View source for Robert Bryce

{{Short description|Canadian civil servant}}
{{about|the Canadian civil servant|the American journalist|Robert Bryce (writer)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = The Honourable
|name             = Robert Broughton Bryce
|honorific-suffix = [[Queen's Privy Council for Canada|PC]], [[Order of Canada|CC]], [[Royal Society of Canada|FRSC]]
|image            = Robert Bryce 1984.jpg
|caption          = Bryce in 1984
|office1          = [[Clerk of the Privy Council (Canada)|Clerk of the Privy Council]]
|term_start1      = January 1, 1954
|term_end1        = June 30, 1963
|predecessor1     = [[Jack Pickersgill]]
|successor1       = [[Robert Gordon Robertson]]
|birth_date       = {{birth date|1910|02|27}}
|birth_place      = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]]
|death_date       = {{death date and age|1997|07|30|1910|02|27}}
|death_place      = [[Ottawa]], Ontario
|spouse           = 
|children         = 
|residence        = 
|alma_mater       = 
|occupation       = 
|profession       = Economist, civil servant
}}
'''Robert Broughton Bryce''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|CC|FRSC}}, (February 27, 1910{{snd}} July 30, 1997) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] civil servant.

==Biography==

After graduating with engineering degree from the [[University of Toronto]], Bryce undertook graduate studies in economics at [[University of Cambridge]], where he was influenced by the ideas of [[John Maynard Keynes]]. In the fall of 1935, he left Britain for [[Harvard University]] where, as a graduate student, he introduced [[Keynesian economics]] in the United States, with the help of fellow Canadian [[Lorie Tarshis]]. According to [[John Kenneth Galbraith]], [[Joseph Schumpeter]] "called Keynes Allah and Bryce his Prophet".<ref>{{Citation | chapter = Political Influence on the Textbook Keynesian Revolution: God, Man, and Laurie (sic) Tarshis at Yale | first1 = David | last1 = Colander | author-link1 = David Colander | first2 = Harry | last2 = Landreth | year = 1998 | chapter-url = http://community.middlebury.edu/~colander/articles/Political%20Influence%20on%20the%20Textbook%20Keynesian%20Revolution.pdf 
| title = Keynesianism and the Keynesian Revolution in America: A Memorial Volume in Honour of Lorie Tarshis |editor1= O. F. Hamouda |editor2=B. B. Price | location = Cheltenham | publisher = Edward Elgar | pages = 59–72 }}</ref>

Bryce started working for the Department of Finance in 1938, later becoming assistant deputy minister of Finance and Secretary to the Treasury Board. In 1954, he became clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet. He retired in 1968 as deputy minister of Finance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/index.asp?lang=eng&page=clerk-greffier&sub=former-anciens&doc=1954-1963-eng.htm|title=The Honourable Robert Broughton Bryce, Former Clerk of the Privy Council (1954-1963)|work=Privy Council Office|access-date=2009-03-05|archive-date=2012-02-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218082747/http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/index.asp?lang=eng&page=clerk-greffier&sub=former-anciens&doc=1954-1963-eng.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Works==

He is the author of ''Maturing in Hard Times: Canada's Department of Finance Through the Great Depression'' (McGill-Queen's Press, 1986, {{ISBN|0-7735-0555-5}}).  His other book, ''Canada and the Cost of World War II: The International Operations of Canada's Department of Finance, 1939-1947'' (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0-7735-2938-1}}), edited by Matthew J. Bellamy, was published after his death.

Leading a group of long-serving bureaucrats who gave Canadian government a sense of stability and consistency, Bryce served as secretary to the cabinet and clerk of the Privy Council under Liberal Louis Saint-Laurent and Conservative John Diefenbaker for nine years (1954–1963).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Bryce (Obituary) {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/robert-bryce-obituary |access-date=2023-11-13 |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}}</ref> This group continued through five administrations, from Mackenzie King to Pierre Trudeau. Bryce was appointed to chair the [[Royal Commission on Corporate Concentration]] in May 1975. He resigned due to illness before its completion, and can be considered to be one of the authors of the report.

==Honours==
In 1968, he was made a Companion of the [[Order of Canada]] "for his services to Canada in various important posts of public administration".<ref>{{Canadian honour|Type=orc|ID=222|accessdate=24 May 2010}}</ref>

He received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from the [[University of Manitoba]] (1961),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umanitoba.ca/admin/governance/senate/hdr/834.htm|title=Honorary Degree Recipients|work=University of Manitoba|access-date=2009-03-05}}</ref> the [[University of Saskatchewan]] (1970),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usask.ca/archives/history/hondegrees.php?id=196&view=detail&keyword=&campuses=|title=Honorary degree recipients|work=University of Saskatchewan|access-date=2009-03-05}}</ref> [[Mount Allison University]] (1970)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mta.ca/governance/president/hondegreerecipMM.htm|title=Honorary degree Recipients|work=Mount Allison University|access-date=2009-03-05|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206183631/http://mta.ca/governance/president/hondegreerecipMM.htm|archive-date=2010-12-06}}</ref> and the University of British Columbia (1980).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/hdcites/hdcites7.html|title=Honorary Degree Citations|work=University of British Columbia|access-date=2009-03-05}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Bothwell |first=Robert |title=Robert Bryce |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |date=16 December 2013 |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |edition=online |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/robert-bryce}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Mollins |first=Carl |title=Robert Bryce (Obituary) |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |date=15 December 2013 |publisher=Historica Canada |edition=online |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/robert-bryce-obituary}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Shoyama |first=Thomas K. |title=Royal Commission on Corporate Concentration |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |date=16 December 2013 |publisher=Historica Canada |edition=online |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/royal-commission-on-corporate-concentration}}
* [http://www.archivescanada.ca/english/search/ItemDisplay.asp?sessionKey=1143478259019_206_191_57_199&l=0&lvl=1&v=0&coll=1&itm=225593&rt=1&bill=1 Robert B. Bryce fonds]

{{CA-Clerks of the Privy Council}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryce, Robert}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Clerks of the Privy Council (Canada)]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Keynesians]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian economists]]
[[Category:Writers from Toronto]]
[[Category:Canadian federal deputy ministers]]


{{Canada-gov-bio-stub}}