IV.2 Activities that Extend New Learning-
Activity 2
Lead a department!
This activity is designed as a follow-on to the Choose a department activity in Section III B. Students should work with the same department as they did in the earlier activity.
The teacher hands out the following scenario to the students:
Congratulations, you’ve just been sworn in to the Cabinet of the newly elected Government of Canada. The Prime Minister has appointed you Minister of [insert name of department previously studied]. One of the reasons you got the job is your vast experience as an academic expert on this department and the Prime Minister wants you to put this knowledge to work.
The Prime Minister is considering an overhaul of the federal bureaucracy. She wants a report from you on whether you think your department is an effective vehicle for implementing government policy. Should the new government change the department’s programs, or maybe the department itself, by breaking it up or merging it with other departments? Perhaps no changes are required?
The Prime Minister realises that you haven’t been long on the job but she is action-oriented and wants all her Ministers to provide their initial impressions of their new departments by the time of the next Cabinet meeting. As a result, you have been asked to provide her a briefing note on your findings and views.
Students can use their previous research as a starting point. As Cabinet ministers, they should apply their own views and opinions to the facts and not be afraid to speak frankly to the Prime Minister as their briefing notes are for the Prime Minister and Cabinet only.
As a further source of guidance to the students, the teacher could provide web addresses to party platforms produced during the most recent federal election. The Cabinet in the exercise above could then be a Cabinet from one of these parties under the working assumption that they formed the government. The election platform would then be a source of direction for each Cabinet Minister.
The briefing note should be 800 words.
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