One method chosen to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in the health and education sectors is a decentralized voluntary board system. In Canada, boards are delegated specific administrative responsibilities but much of the power for funding and policy development is still held centrally by the provincial governments. Depending on the specifics of the debate, this structure creates either a dependent of an interdependent relationship between the boards and the provincial government that created them. What the relationship should be is unclear because the responsibilities associated with governance are not well defined in the literature. Given this reality, board members continue to accept the responsibility to account to the provincial governments and represent many stakeholders.