Inspiring this study is an attempt to construct an image of the individuals who comprise the Canadian deputy / assistant deputy cadre--a unit we have called the "public-service elite" (PSE) in this article--in order to gain a better sense of who they are. To date, surveys of the most senior levels

of the Canadian public services have tended to be restricted to a single level of government (generally with a focus on the federal government) and to the position of deputy minister. Our survey was designed to be more encompassing with respect to both of these dimensions. It surveys both deputy ministers (DMS) and assistant deputy ministers (ADMS), since at the apex of modern public service, leadership responsibilities for management and policy at the ministry/department level are shared between these posts. As well, the post of ADM generally serves as a stepping stone to a DM appointment. This survey was also conducted at multiple levels incorporating the deputy (DM and ADM) cadre from the federal government, as well as provincial and territorial governments. The scope of our survey was designed to give recognition to the overriding importance of Canada's federal system of governance, with its multiple levels of governance. It allows us to make some comparisons on demographics and career development among the individuals in the Canadian PSE. Finally, the survey allows us to raise the issue of the representativeness of the senior Canadian bureaucratic elite as we advance into the new millennium.

Setting the context: the deputy cadre (deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers)

The two most senior posts within ministries/departments of the career civil service are those of deputy minister and assistant deputy minister, a cadre comprising what we have termed the "public-service elite." We use this term, not in its strict sociological sense of individuals recruited from privileged backgrounds and tied closely to political and economic units and constituting a power block, (1) but instead to refer to the cadre at the apex of their administrative state hierarchies and to the leadership responsibilities and the power resources that follow from this occupational location. The scope of our study does not tackle questions that would reveal such distinctions. In terms of pure class and educational background, studies suggest that senior Canadian state managers are far more likely to come from middleclass than upper-class socio-economic backgrounds. (2)

The following "job description" of the DM provides a useful summary of their strategic position at the apex of their organizational structure:

The functions of the deputy minister are both managerial and political. A deputy is a manager, directing administrative affairs but also recommending new policy and serving as an important advisor to the minister, the political head of the department. The deputy is particularly influential in relation to the minister because, unlike the minister who has several political roles and for whom the portfolio is probably a short-term responsibility, the deputy is frequently a full-time official and a potentially longer-term department head. (3)

The ADM plays a supporting role to the DM in carrying out the DM'S responsibility for the "overall management of the department, and for providing advice and support to the minister." (4) Consequently, the prime responsibility for the PSE is policy development, organizational leadership and management, and expenditure control. It is also responsible for "issue management, communications, agency and other stakeholder relations." These "strategic responsibilities are considered essential ingredients for deputies to embrace in order to effectively and efficiently deliver on operational management and provide sound policy advice." (5) However, many of these responsibilities have become more complex and challenging in the context of organizational restructuring and an environment of significant policy change. (6)

The survey

A total of 941 survey questionnaires were mailed out in the summer of 2006 to the population of PSES. This represented every identifiable DM and ADM in the federal, provincial and territorial governments in Canada. Surveys were available in both English and French. The DMS comprised 28.8 per cent of the cohort, with the remaining 71.2 per cent comprising ADMS. Seventeen surveys were returned because the ADM/DM was no longer in the position. Consequently, the total valid sample population was brought down to 924. Of these questionnaires, 403 completed surveys were mailed back, for a return rate of 43.61 per cent. The survey is considered accurate at least ninety-five times out of a hundred within a 0.05 margin of error. (7) For reasons of protecting confidentiality and to enhance the return rate, we did not ask respondents to disclose their ranking as DM or ADM, given that this is a small population. Also, to further protect anonymity, we asked participants to identify only the level of government they were associated with--federal, province, territory--rather than the specific jurisdiction. Thus, where appropriate, findings are reported using the federal, province, territory categories only.

The survey instrument was designed as a series of primarily "closed" questions. It was constructed to be completed in approximately fifteen to twenty minutes and to facilitate the highest possible return rate. The PSE cadre is a small and tightly knit professional grouping that guards the doctrine of political neutrality closely. This cadre is also extremely time-constrained. Our survey instrument was designed with both of these realities in mind. Consequently, this survey was limited in scope. It was constructed to provide a representative broad-based sketch of key demographic variables and markers of career trajectories for the most senior public service across political jurisdictions above the local level in Canada. (8)

The surveyed PSE population was composed, as follows, by level of government: The ten provinces had the largest share, at 78 per cent, followed by the federal government, at 13.8 per cent, and the three territories, at 8.2 per cent. The portion of returned surveys closely tracked the overall pattern of population breakdown of deputies, with 78.4 per cent of returns deriving from the provinces, 10.4 per cent from the federal government (slightly underrepresented in the sample), and 11.2 per cent from the territories (an above-average return rate) (see Table 1).

