Funding Policies and the Nonprofit Sector in Western Canada

Peter R. Elson

There is mounting fiscal and accountability pressure across Western Canada to create program efficiencies and align policies to increase effectiveness, particularly in relation to the delivery of community human services by nonprofit agencies. At the same time, economic growth, particularly in Alberta and Saskatchewan, has brought other unique challenges to the fore, including increased rates of income inequality and strains on the social fabric of communities.

What everyone should know: 

Serious change: Excluding hospitals, colleges and universities, government funding to nonprofit accounts for more than 30% of nonprofit revenues and is in the order of $9 billion ($2.7 billion in Alberta).

Serious size: There are more than 50,000 nonprofit organizations in Western Canada of which about 10% (5,000) are social service organizations directly engaged in delivering services to communities.

Serious relationships: Funding relationships in the nonprofit sector in Western Canada are characterized by demands to demonstrate impact in programming and funding (Alberta); reinvented and more integrated contracting models (Manitoba); emerging forms of community mobilization (Saskatchewan); social innovation and new business models (British Columbia)

Myth busters:

Location doesn’t matter:  Indeed it does. Street level bureaucracy is alive and well and in this edited book, funding and relational variations across ministries and across departments within the same ministry are profiled (Chapter10).

In real life, David doesn’t beat Goliath: If you believe this, you need to read the profile of the provincial lottery fund in Saskatchewan (Chapter 8) and funding policies for nonprofit housing in BC (Chapter3).

Productive funding relationships are hard to find: Every province in Western Canada has examples of exemplary partnerships that are mutually supportive and community enhancing. The Alberta Mentoring Partnership is but one example (Chapter6).

Peter R Elson, PhD is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Public Administration, University of Victoria and Senior research Fellow, Institute for Community Prosperity, Mount Royal University. He is editor of the newest publication in the IPAC Public Management and Governance series, Funding Policies and the Nonprofit Sector in Western Canada.

The Myths and Realities of Digital Public Administration in Canada

By Geoff Salomons

The transformative nature of the Internet has ushered the world into a new era of digital public administration. Today, our world has been revolutionized by digital technology (the Internet, social media, and smartphones). It has changed our conception of space and time. It has also changed our understanding of public sector management. While federal, provincial, and municipal governments have embraced digital public service, fine-tuning is required to adapt e-government to the dynamic complexities of citizen needs.

Three Myths about Digital Government in Canada

Myth #1: Every Canadian has access to the internet, and therefore access to e-government.

Reality: About 87 percent of Canadian households are connected to the internet. Across the country, 86 percent of British Columbians and Albertans have internet access, while Quebec and New Brunswick have the lowest with 78 and 77 percent respectively (Cira factbook). In fact, the lack internet access is highly concentrated among persons with disabilities, seniors, people in rural Canada, and the urban poor.

Myth #2: Digital public administration ensures all-inclusive public governance.

Reality:  Digital government has created new forms of social exclusion, specifically, among persons with disabilities; people living in remote parts of Canada; newcomers and immigrants with low proficiency in English and French; and individuals with inadequate computer literacy (Media Awareness Network).

Myth #3:  Digital public administration promotes organizational flexibility, decentralized service delivery, and grassroots governance.

Reality: Pubic sector leadership turns to centralize because of democratic accountability and responsibility. This reality is deeply rooted in the historical legacies of the Weberian public bureaucracy and the democratic regime in Canada (Aucoin 1997).

To learn more about  digital public administration in Canada, visit the Café Pracademique website.

The Council of the Federation: Effectiveness in Intergovernmental Institutions

By Megan Semaniuk

The Council of the Federation (COF) meets twice a year to discuss issues of
importance to Canadians, identify possible solutions, and share best practices. The
following were some lessons learned from a recent analysis of communiqués from the
2000 to 2015 summer meetings of Canada’s premiers.

Three things to know about COF:

1. Formerly known as the Annual Premiers’ Conference, COF was institutionalized
with the signing of the Founding Agreement in 2003. From the 1960s to 2003,
premiers met routinely but the rules and requirements surrounding meetings were not
codified.

