POLICY ADRIFT: CANADIAN CROWN CORPORATIONS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

ABSTRACTCanada has had a strong tradition of using state‐owned enterprises for economic development. ‘Crown corporations’, as State‐owned enterprises are known in Canada, were created with a built‐in autonomy for their commercial activities on the condition that they also fulfil policy objectives. Of late, however, policy objectives have been articulated more through regulations and governance models and are issued far more from central agencies such as the Treasury Board Secretariat than from the ‘home department’ of the agency. This article explores the evolution of the use of Crowns from the glory days of their formation to the privatization era of the 1980s and 1990s to the modern day. It examines how governance and control mechanisms have replaced policy directives. The picture given of the Canadian experience could be relevant for the coming years when these enterprises become more international and thus challenge the present arrangement.