Au coeur du renouveau administratif: L'engagement institutionnel quelques enseignements empiriques tirés de l'expérience québecoise

The authors set out the main lines of the administrative reform introduced over a decade ago in Quebec. They begin by situating it in relation to important reforms brought in at the same time in other Canadian provinces, Alberta and Ontario. They then present the main transformation in the Quebec public sector, the contracting of public management. Since 1995, state institutions have had the possibility of taking engagements, in the form of "declarations of services to citizens", of "strategic and operational management plans", "performance and imputability agreements", and "management agreements". The authors begin by detailing the advantages and disadvantages of this new rationale based on results. On the positive side, there has been improvement in terms of strategic efficiency, sensitivity to performance, articulation between objectives and means, and collaboration or dialogue between the various managers. On the negative side, the authors say the reform has brought about an increase in administrative formalities and that as a general rule, some actors complain that the process of understanding and appropriating all that is involved is difficult and time-consuming, as is putting into practice the various management methods and tools.