Public-service elite demographic profile: representative bureaucracy in question

Barbara Wake Carroll's study of managerial bias in organizational decision-making noted that "given the power of the management group, the characteristics of the senior managers are important independent variables in considering the way in which organizations decide." (9) These characteristics include career path and education, among others, and such elements serve to create a lens through which organizational leaders frame problems and identify solutions. In Wake Carroll's words, "values produced by the backgrounds of the managers themselves ... can significantly affect decision-making and organizational performance." (10) In our study, we explore the demographic composition, educational background and career paths of Canadian PSEs.

The demographic make-up of the public service, especially for the most senior levels, has long been a matter of interest. The term "representative bureaucracy" first appeared with J. Donald Kingsley's 1944 book, Representative Bureaucracy: An Interpretation of the British Civil Service, in which he wrote,

The democratic State cannot afford to exclude any considerable body of its citizens from full participation in its affairs. It requires at every point that superior insight and wisdom which is the peculiar product of the pooling of diverse streams of experience. In this lies the strength of representative government. Upon it depends the superiority of the democratic Civil Service over its totalitarian rivals. In a democracy competence alone is not enough. The public service must also be representative if the State is to liberate rather than enslave. (11)

The operational meaning of "representativeness" was further refined in 1958, by Paul van Riper, who suggested that "to be representative, a bureaucracy must 1) consist of a reasonable cross-section of the body politic in terms of occupation, class, geography and the like, and 2) must be in general tune with the ethos and attitudes of the society of which it is part." (12) In addition, various observers of public administration understand representative bureaucracy as more than symbolic, as a positive contribution to the distribution of power and access. (13) Public administrative decisions are, to a greater or lesser extent, political decisions embedded with the potential for far-reaching consequences; therefore, there must be real interest in who occupies authoritative positions within the public administrative apparatus.

The benefits of representative bureaucracy are numerous and include 1) a symbolic commitment to diverse and equal access to power; 2) a broader range of experiences and knowledge that is made available to the decision-making process; 3) the ability to influence the process of agenda-setting and prioritization within the administrative state; 4) a greater potential for greater cooperation of traditionally underrepresented groups with government as trust is built; and 5) the broadening of the number of candidates who may be considered for public-service appointments. (14) However, it has been argued that the demographic background and the values/attitudes that are assumed to attend a given background may well be diminished through organizational and career co-option. (15)

Our interest in demographic profile stems from a concern about the representativeness of the non-elected components of the state in a liberal democratic society. (16) How closely does the demographic profile of the public service reflect the population at large? In this regard, we surveyed a number of pertinent variables, namely gender, visible minority status and aboriginal background. Not surprisingly, our findings conclude that the PSE is underrepresentative of women, visible minorities and aboriginals in Canadian society.

Other important variables are also captured under the heading of demographics, including education and various employment characteristics. These are significant for identifying other key features that are characteristic of the deputy cadre.

Gender

According to 2006 data, Canadian women make up 47 per cent of the total Canadian workforce, one of the highest female participation rates in the world. A federal public-service survey reports that women now constitute a majority of its core labour force, at 54 per cent in 2006, up from 46 per cent, in 1995. (17) Over the years, there has been a feminization of the Canadian public service, but gender imbalances remain at the more senior levels. For the executive group at the federal level, between 1995 and 2006, women's representation expanded from 19.4 to 38.8 per cent, but it remains the occupational category with the lowest proportion of women. (18)

The overall gender breakdown of the PSE sample was 66-per-cent men and 34-per-cent women (see Figure 1). Previous studies have shown that before 1975 women were almost "completely absent from the senior public service." (19) Hence, women remain statistically underrepresented within the PSE but appear to have made significant strides in recent years, currently resting at over a third of our sample population. With respect to level of government, the only significant variation noted was at the territorial level, where women were fully 47 per cent of the sample, suggesting that opportunities for advancement for women was significantly greater at this level of government. (20)

Visible minorities

In terms of visible minorities, only 4.2 per cent of the sample identified themselves as being within this category. Data from the 2001 Canadian census placed the visible minority population at 13.4 per cent nationally. (21) There were, however, some telling variations by level of government (see Figure 2), since 16 per cent of the territorial sample, only 5 per cent of the federal, and 3 per cent of the provincial samples were composed of self-declared visible minorities. While we were not able to break down our data for the provincial level, it is the case that Ontario and British Columbia in particular have relatively large visible minority populations. We would consequently expect that these provinces would have higher numbers of visible minorities in executive public-service positions.

Aboriginal identification

Those who declare themselves to be of aboriginal background stood at 3.5 per cent of the total sample. However, aboriginal PSES were to be found almost exclusively in the territorial state bureaucracies, where nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of the PSE sample was drawn from aboriginal backgrounds (see Figure 3). According to the 2001 Canadian census, about 3.3 per cent of the Canadian population is of aboriginal background, and in the territories the figure stands at 52 per cent. (22) Consequently, while the overall percentage of our PSE survey population from aboriginal backgrounds closely tracked national averages for aboriginal population, the overall figure masked an underrepresentation when broken down by level of government.

