Public service reform in the government of Canada: An analysis of the La Releve initiative

This thesis is about the need to reaffirm and maintain a strategic focus on people management in the public Service of Canada as a means to secure good governance and sound public administration. It is an examination of the recent attempts by the Government of Canada to "reaffirm people as the number one institutional resource" namely Public Service 2000 and La Releve. Although the reform, renewal and revitalization of public management in Canada has a long and storied Past, it is only within the last decade that the Government of Canada recognized the primacy of people management within this framework.The reaffirmation of people management in the Public Service of Canada has been obstacle ridden and fraught with fundamental policy incongruities. Renewal efforts have met with a modicum of success as inherently diametrical policies of "renewal" and "restraint" have been attempted simultaneously. Moving beyond these inherent difficulties is a requisite need for people management and Public service reform in Canada to achieve significant and sustainable results. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...