AbstractThe Canadian Government took a bold new iniative in 1970 in setting up Ministries of State to increase the flexibility of government policies, and to ‘enshrine rational analysis and planning in place of the interplay of traditional sources of power in the Cabinet’A background study on the Ministries of Science and Technology and of Urban Affairs (MOSST, MOSUA) has echoed some of the criticisms of the new structure. The following review, by Andrew Wilson, Science Advisor to the Canada Science Council, assesses the case