The Guardian : Perspectives on the Ministry of Finance of Ontario,1961-2003

__The Guardian__ fills a significant gap in public administration literature and in so doing describes how Ontario's Ministry of Finance defined its role as 'guardian.'

Finance departments have often been portrayed as guardians of the public purse. In The Guardian, a multidisciplinary group of contributors examines the Ministry of Finance of Ontario since the Second World War. During the last sixty years the Ministry was transformed from a relatively small 'Treasury' to a sophisticated policy machine. What started as a modest bookkeeping operation evolved into a key bureaucratic and policy agency as the government of Ontario assumed a leadership position in developing the province.

These essays reveal Ontario's 'finance' as a dynamic policy issue shaped by the personalities of premiers and ministers, the energies of public servants at all levels, and a critical dialogue between political and administrative worlds. Drawing on different methodologies, this collection profiles a ministry as policy entrepreneur, spender, revenue generator, capacity builder, budget director, program manager, and intergovernmental agent. The Guardian fills a significant gap in public administration literature and in so doing describes how Ontario's Ministry of Finance defined its role as 'guardian.'

Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction 13 SECTION 1. Structures and Contexts of the Guardian 25 1. The House Frost Built: Institutional Change and the Department of Treasury, 1943–1961 25 2. From ‘Treasury’ to ‘Finance’: The Anatomy of a Guardian, 1961–2001 49 3. Priority Setters and Guardians: The Relationships between Premiers and Treasurers in Ontario, 1960–2001 86 SECTION 2. The Guardian in Policy Making 121 4. Intergovernmental Guardians: Treasury’s Role in Setting the National Agenda, 1959–1967 121 5. From Pragmatism to Neoliberalism: Ontario’s Hesitant Farewell to Dr Keynes 143 6. Thoughts into Words: The Budget Speech, 1968–2003 174 7. The Ontario Ministry of Finance as an Exception in Canadian Public Administration 218 SECTION 3. The Guardian and Budget Making 241 8. Coping with Complexity: Innovation and Resistance in Crafting the Expenditure Budget, 1961–1985 241 9. Budget Making in the Ontario Ministry of Finance, 1985–2000 269 10. ‘Guardian’ as ‘Spender’: Infrastructure Investment, 1960–2005 299 11. Guardians in Check: The Impact of Health Care on the Ontario Budget, 1960–2004 332 Conclusion 363 Contributors 373 These essays reveal Ontario's 'finance' as a dynamic policy issue shaped by the personalities of premiers and ministers, the energies of public servants at all levels, and a critical dialogue between political and administrative worlds. Drawing on different methodologies, this collection profiles a ministry as policy entrepreneur, spender, revenue generator, capacity builder, budget director, program manager, and intergovernmental agent. The Guardian fills a significant gap in public administration literature and in so doing describes how Ontario's Ministry of Finance defined its role as 'guardian.'"--Pub. desc