
office. It also acts as liaison with Ministers’ offices and their departments in
order to respond to queries from southern Alberta.
2. Executive Council Office
The Executive Council Office is comprised of
two main divisions: the Cabinet Secretariat and the Administrative Services Centre; both
divisions report to the Deputy Minister of Executive Council and Secretary to the
Cabinet.
The Secretary to the Cabinet carries out
functions associated with two distinct positions. First, as Clerk of the Executive
Council, he has overall and official responsibility for the administration of the
Executive Council Office, Cabinet and its committees, and the Office of the Lieutenant
Governor. It should be noted that there is also a Deputy Clerk who acts as
Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, and who is responsible for the day to day operations
of the office.
Second, as Deputy Minister of the
Executive Council, he is responsible for ensuring that all over-arching policies
of the government are communicated and coordinated on behalf of the Executive Council.
Matters that require strategic direction on the part of the Government, as well as other
sensitive issues, are monitored by the Deputy Minister of the Executive Council to ensure
their expeditious resolution.
The Cabinet Secretariat
organizes and coordinates the planning and policy meetings that take place within the
decision-making process of the government. It is also responsible for providing complete
administration and record keeping support to Cabinet, the Standing Policy Committees, the
Agenda and Priorities Committee and the Legislative Review Committee. In addition, the
Secretariat participates in the coordination of the Treasury Board fiscal and business
planning process with the departments, the Standing Policy Committees and the Treasury
Board.
The Administrative Services Centre,
led by a Director, provides human resource, financial and administrative support to the
Office of the Premier, the Executive Council Office, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor
and several other small entities.
It is important to note that Alberta does
not have a central policy analysis and development function within the Executive Council
Office or elsewhere in the government. Policy development is a function exercised by
individual departments, and in the case of multi-departmental initiatives, it is developed
jointly. The Deputy Ministers, led by the Deputy Minister of the Executive Council, meet
regularly to manage, coordinate and report on these policy issues. The Executive Council
Office is a facilitator in this regard.
The relatively small size of the Office of
the Premier and the Executive Council Office requires their staff members to show
versatility when dealing with major issues requiring coordination and consultation of both
offices. The Deputy Minister of the Executive Council and the Chief of Staff work together
to ensure that high quality advice and support is always provided to the Premier.
III OTHER CENTRAL AGENCIES
1. Treasury
The Treasury Department is responsible for
encouraging sound business planning and financial decisions by providing analysis and
recommendations to the Provincial Treasurer, Treasury Board and Cabinet. Secretariat
support is provided to Treasury Board by Treasury officials. Treasury also develops
and maintains frameworks for improving the accountability of departments for their
financial and business decisions and for reporting financial information. The department
manages the province’s financial assets and liabilities.
2. Personnel Administration Office and the Public Service Commissioner
The Public Service Commissioner’s
principal responsibility is managing the Personnel Administration Office. Under the
leadership of the Public Service Commissioner, the Personnel Administration Office
develops corporate human resource strategies and policy frameworks that enable departments
to fulfil their business plans and achieve the preferred future of the Alberta public
service.
The Office provides expert consulting on
benefits, classification and compensation, labour relations, occupational health and
safety, staffing and workforce adjustment, and workforce development. It represents the
government as employer and negotiates collective agreements. Authority for recruitment and
promotion in the public service has been delegated to government departments. It should be
noted that there is no staffing appeal mechanism in Alberta. Dissatisfied candidates may
refer a complaint to the Public Service Commissioner or the Ombudsman, or seek redress
through the courts.
The Personnel Administration Office
maintains an executive search function for Deputy Ministers, key executive positions
and members of significant agencies, boards and commissions. The Deputy Minister of the
Executive Council, in consultation with the Members of the Executive Council, is
responsible for staffing at the Deputy Minister level. The Public Service Commissioner
will advertise the position. A panel, of which the Deputy Minister of the
Executive Council is a member, is then created to interview a short list of
candidates. The Minister then recommends to the Premier and the Cabinet the most suitable
candidate from those approved by the panel. The Office of the Premier does not play a
formal role in the staffing of the senior levels of Alberta’s public service.
Appointments at the Deputy Minister level are made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
In April, 1998, Cabinet approved
recommendations from a private sector review committee for a new compensation plan for
Deputy Ministers. The plan includes a variable pay component of up to 20 per cent of base
pay. Cabinet sets a number of cross-government goals that must be met for the Deputy
Ministers to be eligible for variable pay. In addition, Deputy Ministers have individual
goals to meet that are set by their Minister and the Deputy Minister of the
Executive Council, as well as goals and performance measures that are outlined in the
business plans. These are detailed in a performance contract that is signed by all
parties.
3. Department of Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs*
The Department of Federal and
Intergovernmental Affairs is responsible for the management of intergovernmental relations
under the direction of the Minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs. This
department plays an important role in shaping policy initiatives and strategies for
Alberta’s relations with federal-provincial-territorial governments. It also provides
expertise in international and Aboriginal affairs.
* The first figure appearing in parentheses
indicates the number of Cabinet Ministers who are members of the committee; the second
figure indicates the number of Government backbench members, and the third refers to
committee members who are not MLAs.
* It should be noted that this
department is not considered a central agency in the government of Alberta. However,
for the purposes of reporting similar information between jurisdictions, it has been
included.
Annex 1 - Treasury Board Fiscal and Business Plan Decision Model
Annex 2 - Government Legislation
Annex 3 - Ministerial Report Decision Model
Annex 4 - Office of the Premier and Executive Council
[ Table
of Contents ]
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