The more significant level of aboriginal representation at the territorial level of government could be anticipated. This is not just because of the higher aboriginal population base found in the Far North but also because territorial governments like Nunavut have put in place strong affirmative action programs designed to make their public administrations more reflective of their aboriginal populations. (23)

As noted earlier, the idea of a representative bureaucracy is important for democratic governance, (24) and our sample suggests that while the most senior levels of the Canadian civil service may be attaining a more equal gender balance, visible minorities and aboriginals remain significantly underrepresented among the ranks of PSES. Significantly, it is in the territorial governments where gender, aboriginal and visible minority representation is the highest. The desire to recruit and retain qualified public servants in the northern territories appears to have opened up space for underrepresented groups to fill some of the most senior portfolios at rates not seen in the provinces or at the federal level. In fact, the visible minority PSE population in the territorial sample (16 per cent) is significantly overrepresentative of this group's population in the northern territories (3 per cent). (25)

Age

The age profile of our PSE sample is also revealing (see Figure 4A). Broken down into three age categories, overall, 38 per cent were between the ages of 30 and 49; 56 per cent were between 50 and 59; and 7 per cent were 60 years of age and older. While the age profiles of PSES at the federal and provincial levels were very similar, with nearly 60 per cent of the samples in their fifties, the territorial sample was considerably younger. In fact, 62 per cent of the territorial PSE sample was less than 50 years of age (see Figure 4B).

When age is cross-tabulated with gender, visible minority and aboriginal self-identification, we discover that female PSES were younger than their male counterparts (46.7 per cent of the female sample fell into the cohort of under fifty years of age, compared to 31.9 per cent of males). For visible minorities and aboriginals, nearly all were to be found in the cohort of under fifty years of age (70.5 per cent of visible minorities and 100 per cent of aboriginals) (see Table 2). The column percentages represented in figures 4C through 4E display patterns demonstrating that women, visible minorities and aboriginals are more recent recruits to the PSE cadre, and these trends reflect more favourable growth potential for these groupings.

If we consider, for example, the PSE cohort of thirty to forty-nine year of age, fully 43 per cent of this group is composed of women (see Figure 4C), 8 per cent are visible minorities (see Figure 4D), and 9 per cent are aboriginals (see Figure 4E). These figures are considerably higher than those found in older-age cohorts. This suggests that the most senior levels of the Canadian public service are becoming more reflective of the overall workforce in terms of sex, aboriginal and visible minority status, although there is still a considerable distance to go, especially with respect to the latter groups. Women have made the most rapid advances of the designated groups under the Employment Equity Act in Canada. In fact, the 34 per cent overall showing for women in our PSE sample compares favourably with the finding that 37 per cent of managerial positions in the overall labour market in 2004 were held by women, but most of this number was made up of lower-level managerial positions. (26)

In terms of the visible minority population in Canada, it has been growing rapidly because of the impact of changing patterns of immigration, which now draws heavily from the developing world. In fact, by 2001, some "two-thirds of visible minorities were foreign-born." (27) First-generation mid-career immigrants are unlikely to become employed in the Canadian public service, especially at more senior levels. Hence, the impact of immigration-based visible minority labour-force growth on the public service is unlikely to be fully felt until the second generation reaches working age. This in part likely explains some of the underrepresentation of visible minorities in the PSE and why visible minorities are concentrated among the younger age cohorts. Nonetheless, the numbers reveal that, even with this consideration, visible minorities are not well reflected in the PSE population.

Educational background

The educational background of PSES has long been considered an important variable affecting decision-making and the policy orientation of the state (28) (see Figure 5A). For example, Michael Pusey observed a strong link between the growing number of senior executives in the Australian federal government who held economics or business degrees and the turn of the Australian state towards what may be termed a New Right policy perspective. (29) The vast majority of the individuals surveyed for this study possessed a university degree (93 per cent). Of the remaining 8 per cent of the sample, 5 per cent held some kind of other tertiary degree, mainly from a community college. Of the overall sample, 49 per cent held one or more graduate degrees.

When broken down by level of government, some interesting variations emerge. In terms of graduate qualifications, for example, fully 66 per cent of those in the federal government deputy cadre held graduate degrees, compared to 51 per cent at the provincial level and only 28 per cent in the territorial governments. In the territories, a fairly large percentage (12 per cent) of those in the PSE possessed only community college qualifications (see Figure 5B).

