Clerk of the Privy Council (Canada)

Template:Short description Template:Infobox official post Template:Canadian politics The clerk of the Privy Council (Template:Langx) 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 (Template:Langx).

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,<ref name="ca">Clerk of the Privy Council</ref> 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, Template:Lang or Template:Lang, 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.<ref name="ccgc">"Archives Search" at collectionscanada, 2018-05-20</ref>

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.<ref>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.</ref> Clerks generally have extensive previous experience in the Public Service of Canada before being appointed.

List of clerks of the Privy Council<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

#	Name	Start date	End date	Prime Minister		Notes
1	William Henry Lee	July 1, 1867	June 30, 1872	rowspan="2"Template:Canadian party colour|	John A. Macdonald (1867–1873)
2	William Alfred Himsworth	July 1, 1872	January 7, 1880
					Template:Canadian party colour|	Alexander Mackenzie (1873–1878)
					rowspan="7"Template:Canadian party colour|	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)
					rowspan="2"Template:Canadian party colour|	Wilfrid Laurier (1896–1911)
5	Rodolphe Boudreau	May 6, 1907	August 4, 1923
					rowspan="2"Template:Canadian party colour|	Robert Borden (1911–1920)
					Arthur Meighen (1920–1921)
					rowspan="2"Template:Canadian party colour|	William Lyon Mackenzie King (1921–1926)
6	Ernest Joseph Lemaire	August 14, 1923	January 1, 1940
					Template:Canadian party colour|	Arthur Meighen (1926–1926)
					Template:Canadian party colour|	William Lyon Mackenzie King (1926–1930)
					Template:Canadian party colour|	R. B. Bennett (1930–1935)
					rowspan="6"Template:Canadian party colour|	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
					Template:Canadian party colour|	John Diefenbaker (1957–1963)
					rowspan="4"Template:Canadian party colour|	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	Template:Canadian party colour|	Joe Clark (1979–1980)
(12)	Peter Michael Pitfield	March 11, 1980	December 9, 1982	rowspan="3"Template:Canadian party colour|	Pierre Trudeau (1980–1984)	Template:Efn
14	Gordon Francis Joseph Osbaldeston	December 10, 1982	August 11, 1985
					John Turner (1984–1984)
					rowspan="4" Template:Canadian party colour|	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)
					rowspan="5"Template:Canadian party colour|	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)
					rowspan="4" Template:Canadian party colour|	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
					rowspan="7"Template:Canadian party colour|	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	Template:Efn
25	John Hannaford	June 24, 2023	July 4, 2025
					Mark Carney (2025–Present)
26	Michael Sabia	July 7, 2025	incumbent

See also

• Clerk of the Privy Council (United Kingdom)

References

<references />

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Clerk of the Privy Council Template:Webarchive