Administrative Function - Introduction

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Composition

The administrative device of the State of Quebec consists of about twenty departments which constitute the basic structure of the governmental organization. Each is under the responsibility of one or several Ministers. However, the most important components  of the Quebec civil service are the Ministère du Conseil exécutif [Department of the Executive Council] and the Secrétariat du Conseil du trésor [Board of Treasure Secretariat]. The Ministère du Conseil exécutif is the department which is under the direct management of the Prime Minister of Quebec. Equivalent of Privy Council Office in Ottawa, the M.C.E. has for function to supply to the Prime Minister, to the Cabinet and to the ministerial committees the necessary administrative support to allow them to carry on their duties. The Board of Treasure is a permanent committee of the Cabinet, composed of five Ministers. It advises the government in the domains of management of human resources and of budgetary resources, and exercises certain powers in this domain. Furthermore, it elaborates and implements policies of management for the Quebec civil service and supports departments and public bodies in their step of change. It benefits from the administrative support of a secretariat of the Ministère du Conseil exécutif: the Secrétariat du Conseil du trésor (S.C.T.).

The Quebec civil service is also made of about 175 state agencies (societies, councils, offices, boards, committees and administrative courts). Although autonomous with regard to ministries and possessing a different legal personality, the state agencies are placed under the responsibility of a Minister who is responsible of their management (in the exception of judicial or almost-judicial matters) to the National Assembly. Such bodies are created essentially for reasons of visibility, autonomy, specialization or efficiency.

Role

The civil service applies numerous acts and administers public resources. It requires that the persons by the intervention of whom it acts have a behaviour motivated by a high ethics. And so the civil servants have to exercise their offices in public interest, with honesty and impartiality and by avoiding the conflicts of interests. They have also to remain discreet about what they have learned or heard of in the exercice of their functions.  Their decisions must be taken in the respect for the charters of rights, that is not to be based on discriminatory motives.

Furthermore, the civil servants have to display political neutrality in the exercise of their functions and reserve in the public demonstration of their political beliefs. It does not however prevent them, as quite other Quebecers, to adhere to a political party and to contribute, according to rules, to his financing.

Organization

The highest administrative official of every department is the "deputy minister", who is appointed by the Cabinet for an indefinite period of time (i.e. until his resignation or the appointment of a successor by the Cabinet). It is the deputy minister who administers, according to the Law, the department. The various head offices, directions and offices of a department recover from him.

However, the highest ranking civil servant in quebec is the Secrétaire général du Conseil exécutif [General Secretary of the Executive Council], which the "deputy minister" of the Ministère du Conseil exécutif and assumes the administration of it under the direction of the Prime Minister. He steers the Secrétariat général du Conseil exécutif [General Secretariat of the Executive Council], which is the main constituent of the Ministère du Conseil exécutif. It is also the only person authorized, with the director of cabinet of the Prime Minister, to attend the meetings of the Cabinet.

Dernière mise à jour: 11 novembre 2004

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