FROM PRAGMATISM TO NEOLIBERALISM: THE POLITICS OF THE REMAKING OF THE ONTARIO ADMINISTRATIVE STATE, 1970-2002 BRYAN M. EVANS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN POLITICAL SCIENCE YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO JANUARY 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-39006-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-39006-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. •*• Canada ii ABSTRACT This dissertation is concerned with the politics of administrative reform in Ontario between 1970 and 2002. The central problem is to develop an understanding of political and administrative agency serving to transform the theory and praxis of public administration. The question posed here is how was it that neoliberalism came to emerge in the Ontario administrative state? In Ontario's case this was a process of fits and starts beginning in 1969 with the striking of the Committee on Government Productivity and proceeded forward episodically in a series of tentative steps. Despite various proposals to shrink the Ontario public sector and restructure the production and delivery of public services, no government between 1970 and 1995 pursued such a course. Even during the mid-1970s where a discernable shift in economic policy was underway as a result of rising levels of inflation, the response was to constrain the growth in public expenditures rather than undertake a re-engineering of the structures and processes of public administration. The election in 1995 of a Progressive Conservative party, reconstructed as a vehicle for neoliberalism, changed that. Two key conclusions are arrived at. First, is that Ontario's turn to neoliberalism was tentative and protracted because a vital element was absent. That missing element was a political vehicle possessed of a conviction to drive such a project forward. Second, previous governments of the pragmatic centre were not compelled to restructure Ontario's public administration because economic and poltical condistions did not necessitate such. iii Acknowledgements This dissertation has been a long time in the making and owes a great deal to individuals and experiences which have directly and indirectly shaped it. First, I am grateful to my very dear friends at Ryerson University - Carla Cassidy, Neil Thomlinson and John Shields. John has been the greatest friend and mentor and through it all we've had way too much fun. Only with him could I share the songs of Taras Bulba (the movie not the Gogol novella), the Irish republican movement, and the Wobblies . To be blessed is to have such a friend. On the other hand there is the expense. My committee members, Gregory Albo, Thomas Klassen and Bob MacDermid, all of whom have generously contributed toward bringing this project to a conclusion. They have been kind, in addition to generous, and are as relieved as I am. Perhaps more so. Of course, there is Donna Vogel who has had to live with this.. .and the mess, for some time now. However, as she has a doctorate maybe now, as Dr. and Dr. we can get bumped up to first class. Lastly, to the friends, families and members, past and present, of the Canadian Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local 598, Sudbury, who fought long and hard for their union card and we are all the better for it. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii List of Tables and Graphs vi 1. Introduction 1 1.1 The Politics of Neoliberal Public Administration 12 1.2 The Ontario Case 22 1.3 Scope of the Study 33 1.4 Ontario in Comparative Perspective 35 1.5 Chapter Outlines 36 2. The Administrative State in Historical and Political Perspective 41 2.1 The Emergence of Modern Public Administration 42 2.2 The Theory and Practice of Twentieth Century Public Administration 55 2.3 The Impasse of Fordist Public Administration, 1970-1980 72 2.4 Subnational States: Theoretical Considerations in a Neoliberal Era 83 2.5 Conclusion: From Public Administration to New Public Management 88 3. The Foundations of Neoliberal Public Administration 90 3.1 Neoliberal Public Administration and the Legacy of Fordism 92 3.2 More for Less: Public Expenditures, Productivity and the Role of Managerialism 104 3.3 Restructuring Service Delivery: Decentralizing Production 113 3.4 The Fordist Foundations of Neoliberal Public Administration 124 3.5 Conclusion: Neoliberalizing Public Management 128 4. Constructing the Ontario Administrative State: From Origins to 1985 130 4.1 From Laissez-Faire Colony to 'Positive State', 1760 to 1943 132 4.2 Keynes' Tories: Postwar Ontario's Political Dynasty, 1943 to 1971 143 4.3 Realizing the Limits of the Fordist State, 1971 to 1985 151 4.4 Conclusion: Paradigm Shifts and the Ontario State 180 5. Administrative Restructuring Forestalled, 1985-1995 183 5.1 The NDP-Liberal Accord: The End of a Postwar Dynasty 185 5.2 Modernizing Ontario's Administrative State 193 5.3 The Tomorrow Project: Dodging a Restructuring Bullet 200 5.4 Conclusion: From Social Contract to 'Common Sense' 231 6. The Common Sense Revolution: Retrieving the Neoliberal Project, 1995 to 2002... 233 6.1 The Reconstruction of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party 234 6.2 Resisting the Revolution: From Days of Action to Strategic Voting 247 6.3 Implementing The Common Sense Revolution 255 6.4 Conclusion: Aligning Public Servants, Creating Markets and Building NLPA ...291 7. State Managers as Neoliberal Activists 293 7.1 'Capturing' the Provincial State: A 'Revolution' From Above 296 7.2 Toward a Political Understanding of State Managers 305 7.3 A Typology of Public Service Managers 307 7.4 Conclusion: Political Conviction and Responsive Public Management 332 8. Home Care Marketization in Ontario: Transforming Service Delivery under NLPA 336 8.1 Home Care: The Political Background 337 8.2 The Community Care Access Centres: A New Institution of NLPA 346 8.3 New Public Management, Productivity, and Disciplining Labour 363 8.4 Conclusion: Markets of Care, the Politics of Control, and NLPA 372 9. Conclusion: From Neoliberal Insurgency to Sustained Neoliberal Public Administration 375 9.1 The Evolution of Public Administration in Ontario Up to 2002 378 9.2 The 'Fits and Starts' Ascent of Neoliberalism in Ontario 385 9.3 From Harris Onward: Sustaining Neoliberalism after 2002 390 9.4 After NLPA? 397 9.5 Directions for Further Research 400 Appendix: Methodology and Data 403 Bibliography 418 vi List of Tables and Graphs Graph 1: Ontario Inflation Rates, 1970 to 2002 163 Graph 2: Ontario GDP per Capita Adjusted to 1970 Values 264 Graph 3: Public Sector Workforce 265 1 Chapter 1 Introduction At its most abstract level, this dissertation hypothesizes a material link between public administrative theory and praxis, that is to say how the administrative state determines its key purposes and identifies the means to implement these, and capitalist economic development. It is not that the public administrative form is derivative from the economic terrain but rather there will by necessity be a powerful correspondence between the two. It is not coincidental that the administrative and organizational form of industrial, especially 'corporate', capitalism is largely the same as that which predominates in the public sector. This relationship may be characterized as 'dependent instrumentalism', that is to say that the economic and public administrative forms are dependent in mutually reinforcing their respective needs for stability and expansion. And instrumental in that public administration indeed provides the mechanisms to manage and balance this relationship against the full range of social forces seeking to alter the configuration of power and compromises in the wider political economy. This symbiosis becomes problematic, however, during a period of economic stress where forces may emerge to restructure this relationship. Thel9th century expansion of capitalist industrialization through to mid-20th century welfare state building necessitated a more enabled state. Political and economic crises and complexity engendered through urbanization, democratization and class conflict, required that the state adopt new functions and develop greater capacities in 2 response to these new demands.