The Politics of Public Management: The HRDC Audit of Grants and Contributions

Abstract

The Politics of Public Management: The HRDC Audit of Grants and Contributions, David A. Good, The Institute of Public Administration of Canada Series in Public Management and Governance; Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2003, pp. 240The literature in public administration in some ways suffers from not having more practitioners reflecting, writing and analyzing their experiences. Thus David Good's book analyzing the HRDC's so-called “billion dollar boondoggle” is a welcome contribution. His background as both a senior manager/executive within the Federal government and his academic credentials—a doctorate in policy and administration sets him apart—as a practitioner-academic. Good possesses the senior public manager's mind for detail and this book provides a clear account of the ebbing and flowing of events, beginning with the January 2000 release of HRDC's internal audit that implied a loss of a billion dollars, to the Auditor General's report of October that same year which, while critical of monitoring and reporting practices, concluded that only $85,000 was unaccounted for. The media and the opposition, at this point quickly lost interest.