In terms of professional degrees (e.g., law, engineering, forestry), 25 per cent of the overall sample possessed one such degree (see Figure 6A). Broken down by level of government, the territorial level once again shows noticeably lower levels of professional qualifications than other levels of government, with only 16 per cent of the territorial PSE possessing such qualifications, compared to 24 per cent at the federal and 27 per cent at the provincial levels (see Figure 6B). While the territories display a pattern of somewhat lower formal qualifications held by its deputy cadre, the overall data strongly confirms that possession of post-secondary education credentials and increasingly more than one degree (one at a professional or graduate level) is now considered the norm for holding one of these posts.

For the general Canadian adult population in 2001 (25 years of age and older), some 20 per cent held a university degree and 16 per cent had a college diploma. About 6 per cent held a qualification above the bachelor's level. (30) Not surprisingly, PSES are very highly educated and accredited, compared to the general population.

Unlike Pusey's observation of Australia, the disciplinary specialization of PSES in the Canadian case reveals a pattern where generalists remain highly regarded. The disciplinary backgrounds of the PSE are wide-ranging (see Figure 7). Clearly, many educational backgrounds are recognized as relevant training for a public-service career. Preference for management or financial educational qualifications clearly do not dominate in the modern Canadian public service, nor is there a requirement to hold a formal degree in public administration or public policy to gain the highest levels of administrative office. This is consistent with earlier observations by Barbara Wake Carroll and David Garkut, who "found little evidence of a trend, as measured by increases in mobility or changes in the relevance of the field of education" towards managerialism. (31) And, on this note, Sharon Varette and David Zussman found 52 per cent of the federal DM group had social science and humanities backgrounds, and 30 per cent held degrees in economics or business administration. (32) When disciplinary background was cross-tabulated with gender and level of government, there were no significant differences in findings, although there was a general observable tendency for women to be more concentrated in the humanities and other social sciences category compared to men.

Wake Carroll has observed that the United States and Canada lead the way in terms of senior civil servants holding graduate degrees. Comparing Wake Carroll's data from 1996 to that presented here--data collected approximately a decade apart--a growing number of federal public servants have advanced educational qualifications. In her study, 45.3 per cent of the sample of federal public servants held a masters or doctorate degree, compared to 66 per cent in our sample. The evidence from our survey does in fact suggest that a large proportion of PSES across all levels of government in Canada possess such credentials, corroborating Wake Carroll's earlier findings. (33)

This pattern of educational background, while consistent with the traditional British orientation towards generalists for public servants, does appear to stand in some contrast with developments elsewhere in the Commonwealth. In Australia, for instance, the chief public-servant cadre, built through the process of neoliberal restructuring, is increasing drawn from the ranks of economics, commerce and business-oriented training (well over 50 per cent at the federal level by the mid-1980s). A public-service leadership of economic rationalists over the generalist, in the Australian case, appears to have prevailed. (34) The Canadian public service, based on this and earlier findings, (35) appears to have adopted a more balanced approach to DM/ADM recruitment with respect to disciplinary backgrounds. It is also revealing that when we posed a question to our PSE sample that tapped into the economic rationalist orientation--"Do you think that an academic background in economics is the most relevant type of education for today's public service professional / manager / executive?"--an overwhelming 86 per cent of respondents replied in the negative (see Figure 8).

Career path

A large segment of our overall sample had previously held one to two appointments at the level of deputy/assistant deputy (72 per cent), with only 8 per cent having held no previous appointment (see Figure 9A). When separated out by level of government, it appears that it is at the federal level that the PSES have considerably more in the way of previous appointments, compared to the deputy cadre at other levels of government (see Figure 9B). Interestingly, there were no significant differences between men and women in terms of patterns of previous appointments (see Figure 9C).

Most of the respondents had had a long tenure in the public service before they were appointed to a PSE post for the first time (42 per cent had more than twenty years, 39 per cent had ten to twenty years, and 19 per cent had less than ten years) (see Figure 10A). Figure 10B indicates, however, that there is a gender difference. The plurality of women gained appointment in the ten-to-twenty-year period (46 per cent), while for men it was at the twenty-year-plus period (47 per cent) that the largest numbers gained their first appointment. This pattern supports the finding that women on average gain their deputy/assistant deputy appointments earlier in their careers.

A plurality of those surveyed overall (46 per cent) had held their current position for two years or less; another 34 per cent had held their positions for two to five years; and 20 per cent for more than five years (see Figure 11A). The patterns for length of service in current positions are fairly consistent for PSE, by level of government. The one significant variation is at the federal level, where fully 51 per cent of the PSE sample had been in their current positions for five to ten years, with a far lower percentage, compared to other levels of government, having served for longer periods of time (see Figure 11B). There were no significantly identifiable differences on this variable by gender. This larger pattern is consistent with the trends in "new public management" to move top-level civil servants on a regular basis so that they gain broad horizontal leadership experience. A 1999 study of provincial assistant deputy and deputy ministers found that "there was a relatively high level of mobility in the senior provincial civil service," where approximately 32 per cent of ADMS and DMS moved to a new position each year. (36) Our findings would suggest that, notwithstanding different methodologies employed, a similar conclusion could be made, where 46 per cent of incumbents had been in their current position for two years or less. On the other hand, 50 per cent of the sample had held their positions for two to ten years. This may reflect a simultaneous slowing down and speeding up in senior-level mobility--a function of generational change, where retirement waves create vacancies that can be filled by a new generation of leaders, while more senior PSES remain in place as opportunities for movement are distributed to those who represent the next cadre of PSES. In other words, deputies who near retirement age experience stability in their job replacements, while younger deputies encounter high levels of lateral movements between job positions.

