Defending a Contested Ideal Merit and the Public Service Commission, 1908-2008 [Paperback]

In 1908, after decades of struggling with a public administration undermined by systemic patronage, the Canadian parliament decided that public servants would be selected on the basis of merit, through a system administered by an independent agency: the Public Service Commission of Canada. This history, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Commission, recounts its unique contribution to the development of an independent public service, which has become a pillar of Canadian parliamentary democracy.

Luc Juillet is director of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.

Ken Rasmussen is director of the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina.