More senior changes expected early next year
Prime Minister Mark Carney has moved to realign the federal public service leadership, approving new assignments for 12 senior officials in a reshuffle that follows his appointment of a new clerk of the Privy Council.
CBC reported that the changes, announced Friday, place new leadership across eight federal departments and result in the departure of eight deputy ministers from the public service. The reassignment represents the first major reorganization of senior officials since Carney appointed Michael Sabia as clerk of the Privy Council earlier this summer.
The clerk is the most senior public servant in Canada, with deputy ministers serving as the top officials running federal departments and advising cabinet ministers. According to CBC, the shuffle had been widely anticipated in Ottawa and affects several central policy and administrative files.
Among the appointments, Nick Leswick, executive director for policy at the Bank of Canada, has been named deputy minister of finance, replacing Chris Forbes, who will become a senior official at the Privy Council Office. John McArthur, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., will also join the Privy Council Office as deputy secretary to the cabinet for economic policy.
Marie-Josée Hogue, a puisne judge of the Court of Appeal of Quebec, has been appointed deputy minister of justice and deputy attorney general. Hogue led the federal inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian politics. The Globe and Mail reported that her appointment marks one of several cases in which Carney has brought individuals from outside the public service into senior administrative roles.
Christiane Fox, previously deputy clerk of the Privy Council, has been appointed deputy minister of national defence, according to a federal news release cited by CBC. Isabelle Mondou will move from her role as deputy minister of Canadian Heritage to become deputy clerk of the Privy Council.
Sabia, who was recruited from the private sector, previously served as chief executive of Hydro-Québec, BCE and Quebec’s pension fund, and was federal deputy minister of finance from 2020 to 2023, according to reporting by The Globe and Mail. That background places him at the center of the current reorganization of senior officials.
In a statement accompanying the announcement, the Prime Minister’s Office said “additional changes to the senior ranks of the public service will be announced early in the New Year.”
CBC reported that several observers noted the number of senior departures involved in the reshuffle, including long-serving deputy ministers from departments such as National Defence, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Indigenous Services Canada.
No effective dates were provided for the new appointments, and the government has not released a complete list of the departing officials beyond those named in the announcement.