When asked about having worked for another level of government in the past, 39 per cent indicated that they had. Broken down by level of government, just over a third of PSES from the federal and provincial governments had worked for another level of government, and a clear majority from the territories had done so (see Figure 12). These patterns suggest that, for the federal and provincial levels of government, career-building and advancement are primarily accomplished inside the organization, while, for the territories, skills attained at other levels of government are more readily transferable and valued. This is no doubt a consequence of the territorial challenge of recruiting qualified candidates into DM/ADM ranks and perhaps, to some extent, the need for some prior experience in another government as a means of importing the knowledge and skills necessary for building capacity in these sub-national state-building projects. (37)

Conclusions

One overriding and general conclusion that we can derive from the results of this survey is that the Canadian federal system, with its multiple levels of government, enables a rather interesting and important diversity within and between the public-service elites in the upper echelons of the national and sub-national administrative states that comprise the federation. Most notably, it is the territories that present what appears to be a very interesting project in constructing a public-service leadership.

We employ the term "public-service elite" (psv.) in this study to highlight the strategic location occupied by deputy and assistant deputy ministers within our system of governance. The demographic variables we were able to probe inform us that our most senior civil servants remain predominantly male, white, well-educated and accredited. While beyond the scope of this limited survey, a more detailed examination of the socio-economic characteristics of contemporary deputies is worth undertaking, since some thirty years have passed since the last serious study of this dimension of public administration in Canada.

Within the limits of our study, we were able to report on a number of important variables salient to the question of the representativeness of our senior bureaucracy. Our findings reveal that there is reason for both concern and, simultaneously, optimism. With respect to gender, this survey indeed confirms that the apex of Canada's administrative states is still largely male. However, as noted above, the fact is that, in 2006, a third of PSES were women, which compares rather positively to the near absence of women in these ranks thirty years prior. And, more significantly, when age is considered, we can be assured that, in the near future, PSES as a group will look rather different from what is the current case. The point is that there are significant numbers of younger women in leadership roles who will no doubt be in positions to fill vacancies left by their older male colleagues as they enter retirement. The territorial bureaucracies already boast near gender parity, with 47 per cent of the sample being composed of women.

The case of visible minorities appears to be more troubling. At the federal and provincial levels, there is clear and significant underrepresentation of visible minorities in the most senior public-service leadership ranks. Again, most interesting is the case of the territories, where the representation of visible minorities is positively disproportionate relative to the population base. Age provides some modest potential for improvement on this front, as self-declared visible minorities responding to this survey tend to be, like women, younger. Aboriginals holding positions among the public-service elite are significantly underrepresented at the federal and provincial levels of the public service as well. However, the territories are again the outlier in this regard. The fact that very nearly one in four members of territorial PSES is aboriginal is a very positive finding but it is also a rather mixed finding. From a national population perspective, this is indeed a significant number, but, in terms of the aboriginal base population in the territories, there is clearly room for still greater representativeness. The fact that all of the aboriginal deputies from our sample were from the youngest cohort does suggest that aboriginal representation will increase over time but that it will also likely be largely limited to the territorial level of government.

In terms of education and academic /disciplinary background, it can be said that Canadian PSES are rather pluralistic; they come from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and levels of academic achievement. With respect to discipline, Canadian PSES follow a generalist orientation and appear to eschew the dominance of disciplines aligned with "economic rationalism," as Pusey observed in Australia. Eighty-six per cent of respondents reject the claim that economics is the best intellectual preparation for a position in the senior leadership ranks. And federal PsEs demonstrate the overall highest levels of educational attainment, where two-thirds possess a graduate degree. In this respect, the territories are again the outlier, because territorial PSES are less likely to hold a graduate degree and more likely to be limited to a community college diploma or an undergraduate degree than PSES in the other two levels of government. Again, this may speak to the relative youth of the top leadership in the territories and the challenges of building robust administrative states in the Canadian Far North. Overall, however, the PSE stands out as a well-educated group, compared to the overall population.

