Oh, good. I'm happy that the word search on “accountability” on the break was successful, so I'll continue where I said:
Ministers remain individually and collectively responsible for their statutory duties and accountable to Parliament and the prime minister for the stewardship of the resources and exercise of powers assigned to them.
It goes on to say at the bottom of page:
Collective ministerial responsibility refers to the convention requiring coherence and discipline of the ministry in deciding policy, managing government operations, and speaking to Parliament with a single voice.
It's a team sport, as we know. I'm sorry; it doesn't say “it's a team sport, as we know”, in the Treasury Board guidelines; that was editorializing.
An important manifestation of this principle is the requirement of Cabinet solidarity: while ministers engage in full and frank discussion of proposals in Cabinet, once a decision is taken, all Ministers must be prepared to support it publicly or resign. The decisions of Cabinet...
By that convention, I take it that the entire ministry is supportive of never balancing the budget, that the entire cabinet is supportive of a piece of legislation that is omnibus and amends acts unrelated to the raising or spending of money.
The last sentence on this page says:
The decisions of Cabinet have mostly political and administrative effect, and their implementation is left largely to the minister or ministers directly responsible. Thus, accountability for specific policies...
Accountability for specific policy details of this framework are provided in another section. The measures to be taken that strengthen accountability are included in the report, “Management in the Government of Canada, a Commitment to Continuous Improvement”.
There we have that reference again. I haven't read that document, but I am sure it's quite enlightening.
We'll go on to the next section at the bottom of page 11, which again gets to the heart of the matter, which is entitled:
Individual responsibility of ministers
In applying the concepts of responsible government to individual ministers, we see that they have responsibilityfor their portfolios, which can include not only their departments and any arm's-length organizations in those departments, but also non-departmental organizations, such as Crown corporations. The prime minister assigns responsibility for portfolios, for the administration of various statutes, and for particular mandates within portfolio and statutory authorities. In current Canadian practice, a minister's powers, duties, and functions in his or her department are typically set out in a departmental statute. Responsibility thus reflects a sphere of legal authority, both statutory and non-statutory, and carries duties that must be discharged within that sphere. In a parliamentary system, the vast majority of executive actions are taken by or on behalf of an individual minister or ministers.
Now here we get into it:
A minister's accountability to Parliament for his or her department means all actions of the department, whether pertaining to policy—