The public service knew a shakeup was coming as 10 deputy ministers retired over the past year, but for whatever reason the government waited for a sweeping shuffle rather than do a few smaller ones as jobs became vacant.<\/p>\n
New bosses take over four key departments that employ about one-quarter of the public service. They head the departments that manage all buying, the military, social programs and make all the rules \u2013 Paul Thompson<\/a> at Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), Bill Matthews<\/a> at National Defence, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Tremblay<\/a> at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and Graham Flack<\/a> at Treasury Board Secretariat.<\/p>\n The impact of COVID-19 on Canada\u2019s public service: The view from the deputy minister\u2019s office<\/a><\/p>\n The political staff who help take care of government during elections<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n A newly elected government always shuffles its senior ranks after it appoints a new cabinet, said Donald Savoie, Canada Research Chair in Public Administration and Governance at the University of Moncton.<\/p>\n But a nagging question is why this one took so long, especially when key jobs like the prime minister\u2019s national security advisor was empty for months.<\/p>\n As one senior bureaucrat who was not authorized to speak publicly said, a bank or another large company wouldn\u2019t change the leadership of so many of its operations at once.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a long time in coming,\u201d said Michel Vermette, a former CEO of the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada. \u201cYou have to wonder why they are so slow to fill these positions. Some of these departures have been known for quite some time. What took so long?\u201d<\/p>\n The Liberals were in no rush. They waited two months after the election before calling back Parliament. Mandate letters, the prime minister\u2019s marching orders to cabinet ministers, were issued only on Dec. 16 as the House of Commons adjourned for holidays.<\/p>\n But the public service is also in this unusual period in its history when there is both a clerk and an interim clerk.<\/p>\n The clerk of the Privy Council is Canada\u2019s top bureaucrat and advises the prime minister on deputy minister appointments. Janice Charette, who had previously served as clerk, took over as interim clerk<\/a> when Clerk Ian Shugart<\/a> temporarily stepped aside for cancer treatment. That was nearly a year ago.<\/p>\n Charette has full authority as interim clerk, but the recently tabled clerk\u2019s report<\/a> to the prime minister was signed by Shugart. The shuffle was orchestrated by Charette, and those who know her say they would be surprised if she hasn\u2019t kept Shugart in the loop.<\/p>\n Some speculate Charette was waiting for Shugart\u2019s return before filling jobs, but two big vacancies couldn\u2019t be left longer any longer \u2013 the prime minister\u2019s national security advisor and secretary of Treasury Board. Those two changes triggered it all.<\/p>\n Mel Cappe, a former Privy Council clerk, said, a deputy shuffle is like \u201ca massive jigsaw puzzle with three-dimensions\u201d and once you start, it\u2019s hard to stop because each move triggers another. On top of filling vacancies, the clerk has to put together management teams, pairing deputy ministers and ministers suited to work together.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most complicated thing I ever did was deputy minister shuffles, and this shows how complicated it is. There are all the knock-on effects, and then you have to consider the tenure of the deputies, ensure the stability and change you want,\u201d said Cappe.<\/p>\n Jody Thomas<\/a>, deputy minister at National Defence, was tapped to fill the national security advisor job<\/a> vacated when Vincent Rigby left in June. The next domino was Bill Matthews, the deputy minister at Public Services and Procurement Canada. He previously served the National Defence senior associate deputy minister and was moved to fill Thomas\u2019s job.<\/p>\n The move also reunites Matthews with Anita Anand, his minister at PSPC who now has the job of fixing the Canadian Armed Forces, which are mired in a sexual misconduct crisis with multiple high-ranking officers facing allegations and moved out of their jobs. The duo was at the centre of the COVID crisis in the race to buy vaccines and personal protective equipment. Both learned the ropes of military procurement.<\/p>\n At Treasury Board, which is the public service\u2019s general manager and employer, the November departure of secretary Peter Wallace<\/a>, a 40-year career bureaucrat, left a huge gap. It has a massive reform agenda<\/a>, including the modernization of the public service, the future of work, digital technology and improved service delivery. Graham Flack leaves ESDC to begin that job.<\/p>\n This is Flack\u2019s fifth deputy minister post and reformers have high hopes his experience as co-chair of the deputy ministers task force on public service innovation<\/a> will give him a jump start on modernizing a risk-averse public service.