Minding the Public's Business

Résumé du livre

As a number of governments have assigned a high priority to the review andselected rationalization of their holdings of public corporations, Canadianshave come to appreciate the importance of understanding the extent andconsequences of government involvement in business. In initiating thisstudy it was the view of the Economic Council of Canada that they couldmake a unique contribution based on the broad perspective they could bringto bear on the important issues. Examining federal as well as provincialenterprises, mixed along with wholly-owned enterprises, and publiccorporations that are monopolies as well as those that operate incompetitive sectors, has indeed provided a useful vantage point from whichto observe the strengths and limitations of government ownership. Thisstudy develops a general framework for the evaluation of publicenterprise. It draws on evidence from various sectors to develop an understanding of the features of public enterprise and of the roles forwhich it is reasonable to employ this public policy instrument. Itanalyses the issue of accountability and control by attempting to explorethe links between the question of control and the role which publicenterprises are expected to fulfil.