Turning to career trajectory, there is again evidence of an incremental movement towards ever greater representativeness, at least with regard to gender. Women tend to gain their first appointment to PSE ranks earlier in their career than do men, and so one can speculate that as men leave the senior ranks in larger numbers, more qualified women can step in and up. It should also be noted that there appears to be somewhat more mobility at the provincial and territorial level, which may bode well for efforts to establish a more horizontal approach to policy and management.

Our data reveal a general pattern of frequent rotation of deputies between posts, a trend promoted by the "new public management" in support of building a more horizontal public administration. It appears that at the federal and provincial levels, PSE careers are largely constructed within their own public-service structures, since only about a third of these deputies had previously worked in another level of government. Perhaps not unexpectedly, in the territories, fully 62 per cent of the sample had worked for another government. The senior territorial public services, it would appear, have adopted a strategy of aggressive external recruitment to help build capacity.

Our survey results suggest that the upper echelons of a future public service is undergoing changes that will make it more representative in terms of gender, visible minority and aboriginal make-up. However, the greatest improvements are in terms of women's career advancements, with visible minority and aboriginal DM/ADMS showing positive but very slow growth in numbers. Moreover, such change is uneven by level of government, with the territories leading the way in terms of greater representativeness.

Notes

(1) There are a number of Canadian studies on this topic, starting with John Porter, The Vertical Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965), Chapter 14, that have probed the sociological understandings of the bureaucratic elite. Also see, for example, Colin E. Campbell and George J. Szlabowski, The Superbureaucrats (Toronto: Macmillian, 1979), Denis Olsen, The State Elite in Canadian Society (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1980), and Jacques Bourgault, "Profile of deputy ministers in the Government of Canada," Working Paper Series (Ottawa: Canada School of Public Service, 2003).

(2) Bourgault, "Profile of deputy ministers in the Government of Canada," Working Paper Series, p. 8.

(3) John McMenemy, The Language of Canadian Politics: A Guide to Important Terms and Concepts (Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006), pp. 101-102.

(4) Ibid., p. 8.

(5) James Wheeler, "Holding deputy ministers' feet to the fire: An examination of the evolving federal accountability framework for deputy ministers" (Master of Arts, Major Research Paper, Ryerson University, 2006), p. 7. For another useful source outlining the role of DMS see, Canada, Privy Council Office, Guidance for Deputy Ministers (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2003).

(6) Timothy Plumptre, "New perspectives on the role of the deputy minister," CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 30, nO. 3 (Fall 1987), pp. 376-97.

(7) See Zakkula Govindarajulu, Elements of Sample Theory and Methods (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1999).

(8) It is our intent to develop a more in-depth deputy survey in the near future that will allow us to greatly extend the scope of our analysis.

(9) Barbara Wake Carroll, The Biases of Management (London: Routledge, 1993), p. 17.

(10) Ibid., p. 1.

(11) J. Donald Kingsley, Representative Bureaucracy: An Interpretation of the British Civil Service (Yellow Springs, Ohio: Antioch Press, 1944), p. 185.

(12) Paul van Riper, History of the United States Civil Service: 1789-1957 (Evanston, Ill: Row, Peterson, 1958), p. 552.

(13) Lani Guinier, The Tyranny of the Majority: Fundamental Fairness in Representative Democracy (New York: The Free Press, 1994), p. 175.

(14) Sally Coleman Selden, The Promise of Representative Bureaucracy: Diversity and Responsiveness in a Government Agency (Armonk, N.Y. and London: M.E. Sharpe, 1997), pp. 6-7.

(15) Kenneth Meier and Joseph Stewart, "Representative bureaucracy and policy references: A study in the attitudes of federal executives," Public Administration Review 36, no. 4 (July/ August, 1976), pp. 458-69.

(16) Ralph Miliband, The State in Capitalist Society: The Analysis of the Western System of Power (London: Quartet Books, 1969).

(17) Statistics Canada, "Employment trends in the federal public service 1995 to 2006," The Daily, 5 March 2007, p. 2.

(18) Statistics Canada, "Study: Female employment in the core public administration," The Daily, 4 September 2007, p. 2.

(19) Bourgault, "Profile of deputy ministers in the Government of Canada," Working Paper Series, p. 3; Jacques Bourgault, and Stephane Dion, The Changing Profile of Federal Deputy Ministers: 1867-1988 (Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Management Development, 1991).

(20) One federal study of federal deputies concluded that, if the rate of increase of women from the 1970s through the 1980s had not stabilized, by 2008 one half of the deputy population would have been composed of women. (Bourgault, "Profile of deputy ministers in the Government of Canada," Working Paper Series, p. 3). Aside from the territories, where over 40 per cent of the deputy cadre is made up of women, about a third of the overall survey population of deputies is made up of women.

(21) See the Statistics Canada web site at http://www.statcan.ca/menu-en.htm.

(22) Ibid.

(23) Annis May Timpson, "Stretching the concept of representative bureaucracy: The case of Nunavut," International Review of Administrative Sciences 72, no. 4 (December 2006), pp. 517-30.