<\/p>\n Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Tremblay is another one to watch. He\u2019s on the move from Natural Resources to take over Flack\u2019s job at ESDC. He has been on a steady rise since he joined the public service and his posting at the giant department with its multiple ministers marks his sixth deputy minister appointment.<\/p>\n The shakeup also stirred up chatter about who is being groomed for bigger promotions down the road, including contenders to be the next clerk when Charette and Shugart leave.<\/p>\n Flack is among a handful of names that comes up as a future clerk, and some say a stint at Treasury Board is further grooming for the job. Former Privy Council Clerk Wayne Wouters went from ESDC to Treasury Board before he landed the clerk job.\u00a0 (Charette and Cappe were also deputy ministers at ESDC on their way to the top job.)<\/p>\n The role of deputy prime minister is not as powerful as most think<\/a><\/p>\n What new disaggregated data tells us about federal public service diversity<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The other big job everyone is watching is at Finance, the most powerful department. The government recruited Canadian businessman Michael Sabia, former CEO of the Caisse de D\u00e9p\u00f4t et Placement du Qu\u00e9bec, as the department\u2019s deputy minister.<\/p>\n A year into the job<\/a>, how long will he stay? Could the government want him as clerk \u2013 and would the 68-year-old businessman with plenty of private sector options want it? Louise Levonian<\/a>, one of the deputy ministers who retired, was often touted as an insider for that job when she finished her assignment at the International Monetary Fund.<\/p>\n The musical chairs brought a number of changes in international jobs, which some hope signals a new focus on foreign policy and international affairs in the firmament of the senior bureaucracy.<\/p>\n John Hannaford<\/a>, deputy minister of International Trade, fills Tremblay\u2019s shoes at Natural Resources; David Morrison<\/a>, the prime minister\u2019s foreign and defence policy advisor, takes over Hannaford\u2019s job, and Dan Costello<\/a> steps up as the prime minister\u2019s chief whisperer on foreign policy. Stefanie Beck<\/a>, Canada\u2019s deputy high commissioner for the U.K., goes to Defence as associate deputy minister \u2013 keeping a woman in senior ranks there.<\/p>\n The shuffle also reflects the toll of the pandemic. The bureaucracy has been in high gear for nearly two years with much of the staff working from home.\u00a0 Jacqueline Bogden<\/a> becomes a new deputy secretary to cabinet for Emergency Preparedness and COVID Recovery.<\/p>\n Executives at all levels are tired, burned out and, if eligible, a fully-indexed pension is hard to resist. Former privy council clerk Michael Wernick said the pandemic is particularly hard on the layers of management caught between the top and front-line workers. There\u2019s much speculation that the government could see an exodus of executives, which will have a knock-on impact on succession planning.<\/p>\n Despite the scale of the shuffle, the changes aren\u2019t dramatic; no eyebrow-raising or wild card appointments. They are capable, mostly career bureaucrats who know how Ottawa works and are groomed as generic managers who can step into any department.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you think of it as a portfolio, you have to groom a roster of a couple dozen people and always be looking for the promotable,\u201d said Wernick.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an alignment. The clerk is bringing things into alignment with the way cabinet is set and priorities in the mandate letters.\u201d<\/p>\n Others on the move to watch:<\/strong><\/p>\n Christopher MacLennan<\/a> steps up to deputy minister of International Development and becomes the prime minister\u2019s personal representative for\u00a0the G20 Summit.<\/p>\n Philip Jennings<\/a> becomes senior advisor to the Privy Council Office. He will be the nominee as the next executive director for Canada, Ireland, nine Caribbean countries, and Belize at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).<\/p>\n Michael Vandergrift<\/a>\u00a0becomes deputy secretary to the cabinet for plans and consultations at Privy Council Office on top of his current job as deputy minister of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Privy Council Office.<\/p>\n Cynthia (Cindy) Termorshuizen<\/a> is promoted to associate deputy minister of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n Daniel Rogers<\/a> is now the associate chief of the Communications Security Establishment.<\/p>\n Mala Khanna<\/a> becomes associate deputy minister of Canadian Heritage.<\/p>\n Francis Bilodeau<\/a> is promoted to associate deputy minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.<\/p>\n Paul Samson<\/a> steps up to associate deputy minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/potestlaunch.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/CP138868070-scaled.jpg\")
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