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Border‐crossing: The PBO, PCO and the boundary of the public service
Author(s) -
Heintzman Ralph
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/capa.12180
Subject(s) - officer , political science , boundary (topology) , democracy , public administration , public service , service (business) , government (linguistics) , politics , law , business , philosophy , mathematics , mathematical analysis , linguistics , marketing
The Clerk of the Privy Council's (PCO) role in the 2012 confrontation with the Parliamentary Budget Officer is re‐examined as a case study in the imperatives of public service leadership in a system of responsible government. PCO's 2014 defence of the Clerk's conduct is contradicted both by the Clerk's text and by its own logical consequences. Both in form and substance, the Clerk crossed the boundary that should exist between public service and political values, and thus provided additional evidence of the need to re‐establish the necessary boundary between elected and unelected officials in a parliamentary democracy.