An opposition party member assigned to scrutinize the

an opposition party member assigned to scrutinize the
activities of a particular minister of the Crown
Cabinet Shuffle: a change in the composition of a government’s
political executive between elections
Inner Cabinet: members of the political executive that hold its
most important portfolios, including finance, treasury board, and
justice (among others)
Cabinet Committee: a subgroup of cabinet members assigned
to scrutinize a particular set of executive actions
Confidence Convention: the practice under which a
government must relinquish power when it loses a critical
legislative vote
Permanent Executive: non-partisan bureaucratic officials
serving at the pleasure of the Crown and its ministers
Clerk of the Privy (or Executive) Council: the highest-ranking
public servant in the federal (or provincial/territorial) bureaucracy

Deputy Minister: reporting to the minister, the highest-ranking
public servant in a given government department
Central Agencies: coordinating bodies that steer government
business across all departments
Privy Council Office (PCO): the central agency responsible for
coordinating the federal government’s overall implementation of
policy
Treasury Board Secretariat: the central agency responsible for
coordinating government spending, as well as human and
technical resources
Department of Finance: the central agency responsible for
setting and monitoring the government’s fiscal and economic
policy, including overseeing the budget process
Line Departments: units responsible for the development and
delivery of policy, programs, or services under a particular
portfolio
ABCs: an agency, board, or commission responsible for delivering
a program or service, or producing goods, at arm’s length from
government
Government Agency: an arm’s length corporate body operating
on behalf of a government
Government Board: a public advisory committee made up of
appointed citizens
Government Commission: an agency of government that
provides specialized policy expertise and oversight
Royal Commission/Commission of Inquiry: a special research
investigation of a contentious area of public policy

Crown Corporations: enterprises owned by a federal or
provincial government
Chapter 5 textbook notes:
The Executive:
o The prime minister and the cabinet are not the only
members of the executive
o The prime minister does not wield absolute control over
Canadian politics
o Executives today hold no more than they did in the past
The executive: the political elites and decision-makers who
preside over the direction of their respective governments
o Usually the strongest of the three branches of
government
- Executives are the leaders who have supreme authority and
responsibility for decision-making in their organizations
- 3 types of Government executives:
o Formal Executive: comprising of the figureheads who
hold ceremonial, mostly symbolic positions of authority
 Supreme authority vested in the monarch (Crown)
and the monarch’s representatives (the governor
general and the lieutenant governors)
o Political Executive: