POLS 2250 Chapter 13: Public governance and administration

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 2250
• Professor: Tim Mau

Document Summary

Constitutional conventions require that elected officials in the executive assume responsibility for the actions of government and that appointed officials remain invisible or effectively nonexistent. The most important way in which legislature interacts and attempts to control and shape the actions of public servants is to do so indirectly through their questioning and investigation of the responsible ministers. Collective responsibility prescribes that the prime minister and the cabinet must resign or ask the governor general for dissolution of parliament if the house of. Commons passes a vote of non-confidence in the government. Individual responsibility means that the minster is responsible for everything done in the department. First component is that the minister is held accountable to parliament for all the administrative errors of his or her departmental subordinates. Second component of the convention is that the minster is answerable to parliament in that he or she must explain and defend the actions of his or her department before parliament.