Outline and evaluate the concept of “reinventing government.” What does it mean and what are its strengths and weaknesses? Does the reinvention thesis provide Canadian governments with a viable path to reform and restructure the nature and functioning of public administration in this country? Why or why not? The concept of reinventing government was best explained by two Americans, David Osborne and Ted Gaebler. They made this concept known to a large popular audience and also strengthened the perceived legitimacy and popularity of this idea among government leaders. Basically this idea is a reformist concept where governments try to adopt ten major reform initiatives. Osborne and Gaebler developed ten principles for reinventing government that, if adopted by governments and managers, could transform public sector managers into public sector entrepreneurs. The ten principles are: Catalytic Government, Community-Owned Government, Competitive Government, Mission-Oriented Government, Results-Oriented Government, Customer-Driven Government, Enterprising Government, Anticipatory Government, Decentralized Government, and Market-Oriented Government. Catalytic governance (steering rather than rowing) is the role of governance and management that must be proactive and innovative, not reactive and traditional. Instead of addressing problems as they arise, governments are encouraged to act as catalysts. To help govern and manage tasks, they should find new and creative ways to achieve public goals. They should approach issues and problems by thinking outside the box and beyond standard action, thus finding new and better ways to address issues. Their first action should be to “drive” rather than “paddle”. Instead of having… half the paper… value vision. Keeping to the Canadian perspective, Kernaghan, Marson and Boris (2000) highlight that the concepts encompass three approaches to public sector governance. They are the importance of reducing the role of the state in society; importance of restructuring and reforming the nature and functioning of government organizations; and the importance of improving management skills and practices within the public sector through participatory decision-making and employee empowerment. While this is a good way to reform government, the choice depends on the degree of support within government for a substantive change in the way it organizes and delivers public service. Most Canadian governments have been more moderate and centrist in applying NPM approaches, emphasizing managerial reforms over total reinvention of government systems.