Deputy minister (Canada)

Last updated
Deputy Minister
Sous-ministre
Government of Canada signature.svg
Occupation
NamesDeputy minister, deputy head
Occupation type
Senior public servant
Activity sectors
Description
Competencies
Related jobs

In Canada, a deputy minister (DM; French : sous-ministre) is the senior civil servant in a government organization, who acts as deputy head. Deputy ministers take political direction from a minister of the Crown, who is typically an elected member of Parliament and responsible for the department.

Contents

The Canadian position is equivalent to the position of permanent secretary in the United Kingdom and the Australian position of departmental secretary. This position should not be confused with the deputy prime minister of Canada, who is not a civil servant at all, but a politician and senior member of the Cabinet. [1]

Much of the current management structure of the Government of Canada – including the role of deputy heads – originates from the Royal Commission on Government Organization, also known as the Glassco Commission.

The title is not only used for the federal (national) government, but also for equivalent positions in the provincial and territorial governments.

Role

A deputy minister has responsibility for a department's day-to-day operations, budget, and program development. As members of the public service, deputy ministers are nonpartisan. [2] The deputy minister is the functional head of the department in question, while the minister is the department's political master. Unlike most other public service positions, deputy ministers are Governor-in-Council appointments made on the advice of the prime minister of Canada. Accordingly, deputy ministers can sometimes lose their positions as a result of a change of the party in power, particularly if they are seen as too closely identified with the policies of the previous government. [3]

Statutory role

Under the Interpretation Act and departmental legislation, deputy heads are typically permitted to exercise powers of their ministers for all purposes aside from creation of regulations. Deputy heads also possess powers under their own right under the Financial Administration Act , Public Service Employment Act, powers delegated by the Treasury Board of Canada, and Public Service Commission of Canada. Typically, these relate to management of resources delegated to their organizations, personnel management, including appointment, employer-employee relations, and the organization of the department. Ministers may not provide specific direction on the areas a deputy minister is directly assigned. [4]

Senior public servants

The executive government (Crown-in-Council) includes many organizations not designated as departments including special operating agencies – such as Statistics Canada, Parks Canada – the military, departments which function more as an "administrative umbrella", such as Public Safety Canada, which comprises six agencies, as well as Crown corporations. As such, various organizations' senior leadership (commissioner, chief executive, etc.) while not explicitly deputy ministers, exercise similar functions. [4]

Clerk of the Privy Council

The most senior deputy minister in the Canadian federal government is the clerk of the Privy Council, who is deputy minister to the Prime Minister and head of the Public Service of Canada. [5] In the provinces and territories, the position fulfils a similar function as the most senior public servant and is called the cabinet secretary or clerk of the executive council. This person, along with their staff, typically develops agendas for regular Cabinet meetings, reconciles differences between departments, guides major policy initiatives, and coordinates the appointments of departmental heads. The position reports directly to the relevant prime minister and is typically among the most seasoned, influential, and low profile of public servants.

The Australian equivalent is the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the British equivalent is the Cabinet Secretary. The equivalent in the provincial governments of Canada is the named "Deputy Minister of Executive Council and Secretary to Cabinet" (Alberta), "Deputy Minister to the Premier and Cabinet Secretary" (Saskatchewan) or similar.

Other senior leadership

Associate deputy ministers are deputy ministers in waiting, often assigned to a specific project or initiative pending appointment to lead a department. Assistant deputy ministers are operational positions, usually carrying responsibility for particular functions or budgets within a department.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Civil Service (United Kingdom)</span> Permanent bureaucracy of the British state

In the United Kingdom, the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, which is led by a cabinet of ministers chosen by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabinet of Canada</span> Canadian body of ministers of the Crown

The Cabinet of Canada is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the prime minister, the Cabinet is a committee of the King's Privy Council for Canada and the senior echelon of the Ministry, the membership of the Cabinet and Ministry often being co-terminal; as of November 2015 there were no members of the latter who were not also members of the former.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scottish Government</span> Devolved government of Scotland

The Scottish Government is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution. Its areas for responsibility of decision making and domestic policy in the country include the economy, education, healthcare, justice and the legal system, rural affairs, housing, the crown estate, the environment, the fire service, equal opportunities, the transportation network, and tax, amongst others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premier of Ontario</span> First minister of the government of Ontario

