Banishing bureaucracy or hatching a hybrid? The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the politics of reinventing government

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is a means to overcoming long-st anding bureaucratic politics while attaining some major policy ends. Contra ry to some of the new public management bravado of transforming the public sector, the CFIA is not a bureaucratic revolution in reshaping the Canadian State. Changes in scientific staffing, funding, and inspection have been m ore incremental than fundamental. Moreover, the CFIA is something less than the special and separate operating agency models discussed in the alternat ive service delivery literature in terms of autonomy and market orientation , brit something more autonomous and entrepreneurial than traditional gover nment departments. These organizational and managerial reforms are modest e xtensions providing a means for achieving economies and enhanced effectiven ess in carrying out the mandate of safety, consumer protection, and market access for Canadian food, animal, plant, and forestry products.