2. The 2003 Founding Agreement defines interactions among premiers. This
document was signed by all provincial and territorial premiers and established a
mandate, a common Secretariat, and a consensus decision-making procedure. This
document acts as the framework for COF.

3. The Council of the Federation is a different institution than First Ministers’
Meetings (FMMs). Premiers may invite the federal government to participate at the
intergovernmental table with them. However, this provision in the Founding Agreement
has not been utilized to date.

 Three myths about COF:

Myth #1: There is an abundance of academic research on COF and its predecessor, the
Annual Premiers’ Conference.

Reality: Rather, there is a significant lack of academic research on the topic.
Where academic research does exist, it tends to focus on the interactions between
premiers and the prime minister of the day, or the premiers’ conference in relation to FMMs.

Myth #2: Premiers’ meetings are “interprovincial dress rehearsals” for FMMs.¹

Reality: In fact, interprovincial matters have become the most salient element of COF communiqués.²
This goes against the assumption that premiers’ meetings are held primarily to discuss
items of federal-provincial importance.

Myth #3: Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has conducted two FMMs, there is no
need for COF meetings.

Reality: These meetings were the first to be held since 2009. Premiers continue to meet to discuss
issues that are uniquely provincial and that are within their constitutional jurisdiction.

1 Meekison, J. Peter. 2004. “The Annual Premiers’ Conference: Forging a Common Front.” In 
Canada: The State of the Federation 2002. Reconsidering the Institutions of Canadian 
Federalism, eds. J. Peter Meekison, Hamish Telford and Harvey Lazar. Montreal and 
Kingston, QC and ON: McGill-Queen’s University Press. 
2 Semaniuk, M. Forthcoming. “The Council of the Federation: Effectiveness in Intergovernmental 
Institutions.”

Building our Future: Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders

Neetu Sharma

Three myths about developing talent in the public service:

Myth #1: The types of public service leaders we need today are the same types we’ll need tomorrow. 

Reality: The increasingly dynamic and complex environment in government requires public sector leaders to navigate challenges while under constant pressure and scrutiny. Understanding change management at both personal and organization levels, relationship- and network- building, and how to best employ information and technology—these are all key for tomorrow’s leaders to lead effectively.  While governments have taken some steps toward developing these skills, there is much work to do to meet tomorrow’s challenges.

Myth #2: Focus on top-talent leadership development programs will suffice.

Reality: To be effective, leadership development should span all employee categories, creating a shared culture of leadership to tackle complex issues. Distributed leadership is also a must to attract and ready the next generation of leaders (University of Oxford, 2013).

Myth #3: Talent development starts when an employee is first hired.

Reality: Governments must start working more strategically and comprehensively with primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions to address the leadership needs of tomorrow, closing critical competency gaps and institutionalizing leadership in the curriculum.

Three things to know about talent development in the public service:

Tomorrow’s public service leadership will:

1. Nurture talent—To attract and retain talent, governments must proactively address talent retention and leadership building through broad, cross-organizational experiences and learning opportunities. Incorporating employee priorities into organizational culture and educating managers on tools are imperative, as are strategically measuring and addressing employee satisfaction on an ongoing basis.

2. Build relationships—To perform effectively in an increasingly interconnected world, leaders will be bridge-builders—developing strong working relationships and connections at all levels between governments, businesses, not-for-profit sectors, and the public—to address differences and achieve results collaboratively.

3. Adapt—Leading people and leading change requires leaders to be adaptable. Cherishing diversity of opinion in their networks, leaders stay flexible and bring motivational and strategic insights to deal with uncertainty and inspire others for collaborative action.

To learn more about what the public service and educational systems are doing to develop tomorrow’s leaders, visit the Café Pracademique website.

Neetu Sharma is a graduate student with the University of Alberta School of Business. Her research interests include cross-sector collaborations and educational issues. More specifically, her work examines the potential of partnerships spanning the government, private and not-for-profit sectors as well as the role of education and mentorship in leadership development.

Regulating the Sharing Economy

We hope you’ll join us on Monday for a discussion on the issues and potential challenges of regulating the sharing economy. Dr. Robert Murray will be speaking at this session along with Darren Thomas and Nancy Jacobsen. We caught up Dr. Murray to get his perspective on the issues government faces in regulating the sharing economy.

