01795pab a2200193 454500008004000000100001800040245011400058260000900172300001400181362000900195520115700204650001801361650002601379700003001405773003501435909001001470999001701480952010401497180718b2002   xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aAucoin, Peter  aDesigning a merit-based process for appointing boards of ABCS: lessons from the Nova Scotia reform experience  c2002  ap.301-27.  aFall  aEfforts to design merit-based appointment systems for the boards of government agencies, boards and commissions (ABCS) have gained greater priority over the past decade in order to enhance public confidence in the integrity of the political process, improve the governance of organizations operating at arm's length from ministers, and reduce the risks to the public interest and public purse that come with incompetent boards. The Nova Scotia reform experience in this regard is instructive because this province's appointment regime not only encompasses a legislative committee veto over ministerial appointments, a power unique to this province in the Canadian and comparative Westminster systems, but also uniquely sets the merit standard as relative-merit, that is, the appointment of the most qualified of all applicants, and not merely a qualified candidate. This article reviews this provincial experience and concludes that a merit-based appointment system that pursues relative merit can be created but only by restricting the authority of ministers to a veto over the appointment of candidates nominated by the ABCS themselves. - Reproduced.  aCivil service  aAdministrative reform  aGoodyear-Grant, Elizabeth  aCanadian Public Administration  a56215  c56215d56215  00104070aIIPAbIIPAd2018-07-19hVolume no: 45, Issue no: 3pAR56660r2018-07-19w2018-07-19yAR