Clerk of the Privy Council (Canada)

The clerk of the Privy Council (French: greffier du Conseil privé) is the professional head of the Public Service of Canada. As the deputy minister for the Privy Council Office (the prime minister's department), the clerk is the senior civil servant in the Government of Canada and serves as the secretary to the Cabinet (French: secrétaire du Cabinet).

Clerk of the Privy Council Secretary to the Cabinet
Greffier du Conseil privé secrétaire du Cabinet
Incumbent John Hannaford since June 24, 2023
Privy Council Office
Type	Deputy minister
Member of	Public Service of Canada
Reports to	Prime Minister of Canada
Appointer	Governor in Council On the advice of the prime minister
Inaugural holder	William Henry Lee
Formation	July 1, 1867 (1867-07-01)
Website	Privy Council webpage

The role of the clerk is nonpartisan; clerks may serve multiple prime ministers and do not belong to any political party. As the secretary to the Cabinet, the role provides impartial advice to the ministry and oversees the advice and policy support given to Cabinet and its committees. As head of the public service, the clerk is responsible for other deputy ministers and the provision of non-partisan, expert advice to the government as a whole.

The clerk is a Governor-in-Council appointment made on the advice of the prime minister. On May 30, 2023, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that Janice Charette would retire on June 24, 2023, and that he would appoint John Hannaford to fill the position.

In the provinces and territories, the equivalent position of senior public servant is called the cabinet secretary or clerk of the executive council (in French, secrétaire du conseil exécutif or greffier du conseil exécutif, respectively).

History

The Privy Council for Canada was created and authorized by the Constitution Act, 1867, and there has been a clerk of the Privy Council since then.

The staff of the Privy Council increased from 142 to 352 between 1971 and 1975.

In 1989, reforms initiated by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney gave the clerk position its present day responsibilities. Expert Donald Savoie describes these as a combination of three roles: "the secretary of cabinet, the head of the non-partisan public service, and the deputy minister — or top bureaucrat — to the prime minister." One critique of this arrangement is that it could put senior nonpartisan officials in the position of taking partisan positions. Clerks generally have extensive previous experience in the Public Service of Canada before being appointed.

List of clerks of the Privy Council

No.	Clerk	Term	Notes
1	William Henry Lee	1867–1872
2	William Alfred Himsworth	1872–1880
3	Joseph Olivier Côté	1880–1882
4	John Joseph McGee	1882–1907
5	Rodolphe Boudreau	1907–1923
6	Ernest Joseph Lemaire	1923–1940
7	Arnold Danford Patrick Heeney	1940–1949
8	Norman Alexander Robertson	1949–1952
9	John Whitney Pickersgill	1952–1953
10	Robert Bryce	1954–1963
11	Robert Gordon Robertson	1963–1975
12	Peter Michael Pitfield	1975–1979
13	Marcel Massé	1979–1980
(12)	Peter Michael Pitfield	1980–1982	Previously held office from 1975 to 1979.
14	Gordon Osbaldeston	1982–1985
15	Paul M. Tellier	1985–1992
16	Glen Shortliffe	1992–1994
17	Jocelyne Bourgon	1994–1999
18	Mel Cappe	1999–2002
19	Alexander Himelfarb	2002–2006
20	Kevin G. Lynch	2006–2009
21	Wayne Wouters	2009–2014
22	Janice Charette	2014–2016
23	Michael Wernick	2016–2019
24	Ian Shugart	2019–2021
(22)	Janice Charette	2021–2022 – Interim Clerk from March 9, 2021, to May 28, 2022 2022–Jun 23, 2023	Previously held office from 2014 to 2016.
25	John Hannaford	June 24, 2023–present

See also

• Clerk of the Privy Council (United Kingdom)

External links

• Clerk of the Privy Council Archived 2017-05-01 at the Wayback Machine