From Arm's Length to Hands-On

Confederation was a relief to legislators who had had to endure the uneasy union between Upper and Lower Canada; the dualism had demanded double-barrelled ministries and the rotation of the capital, after 1849, between Toronto and Quebec City every four years.

The year 1867 was therefore a watershed. The creation of the province of Ontario demanded that a civil service be put in place to support the new offices of the lieutenant-governor, Executive Council, and Legislative Assembly. However, the election of the Whitney government in 1905 is perceived by J. E. Hodgetts as an equally important dividing point in Ontario's bureaucratic history.

Before 1905 the province met the fairly rudimentary needs of a largely agrarian community by relying on local authorities and the assistance of private clientele and charitable associations. Thus administration was at arm's length. It placed minimal demands on a minuscule staff and the simple structures of the emergent public service.

. Hodgetts has analysed carefully the factors that led to the gradual enlargement of the government's functions and the progressive tightening of the exercise of its authority.