What does Government Communications look like in Canada?

by Ted Glenn

Three things to know about government communications in Canada:

1. Communications is a core management function that public organizations use to control the flow of information between themselves and their audiences.  It is made up of twenty specific activities, including strategic communications planning, issues management, correspondence, and advertising.


2. Governments use communications in two ways:  procedurally, to influence the behaviour of individuals and groups within policy processes (i.e., Privy Council Office), and substantively, to affect how goods and services are produced and consumed (i.e., Toronto Transit Commission) (or some combination thereof [i.e., Health Canada]).  The specific kind and exact mix of instrumentation used by any one department is determined by that department’s mandate and overall role in government.


3. Communications is a highly centralized – and centralizing – function in Canadian government due to the dominance of our political executives and the partisanship that emanates from our party system.  These factors can facilitate the abuse of communications in Canadian government and drags it at times into the “swampy zone” that exists between “information and propaganda and between public and partisan interests.”

Three misconceptions about government communications in Canada:

Myth #1: A large proportion of public servants are dedicated to communications work.

The Reality: Non-partisan staff in communications divisions make up a surprisingly small proportion of Canada’s public servants: only 1.3% of full-time federal public servants, 1.6% of Ontario public servants, and 0.2% of City of Toronto public servants work in communications.

Myth #2: Ministerial staff work mostly on politics and policy.

The Reality: Partisan staff make up almost one quarter of all staff working in federal and Ontario ministerial offices – a relatively high proportion justified by the central spokesperson responsibilities of Canadian ministers.

Myth #3: Governments spend a large proportion of their budgets on advertising campaigns and other citizen communications.

The Reality: Despite the ubiquity of government communications these days, the federal government only spent $275M on “Information” out of a total budget of $270.5B and the Ontario government $11M on advertising out of a total budget of $125B.

To read more about this topic, see:  Ted Glenn.  "The management and administration of government communications in Canada." Canadian Public Administration 57(1): 3-25.

Ted Glenn is Professor and Program Coordinator of the graduate certificate program in public administration at the Humber College in Toronto, Canada.  Ted has expertise in public sector governance and technical vocational education and training (TVET).  He has published on public sector communications, talent management, executive decision-making and legislative management and administration.  In addition, Ted has worked in Bangladesh, Bermuda, Bhutan, Mexico and Tanzania on a variety of TVET projects dealing with needs assessment and curriculum development/delivery, TVET policy and capacity-building, program monitoring and evaluation, and organizational change.  Ted earned a Ph.D. in public policy and administration at Queen’s University, an MA in public law and policy at the University of Calgary, and a Bachelor’s Degree in political science from the University of Alberta.