(24) Bourgault, "Profile of deputy ministers in the Government of Canada," Working Paper Series, p. 3; Kenneth Meier, "Representative bureaucracy: A theoretical and empirical exposition," Research in Public Administration, vol. 2, no. 1 (1993), pp. 1-35; Jay Shafritz, Albert Hyde and David Rosenbloom, Personnel Management in Government: Politics and Process, 3rd ed. (New York: Marcel Dekker, 1986); John Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (Glenview, III.: Scott, Foresman, 1984); Harry Kranz, The Participatorv Burearaucracy: Women and Minorities in a More Representative Public Service (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1976).

(25) This figure is based on Statistics Canada's 2001 census data. See the Statistics Canada web site at http://www.statcan.ca/menu-en.htm.

(26) Statistics Canada, "Women in Canada," The Daily, 7 March 2006, p. 2.

(27) Kelly Tran, "Visible minorities in the labour force: 20 years of change," Canadian Social Trends, no. 73 (Summer 2004), p. 7.

(28) Michael Pusey, Economic Rationalism in Canberra: A Nation Building State Changes its Mind (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991); Barbara Wake Carroll, "Bureaucratic elites: some patterns in career paths over time," International Review of Administrative Sciences 62, no. 2 (June 1996), pp. 383-99; Bourgault, "Profile of deputy ministers in the Government of Canada," Working Paper Series, pp. 8-10.

(29) Pusey, Economic Rationalism in Canberra, pp. 59-64.

(30) Statistics Canada, "Census population: Earnings, level of schooling, field of study and school attendance," The Daily, 11 March 2003, p. 2.

(31) Barbara Wake Carroll and David Garkut, "Is there empirical evidence of a trend towards 'managerialism'? A longitudinal study of six countries," CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 39, no. 4 (Winter 1996), p. 553.

(32) Sharon Varette and David Zussman, "Today's leaders: Career trends in Canada's private- and public-sector executives," CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 41, no. 2 (Summer 1998), p. 290.

(33) Wake Carroll, "Bureaucratic elites," International Review of Administrative Science, p. 390.

(34) Pusey, Economic Rationalism in Canberra, p. 59.

(35) Bourgault, "Profile of deputy ministers in the Government of Canada," Working Paper Series.

(36) Barbara Wake Carroll, Gerald Bierling and Michael Rosenblatt, "Movers and stayers: Mobility patterns among senior public servants in Canadian provinces," CANADIAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 43, no. 2 (Summer 2000), p. 214.

(37) Our interest in this survey was limited to PSES' work experience at other levels of government in order to better understand intergovernmental mobility among those who come to hold executive positions. The study did not ask about work experience outside the state sector.

The authors are professors, Department of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University. John Shields is also director, CERIS--The Ontario Metropolis Centre. This project would not have been possible without support from Ryerson University's Faculty of Arts Summer Research Assistant program and from the dean of arts, Dr. Carla Cassidy. In addition, the authors wish to warmly thank their extremely capable research assistants, Jessica Ng and Alvin Ying, who ably provided project management and analytical skills towards this effort. Finally, they would like to thank the Journal's anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Table 1. Total Surveys Sent and Returned, by Level of Government

              Sent   (%)      Returned   (%)      Return rate (%) *

Federal       130    (13.8)    42        (10.4)   32.31
Provinces     734    (78.0)   315        (78.4)   42.92
Territories    77    (8.2)     45        (11.2)   58.44
N             941             402

Note: Missing data (one returned survey did not identify level of
government). Of the 941 surveys sent out, seventeen surveys were
returned due to vacant posts, reducing the valid survey population to
924.

Total surveyed population = 924. Overall survey return rate 403/924 =
43.61 per cent.

* Note the return rate by level of government has been calculated on
the basis of 941 surveys, since it was not possible to trace the
geographic location of the seventeen vacated deputy posts. Hence, the
actual return rates, by level of government, are likely in each case
to be slightly higher than reported here.

Table 2. Overall Gender and Identity among PSES, by Age Categories

                    30 to 49     50 to 59
                    years (%)    year (%)     60 and over (%)

Gender
  Male               83 (31.9)   156 (60)     21 (8.1)
  Female             63 (46.7)    67 (49.6)    5 (3.7)
  N = 395

Visible minority
  Visible min.       12 (70.5)     5 (29.4)    0 (0)
  Not vis. min.     140 (36.4)   218 (56.6)   27 (7)
  N = 402

Aboriginal
  Aboriginal         14 (100)      0 (0)       0 (0)
  Non-abor.         138 (35.6)   223 (57)     27 (7)
  N = 402

(Row percentages)

Figure 1. Overall Gender Distribution in PSE Sample (N = 395)

Male     66%
Female   34%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 2. Overall Visible Minority Identification among PSES (N=384)