The premier of Ontario is the head of government of Ontario. Under the Westminster system, the premier governs with the confidence of a majority the elected Legislative Assembly; as such, the premier typically sits as a member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and leads the largest party or a coalition of parties. As first minister, the premier selects ministers to form the Executive Council, and serves as its chair. Constitutionally, the Crown exercises executive power on the advice of the Executive Council, which is collectively responsible to the legislature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabinet of New Zealand</span> Central decision-making forum of the New Zealand Government

The Cabinet of New Zealand is the New Zealand Government's body of senior ministers, accountable to the New Zealand Parliament. Cabinet meetings, chaired by the prime minister, occur once a week; in them, vital issues are discussed and government policy is formulated. Cabinet is also composed of a number of committees focused on specific areas of governance and policy. Though not established by any statute, Cabinet wields significant power within the New Zealand political system, with nearly all government bills it introduces in Parliament being enacted.

A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Privy Council Office (Canada)</span>

The Privy Council Office 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.

The clerk of the Privy Council is the professional head of the Public Service of Canada. As the deputy minister for the Privy Council Office, the clerk is the senior civil servant in the Government of Canada and serves as the secretary to the Cabinet.

Ministry or department are designations used by first-level executive bodies in the machinery of governments that manage a specific sector of public administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ministers in the New Zealand Government</span>

Ministers in the New Zealand Government are members of Parliament (MPs) who hold ministerial warrants from the Crown to perform certain functions of government. This includes formulating and implementing policies and advising the governor-general. Ministers collectively make up the executive branch of the New Zealand state. The governor-general is obliged to follow the advice of the prime minister on the appointment and dismissal of ministers.

A permanent secretary is the most senior civil servant of a department or ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are the non-political civil service chief executives of government departments or ministries, who generally hold their position for a number of years at a ministry as distinct from the changing political secretaries of state to whom they report and provide advice. The role originated in the civil service of the United Kingdom and has been adopted in several Commonwealth countries as well as other countries influenced by the Westminster system.

A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of Ontario</span> Canadian provincial government

The Government of Ontario is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Ontario. The term Government of Ontario refers specifically to the executive—political ministers of the Crown, appointed on the advice of the premier, and the non-partisan Ontario Public Service, who staff ministries and agencies to deliver government policies, programs, and services—which corporately brands itself as the Government of Ontario, or more formally, His Majesty's Government of Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office of the Prime Minister (Canada)</span> Central agency of the Canadian government

The Office of the Prime Minister comprises the political staff which support the prime minister of Canada. Located in the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council Building in Ottawa, Ontario. The PMO provides policy advice, information gathering, communications, planning, and strategizing. It should not be confused with the Privy Council Office (PCO) – a department of the Government of Canada and part of the Public Service, which is expressly non-partisan. The PMO is concerned with making policy, whereas the PCO is concerned with executing the policy decisions.

Undersecretary is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary. It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is also used in other organizational settings.

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) is a department of the Australian Government with broad-ranging responsibilities; notably, intergovernmental and whole of government policy coordination and assisting the prime minister of Australia in managing the Federal Cabinet. The PM&C was established in 1971 and traces its origins back to the Prime Minister's Department established in 1911.

The Public Service of Canada is the civilian workforce of the Government of Canada's departments, agencies, and other public bodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department secretary</span> Leading public servant of a government department in Australia

In Australia, a departmental secretary is the most senior public servant of an Australian Government or state government department. They are typically responsible for the day-to-day actions of a department.

The title secretary of state or state's secretary is commonly used for senior or mid-level posts in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple secretaries of state in the country's system of governing the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabinet Secretary (India)</span> Head of the Indian Civil Service

The Cabinet Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the Government of India. The Cabinet Secretary is the ex-officio head of the Civil Services Board, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and all Civil Services of India work under the rules of business of the government.

References

  1. ↑ Jackson, Robert J. and Doreen Jackson. Politics in Canada: Culture, Institutions, Behavior and Public Policy. 6th ed. (Toronto: Prentice Hall, 2006). p355.
  2. ↑ "Guidance for Deputy Ministers". Government of Canada. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  3. ↑ Christopher A. Cooper, "The Rise of Court Government? Testing the Centralisation of Power Thesis with Longitudinal Data from Canada", Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 70, Issue 3, July 2017, pages 589–610. doi : 10.1093/pa/gsx003.
  4. 1 2 "The Responsibilities and Accountabilities of Deputy Ministers" (PDF). CBC News. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-28.
  5. ↑ "The Staffing and Evaluation of Canadian Deputy Ministers in Comparative Westminster Perspective: a Proposal for Reform" (PDF). CBC News. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-04-05.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.