Politics of Public Money, Second Edition

David A. Good is a professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria.

“Essential reading for public servants and politicians at all levels who seek to be budget players, and for serious students of Canadian politics.”- Douglas Brown (Canadian Public Policy) “An important addition to our understanding of public finance and to our knowledge of how the federal government operates in practice. [The Politics of Public Money] is a very worthwhile book that should be widely read.”- Janice MacKinnon (Canadian Public Administration) “A surprisingly good read for a book on budget practices ... It offers a fresh perspective on how budgeting actually works.”- Lewis Hawke (Australian Journal of Public Administration)

• Foreword – Patrice DutilPrefaceIntroductionPart One: The Changing Politics of Public Money1. Beyond Spenders and GuardiansSpenders and GuardiansFrom Old Village to New TownBeyond Spenders and GuardiansPriority SettersWatchdogsPriority Setters and WatchdogsNew QuestionsPart Two: The Public Money Players2. The Guardians of the Changing Role of the Budget OfficeGuardians and Budget FunctionsGuardians and Budget ComponentsGuardians and the Budgetary ProcessDifferent GuardiansGuardians Diverging: ‘Let the Managers Manage … Come Hell or High Water’Guardians and Central ReservesGuardians Apart3. Why Spenders Keep SpendingGetting MoneyKeeping MoneySpending MoneyThe Reciprocity of Expenditure Information and Expenditure IncreasesPriorities and Allocations, Not Performance and Allocations4. The Priority Setters at the CentreThe CentreThe Most Important of all RelationshipsPriorities, Big and SmallThe Prime Minister’s ArmsPriority Setters and Shift Points5. The Watchdogs: Barks that BiteBuilding Credibility on Professionalism and IndependenceThe Performance Audit: The Audit for All ReasonsMutual ExpectationsWatching Both Spenders and GuardiansThe Financial Watchdog and Internal Department AuditorsThe Watchdogs and ParliamentariansIndirect Influence, but InfluencePart Three: The Public Money Processes6. Fiscal Aggregates: Controlling TotalsCredibility and UncertaintyThe Prudent Economic and Fiscal OutlookThe Prudent Fiscal Framework: Achieving Achievable TargetsEconomic StimulusThe Elastic Fiscal DividendPrudence and Its ConsequencesExposing the Fiscal FrameworkContaining Aggregates by Making Allocations7. Budget AllocationsAllocations TypesThe Big FixesThe Big-Ticket ItemsThe Must DosSmall Budget ItemsTax ExpendituresReductionsReallocationsBudget Allocations Are Incremental8. Budget Implementation: Financial Management and EfficiencyOn PaperSuccessfully Implementing the Economic Action PlanThe First Line of DefenceVictims of Conflicting Norms: The Chief Financial OfficerThe Second Line of DefenceVictims of the Intractability of Cultural Change: The Comptroller GeneralOn Becoming PlayersPart Four: New Prospects for Public Money9. Parliament and Public MoneyParliament as WatchdogShaping Government Spending: The Commons Finance CommitteeApproving Government Spending: The Business of SupplyHolding Government Accountable for Spending: The Public Accounts CommitteeRealism and Reform10. Budget ReformsBudgets and Reforms‘Rational’ Reform: The Road to Program Budgeting (pre-1962-78)The Grand Design: Policy and Expenditure Management System (1979-83)Incremental and Continuous Change (1984-93)Program Review and Prudent Budgeting (1994-2003)‘A Continuous Culture of Reallocation’ (2004-6)Strengthening the Watchdogs: The Federal Accountability Act (2006-8)Recalibration: Strategic and Operating Review (2007 and onward)Reflections on Reforms11. Doing Better with Public Money?Theory and PracticeReactive, but with Some ResilienceThe Uneasy Balance of Competing Budgetary ObjectivesEstablish an Expenditure Review Committee of CabinetRestore a Treasury Board Secretariat Role in Expenditure Review and AllocationLink Priorities, Expenditure Programs, and PerformanceInstitutionalize the Role of the Parliamentary Budget OfficerThe Politics of Public MoneyNotesIndex