Clerk of the Privy Council (Canada)
| Clerk of the Privy Council Secretary to the Cabinet | |
|---|---|
| Greffier du Conseil privé secrétaire du Cabinet | |
since July 7, 2025 | |
| Government of Canada 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 |
| Website | Privy Council webpage |
|
Category |
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).
Michael Sabia has been the 26th clerk of the Privy Council since July 7, 2025. The clerk is a Governor-in-Council appointment made on the advice of the prime minister. 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,[1] the clerk is responsible for other deputy ministers and the provision of non-partisan, expert advice to the government as a whole.
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.[2]
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.[3] Clerks generally have extensive previous experience in the Public Service of Canada before being appointed.
| # | Name | Start date | End date | Prime Minister | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Henry Lee | July 1, 1867 | June 30, 1872 | John A. Macdonald (1867–1873) |
||
| 2 | William Alfred Himsworth | July 1, 1872 | January 7, 1880 | |||
| Alexander Mackenzie (1873–1878) | ||||||
| John A. Macdonald (1878–1891) | ||||||
| 3 | Joseph Olivier Côté | January 13, 1880 | April 24, 1882 | |||
| 4 | John Joseph McGee | May 20, 1882 | May 5, 1907 | |||
| John Abbott (1891–1892) | ||||||
| John Sparrow David Thompson (1892–1894) | ||||||
| Mackenzie Bowell (1894–1896) | ||||||
| Charles Tupper (1896–1896) | ||||||
| Wilfrid Laurier (1896–1911) | ||||||
| 5 | Rodolphe Boudreau | May 6, 1907 | August 4, 1923 | |||
| Robert Borden (1911–1920) | ||||||
| Arthur Meighen (1920–1921) | ||||||
| William Lyon Mackenzie King (1921–1926) | ||||||
| 6 | Ernest Joseph Lemaire | August 14, 1923 | January 1, 1940 | |||
| Arthur Meighen (1926–1926) | ||||||
| William Lyon Mackenzie King (1926–1930) | ||||||
| R. B. Bennett (1930–1935) | ||||||
| William Lyon Mackenzie King (1935–1948) | ||||||
| 7 | Arnold Danford Patrick Heeney | March 25, 1940 | March 14, 1949 | |||
| Louis St. Laurent (1948–1957) | ||||||
| 8 | Norman Alexander Robertson | March 15, 1949 | May 31, 1952 | |||
| 9 | John Witney Pickersgill | June 1, 1952 | June 1, 1953 | |||
| 10 | Robert Broughton Bryce | January 1, 1954 | June 30, 1963 | |||
| John Diefenbaker (1957–1963) | ||||||
| Lester B. Pearson (1963–1968) | ||||||
| 11 | Robert Gordon Robertson | July 1, 1963 | January 15, 1975 | |||
| Pierre Trudeau (1968–1979) | ||||||
| 12 | Peter Michael Pitfield | January 16, 1975 | June 4, 1979 | |||
| 13 | Marcel Massé | June 5, 1979 | March 10, 1980 | Joe Clark (1979–1980) |
||
| (12) | Peter Michael Pitfield | March 11, 1980 | December 9, 1982 | Pierre Trudeau (1980–1984) |
[a] | |
| 14 | Gordon Francis Joseph Osbaldeston | December 10, 1982 | August 11, 1985 | |||
| John Turner (1984–1984) | ||||||
| Brian Mulroney (1984–1993) | ||||||
| 15 | Paul M. Tellier | August 12, 1985 | June 30, 1992 | |||
| 16 | Glen Scott Shortliffe | July 1, 1992 | March 27, 1994 | |||
| Kim Campbell (1993–1993) | ||||||
| Jean Chrétien (1993–2003) | ||||||
| 17 | Jocelyne Bourgon | March 28, 1994 | January 17, 1999 | |||
| 18 | Mel Cappe | January 18, 1999 | May 12, 2002 | |||
| 19 | Alex Himelfarb | May 13, 2002 | March 5, 2006 | |||
| Paul Martin (2003–2006) | ||||||
| Stephen Harper (2006–2015) | ||||||
| 20 | Kevin G. Lynch | March 6, 2006 | June 30, 2009 | |||
| 21 | Wayne G. Wouters | July 1, 2009 | October 3, 2014 | |||
| 22 | Janice Charette | October 6, 2014 | January 21, 2016 | |||
| Justin Trudeau (2015–2025) | ||||||
| 23 | Michael Wernick | January 22, 2016 | April 18, 2019 | |||
| 24 | Ian Shugart | April 19, 2019 | May 27, 2022 | |||
| (22) | Janice Charette | May 28, 2022 | June 23, 2023 | [b] | ||
| 25 | John Hannaford | June 24, 2023 | July 4, 2025 | |||
| Mark Carney (2025–Present) | ||||||
| 26 | Michael Sabia | July 7, 2025 | incumbent | |||
See also
References
- ^ Clerk of the Privy Council
- ^ "Archives Search" at collectionscanada, 2018-05-20
- ^ Alex Boutiliero (March 1, 2019). Caught in the SNC-Lavalin scandal, Canada’s top civil servant should help us understand his job, expert says. Toronto Star.
- ^ "Clerk and Deputy Clerk". Privy Council Office. 2017-05-29. Retrieved 2021-07-05.
Notes
Further reading
- Sutherland, S.L. (2006). "The Role of the Clerk of the Privy Council". Restoring Accountability: Recommendations. Vol. 3. Ottawa: Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program & Advertising Activities. pp. 21–114. ISBN 978-0-660-19534-6.
- Wernick, Michael (2021). Governing Canada: a guide to the tradecraft of politics. Vancouver: On Point Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-9055-7.
External links
- Clerk of the Privy Council Archived 2017-05-01 at the Wayback Machine