Whole of Government Framework
The purpose of this framework is to map the financial and non-financial contributions of federal organizations that receive appropriations by aligning their program activities to a set of high-level outcome areas defined for the government as a whole.
Figure 1: Whole-of-government Framework Diagram - Text version
This image is an illustration of the whole-of-government framework. The purpose of this framework is to map the financial and non-financial contributions of federal organizations receiving appropriations by aligning their program activities to a set of high-level outcome areas defined for the government as a whole.
The framework consists of four spending areas: Economic Affairs, Social Affairs, International Affairs, and Government Affairs. These are presented vertically, in four columns, under the header "Spending areas (4)".
Each column is divided into cells which represent the outcome areas that fall under each spending area. At the far left of the table, the header "Government of Canada outcome areas (16)" refers to these cells, which are presented vertically and grouped by spending area.
The first column, titled Economic Affairs, comprises five cells: income security and employment for Canadians, strong economic growth, an innovative and knowledge-based economy, a clean and healthy environment and, lastly, a fair and secure marketplace.
The second column, titled Social Affairs, comprises four cells: healthy Canadians, a safe and secure Canada, a diverse society that promotes linguistic duality and social inclusion and, lastly, a vibrant Canadian culture and heritage.
The third column, titled International Affairs, comprises four cells: a safe and secure world through international engagement, global poverty reduction through international sustainable development, a strong and mutually beneficial North American partnership and, lastly, a prosperous Canada through global commerce.
The last column, titled Government Affairs, comprises three cells: strong and independent democratic institutions; a transparent, accountable and responsive federal government; and, lastly, well-managed and efficient government operations.
Background
The framework consists of four spending areas: Economic Affairs, Social Affairs, International Affairs and Government Affairs.
Since 2005, the Policy on Management, Resources and Results Structures has supported the development of a common, government-wide approach to the collection, management, and reporting of financial and non-financial information on program objectives, performance and results. All federal organizations that receive appropriations must plan and manage their operations and report their performance against strategic outcomes that represent enduring benefits to Canadians.
As a complement to this regime of departmental performance management and reporting, the Government of Canada has adopted a whole-of-government framework for reporting to Parliament on progress made as a nation. The whole-of-government framework maps the financial and non-financial contributions of departments, agencies and Crown corporations that receive appropriations to a set of 16 high-level Government of Canada outcome areas within four Government of Canada spending areas: economic, social, international and government affairs.
Alignment of program activities to the whole-of-government framework
Departments and agencies are required to indicate in their Report on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Report the alignment of program activities to Government of Canada outcome areas. Because the alignment of strategic outcomes and their corresponding program activities to the whole-of-government framework makes it possible to calculate spending by Government of Canada outcome area and to correctly total all government spending, a program activity can only be aligned to only one Government of Canada outcome area. A strategic outcome, however, can contribute to more than one outcome area.
If you have questions, please contact the whole-of-government reporting team .
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