IPAC Impact Blog: What is the sharing economy?

Dr. Murray: The Sharing Economy is a socio-economic system that has emerged over the last 10-15 years that enables people to share resources, commodities, or services. 

IPAC Impact Blog: Who participates and why?

Dr. Murray: The Sharing Economy enables sharing among a number of groups, and in many cases, motivation is based on ease of sharing, perceived benefit, access to a new or innovative approach to an industry, and is highly technological in nature.

IPAC Impact Blog: What is the overall impact on the economy?

Dr. Murray: It’s too soon to say in terms of a quantifiable calculation, in my opinion. The greatest impact thus far has been on our perceptions of industry control, regulation, competition, and governance.

IPAC Impact Blog: How can government regulate the sharing economy to ensure safety, competitiveness, tax compliance, etc.?

Dr. Murray: The first step is for government to understand *why* the services that fall under the Sharing Economy have become so popular, so quickly. By identifying the variables that have made the Sharing Economy popular for consumers, government can better determine how to approach regulatory issues without fundamentally interfering or eliminating the most benefit-driven aspects of the Sharing Economy. 

IPAC Impact Blog: What kind of challenges does the sharing economy pose to governments?

Dr. Murray: Quite a number, including statutory authority, regulatory development and compliance, oversight, registration, etc.

The sharing economy is an major phenomenon that we’re looking forward to discussing further. If you haven’t registered yet, go to https://www.ipac.ca/edmonton/registration-policyforbreakfast to sign up. Also, stay tuned to the blog where we will provide a summary of the key issues and ideas discussed at this event. 

Café Pracademique Announcement

Introducing Café Pracademique: A Forum for Developing Concrete Solutions to Pressing Public Policy Challenges

Café Pracademique is the newest initiative of IPAC Edmonton. It aims to mobilize knowledge by uniting practitioners, academics and citizens to develop concrete solutions to pressing public policy challenges in four key areas: Public Sector Leadership, Environment & Sustainability, Digital Public Service and Indigenous Affairs. 

Between March and April 2016, the first four Café Pracademique events will take place in Edmonton. Various high profile public policy experts from academia and the public sector will attend and contribute to these sessions. The events in chronological order are: 

Building our Future: Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders – March 7, 2016
- What new ways of learning, particularly in higher education, will Canadians need in order to thrive in an evolving society and labour market?

Green is the New Black: Mobilizing Eco-Citizens – March 22, 2016
- What effects will the quest for energy and natural resources have on our society and our position on the world stage?

Advancing Inclusive Digital Services – April 12, 2016 
- How can emerging technologies be leveraged to benefit all e-citizens, including persons with disabilities?

Connecting our Futures : Building Reconciliation Today – April 28, 2016
- How are the experiences and aspirations of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada essential to building a successful shared future?

Why are these initiatives important?

Often there is a disconnect between academics, practitioners and citizens when addressing challenging public policy issues. This can be attributed to the different priorities and areas of expertise of these key stakeholders. Café Pracademique’s events are significant as they provide a knowledge-sharing platform for stakeholders to discuss these issues and enable them to devise cooperative solutions which take into account the viewpoints of all interested parties.  Furthermore, these events generate concrete outcomes (roadmaps, educational multimedia tools and options to consider), which will allow participants to bring the knowledge they acquire from these sessions back to their own agency or organization. These tools will also help participants implement practical solutions to challenges they face in their own organizations in the areas of Public Sector Leadership, Environment & Sustainability, Digital Public Service and Indigenous Affairs. 

What’s ahead for the Impact Blog?

To support the Café Pracademique events, the IPAC Impact blog will release several articles in the upcoming months. These posts will include interviews with the guest speakers to understand their unique perspectives and ideas; analyses of the outcomes of the events and how they can be applied to the public sector; and a look at the experiences of the participants themselves and what they have learned. Stay tuned.

For more information on Café Pracademique’s events and how to watch it live, visit the website: 

http://cafepracademique.com/