Percentage of Respondents

              No    Yes

Federal       95%    5%
Provinces     97%    3%
Territories   84%   16%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 3. Overall Aboriginal Identification among PSES (N=384)

Percentage of Respondents

             No     Yes

Federal      100%    0%
Provinces     99%    1%
Territories   76%   24%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 4A. Overall Age Distribution among PSES (N=403)

30 to 49   38%
50 to 59   56%
60 +        7%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 4B. Age Distribution among PSES, by Level of Government
(N = 402)

Percentage of Respondents

              60+   50 to 59   30 to 49

Federal       7%    60%        33%
Provinces     7%    58%        35%
Territories   4%    33%        62%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 4C. Overall Age and Gender Distribution among PSES (N = 395)

Percentage of Respondents

Age Group   Female   Male

30 to 49    43%      57%
50 to 59    30%      70%
60+         19%      81%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 4D. Overall Age and Visible Minority Status Distribution
among PSES (N = 402)

Percentage of Respondents

Age Group   Not Visible   Visible
            Minority      Minority

30 to 49     92%           8%
50 to 59    100%           2%
60+         100%           0%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 4E. Overall Age and Aboriginal Identity Distribution among
PSES (N = 402)

Percentage of Respondents

Age Group   Non-Aboriginal   Aboriginal

30 to 49         91%             9%
50 to 59        100%             0%
60+             100%             0%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 5A. Overall Highest Levels of Education Reached among PSES
(N = 375)

No Post Secondary Degree     3%
Community Colleges           5%
Undergraduate Degree        43%
Graduate Degree             49%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 5B. Highest Levels of Education Reached among PSES, by Level
of Government (N=374)

Percentage of Respondents

              Graduate   Undergraduate   Community   No Post Secondary
              Degree     Degree          Colleges    Degree

Federal         66%          32%            3%
Provinces       51%          43%            4%            3%
Territories     28%          56%           12%            5%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 6A. Overall Attainment of Professional Degrees among PSES
(N = 400)

Percentage of Respondents

Yes   25%
No    75%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Table 6B. Attainment of Professional Degrees among PSES, by Level of
Government (N = 399)

              No    Yes

Federal       76%   24%
Provinces     73%   27%
Territories   84%   16%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 7. Overall Disciplinary Backgrounds among PSES (N = 378)

Political Science/Public Administration      16%
Finance/Economics/Management                 28%
Humanities/Other Social Science              26%
Natural Sciences                             14%
Professional Degrees                         16%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 8. Overall Response among PSES to "Do you think that a
background in economics is the most relevant type of education
for today's public service?" (N = 394)

Yes       14%
No        86%
Maybe      0%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 9A. Overall Previous Number of Appointments Held at the
(Assistant) Deputy Minister Level (N = 382)

No Previous Appointment             8%
1 Previous Appointment             49%
2 Previous Appointment             23%
3 or More Previous Appointments    20%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 9B. Previous Number of Appointments Held at the (Assistant)
Deputy Minister Level, by Level of Government (N=381)

Percentage of Respondents

              3 or More      2 Previous    1 Previous    No Previous
              Previous       Appointment   Appointment   Appointment
              Appointments

Federal           25%           43%             30%             3%
Provinces         18%           21%             53%             8%
Territories       26%           19%             45%            10%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 9C. Overall Previous Number of Appointments Held at the
(Assistant) Deputy Minister Level, by Gender (N=374)

Percentage of Respondents

            3 or More       2 Previous     1 Previous    No Previous
            Previous        Appointment    Appointment   Appointment
            Appointments

Male           18%              24%             50%             8%
Female         24%              21%             48%             7%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 10A. Overall Years in Public Service before First (Assistant)
Deputy Appointment (N = 398)

0 to 10 Years               19%
10 to 20 Years              39%
More than 20 Years          42%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 10B. Years in Public Service before First (Assistant) Deputy
Appointment, by Gender (M = 390)

Percentage of Respondents

               20+        10-20         0-10

Male           47%          33%          19%
Female         33%          46%          21%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 11A. Overall Length of Service in Current Position (N=397)

2 Years or Less             46%
2 to 5 Years                34%
5 to 10 Years               16%
or More 10 Years             4%

Note: Table made from pie chart.

Figure 11B. Length of Service in Current Position, by Level of
Government (N=396)

Percentage of Respondents

                More than      5 to 10     2 to 5    2 Years
                10 Years       Years       Years     or Less

Federal          2%             5%          51%        41%
Provinces        4%            18%          32%        46%
Territories      9%            11%          32%        48%

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Figure 12. PSES who had Previously Worked for another Level of
Government, by Level of Government (N=400)

Percentage of Respondents

                  No         Yes

Federal           64%        36%
Provinces         65%        35%
Territories       38%        62%

Note: Table made from bar graph.