Report on 2004 CAPPA Annual General Meeting held August 29 in Vancouver
Report on 2003-04 Year
CAPPA launched its bilingual website, www.cappa.ca
in English and www.acpap.ca in French
last November. The site contains a great deal of information for public
administration students and scholars and received approximately 150 hits/week
during peak periods.
CAPPA membership is now up to 30 institutions, which includes most of
the major university and college-based public administration programs
in Canada.
With the support of the Canada School of the Public Service (CSPS), CAPPA
commissioned a report by Professors Gow and Sutherland comparing Canadian
master’s programs in public administration. The report is posted
on the CAPPA website and will soon be published in Canadian Public Administration.
CAPPA began the fiscal year with a balance of approximately $18000 and
received $4000 in membership revenues and $5000 from CSPS to cover the
Gow-Sutherland report. Expenses included web development ($4500), research
assistance and honoraria for the Gow-Sutherland report ($ 4900), travel
($3700), translation and overhead to the Institute of Public Administration
of Canada ($1600), and publications. As a result, CAPPA ended the year
with a deficit of approximately $7800 and a closing balance of $11,000.
Presentation on the Canadian Association for Students of Politics,
Policy, and Public Administration (CASP3A)
Marion Brulot, executive director of CAP3A, gave a presentation about
CASP3A’s strategy of developing a national organization to support
study, research, and career development on the part of students in these
disciplines. CASP3A’s website is www.casp3a.org.
Presentation on the Canada School of the Public Service (CSPS)
John Higginbotham, vice-president for research and university services
at CSPS, gave a presentation on recent developments at CSPS. Its challenges
include integrating three organizations in a fiscally constrained environment
and developing curriculum that responds to current priorities of the federal
public service (for example, accountability and probity). CSPS is continuing
to support a program of both basic and applied research.
CSPS is planning a symposium to be co-sponsored with CAPPA on October
21 and 22 in Ottawa. Two questions for the development of the symposium
are:
- What information should CSPS provide about current developments in
Ottawa?
- What can the federal government do to help the public administration
discipline?
CAPPA Plans for the 2004-05 Year
CAPPA’s plans for the coming year are constrained by its financial
situation. CAPPA has received approximately $ 8000 in membership fees.
Support from CSPS has not yet been forthcoming because CSPS’s budget
for grants and contributions is being reviewed by the Treasury Board Secretariat.
In this context, it was felt that it would be appropriate to keep careful
control of CAPPA’s current expenditures, including minimizing travel
costs and ending CAPPA’s practice of purchasing copies of the Journal
of Public Affairs Education for CAPPA member institutions. It was also
considered appropriate to use a small portion of CAPPA’s opening
balance of $ 11,000, for example to maintain its website.
A variety of ideas were proposed. Itemized by theme, these included:
Academic Programming
- Promote the MPA degree in general as well as Canadian MPA programs,
for example by collective marketing at selected conferences such as
IPAC or producing an online video about the virtues of the MPA degree
- Discuss the emerging competencies needed by public servants and whether
MPA programs are adequately providing them
- Use the CAPPA website to discuss and disseminate good practices in
teaching public administration
- Use the CAPPA website to create an inventory of public administration
professors who are available to advise doctoral dissertations by students
at other universities
Relations with Practitioners
- Deepen research alliances with practitioners by involving academics
in research projects commissioned by practitioners
- Encourage all IPAC regional groups to have academics on their executive
- Have CAPPA convene discussions with practitioners about important
administrative issues (similar to Public Policy Forum)
- Involve CAPPA in program planning for the 2005 IPAC conference in
Regina
- Convene a session at the 2005 IPAC conference profiling important
new books in public administration
- Launch a discussion forum on the CAPPA website for controversial administrative
issues (e.g., federal government sponsorships)
CAPPA Activities
- Approach provincial governments for funding
- Consider moving CAPPA AGM from Sunday morning before the IPAC conference
to alternative dates and/or locations
Constitutional Amendments
Two constitutional amendments were approved. The first deletes clauses
requiring CAPPA to publish a semi-annual newsletter and a guide to programmes
in public administration in Canada and substitutes a requirement to maintain
a website with an up-to-date listing of public administration programs
in Canada and relevant news. The second changes CAPPA’s fiscal year
from 1 January – December 31 to 1 April – 31 March.
Election of 2004-05 CAPPA Executive
After thanking Carolyn Johns for her excellent work as Secretary-Treasurer
in the previous two years, the following executive was elected for 2004-05:
President: Sandford Borins, University of Toronto
Past-President: Evert Lindquist, University of Victoria
Secretary-Treasurer: Ken Rasmussen, University of Regina
Vice-Presidents:
Jacques Bourgault, ENAP, Montreal
Mark Sproule-Jones, McMaster
Vic Pakalnis, Ontario Public Service
This Web site designed and maintained by Emily Liu
Last modified: August 22, 2008
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