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.
Public management in difficult economic times