The Privy Council Office ( French : Bureau du Conseil privé ) is the central agency of the Government of Canada which acts as the secretariat to the Cabinet of Canada – a committee of the King's Privy Council for Canada – and provides non-partisan advice and support to the Canadian ministry , as well as leadership, coordination, and support to the departments and agencies of government.
20-724: The clerk of the Privy Council , who leads the department, is the head of the civil service of Canada , and acts as the deputy minister to the prime minister , who is the minister responsible for the department. The Privy Council Office is located in the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council building (previously known as Langevin Block) on Parliament Hill . Although the Privy Council Office has grown in size and complexity over
40-430: A department of intergovernmental affairs, secretariats for communications, foreign and defence policy, security and intelligence, social affairs, economic affairs, legislation and house planning and machinery of government . Traditionally, the Privy Council Office has served as a "finishing school" for civil servants destined for executive positions within government. Officials who spend several years gaining experience at
60-539: A general sense, it refers to the monarch exercising executive authority , usually in the form of approving orders, on the advice of the country's privy council or executive council . In nations where the reigning monarch is represented by a viceroy , derivative terms are used instead, such as Governor in Council or Lieutenant Governor in Council . In Norway, the King in Council ( Norwegian : Kongen i statsråd ) refers to
80-426: Is a personal and partisan office. It is understood that the prime minister should not receive advice from only one institutionalized source. To that end, the Privy Council Office serves as the policy-oriented but politically neutral advisory unit to the prime minister, while the Prime Minister's Office is politically oriented but policy-sensitive. As of 2017, the Privy Council Office's Impact and Innovation Unit manages
100-520: 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. 2022–Jun 23, 2023 King-in-Council The King-in-Council or the Queen-in-Council , depending on the gender of the reigning monarch, is a constitutional term in a number of states. In
120-548: Is the senior civil servant in the Government of Canada and serves as the secretary to the Cabinet ( French : secrétaire du Cabinet ). 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
140-539: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ; former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau ; and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Pettigrew . The head of the civil service has the title of clerk of the Privy Council , and also serves as the secretary to the Cabinet and deputy minister to the prime minister. The Privy Council Office's role is different from that of the Prime Minister's Office , which
160-578: The Council of State). The King-in-Council is the technical term of constitutional law for the exercise of executive authority in a Commonwealth realm , denoting the monarch acting by and with the advice and consent of his or her privy council (in the United Kingdom and Canada 's federal jurisdiction) or executive council (in most other Commonwealth realms and the Australian states and Canadian provinces ). In those realms and dependencies where
180-629: The Impact Canada behavioural sciences platform in partnership with other departments of the Government of Canada. 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
200-420: The King in Council ( Swedish : Konungen i Statsrådet ), more commonly known as Royal Majesty ( Swedish : Kunglig Majestät or the short forms Kungl.Maj:t or K.M:t ) was a concept of constitutional importance until 1974. Royal Majesty was the commonly used term to refer to the supreme executive authority under the 1809 Instrument of Government , under which the monarch made all decisions of state in
220-541: The Privy Council Office, and working on policy matters from the perspective of the prime minister, return to their home departments with a greater appreciation of government operations at the corporate level. Aside from senior positions within the civil service, Privy Council Office alumni have gone on to pursue successful careers in business and politics, including Paul Tellier , former chief executive officer of Bombardier ; Michael Sabia , chief executive officer of Bell Canada ; Robert Rabinovitch , chief executive officer of
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#1732870149724240-436: 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
260-494: The aforementioned terms, though the phrase may mean more than one thing in certain areas. An order made by the King-in-Council is known as an order-in-council and such actions are subject to judicial review . Orders-in-council may be used to implement secondary legislation , such as British statutory instruments . In practice, decisions made by the King-in-Council are almost always the formal approval to decisions made by
280-490: The appointed ministry that the law refers to may alone act with complete authority on the matter assigned in the particular law. A decision that is taken in the State Council under the sovereign's leadership is considered to be a royal decree. If the crown prince chairs, they are crown prince resolutions. When neither the monarch nor the crown prince chairs, resolutions adopted are called government resolutions. In Sweden,
300-567: The meetings of the King and the Council of State (the Cabinet), wherein matters of importance and major decisions are made. The Council meets at the Royal Palace , normally every Friday. These meetings are chaired by the monarch or, if he is ill or abroad, crown prince (the monarch's heir). In Norway's constitution, King in Council refers to the formal Government of Norway , whereas merely King means
320-543: 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). 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
340-444: The presence of his Cabinet ministers. The 1974 Instrument of Government removed the monarch from all exercise of formal political powers, which were passed to the newly created government ( Swedish : Regeringen ), chaired and led in all aspects by the prime minister . The monarch continues to head the Cabinet councils (the sovereign plus the members of the government) and the Council on Foreign Affairs, recognizing new cabinets (in
360-399: 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
380-416: The sovereign's powers and functions are delegated to a governor-general , lieutenant governor , or governor , the term Governor-General-in-Council , Lieutenant Governor-in-Council , or Governor-in-Council may be used instead of King-in-Council , all of these terms describing the same technical process within constitutional law. The government of [ jurisdiction ] is commonly used as a synonym for any of
400-458: The years, its main pillars remain the operations and plans secretariats. The former is primarily concerned with coordinating the day-to-day issues of government while the latter takes a medium-term view to the evolution of the Canadian federation. Each incoming prime minister will re-organize the Privy Council Office to suit the policy agenda of their government. Today, the Privy Council Office includes
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