Prime Minister Mark Carney conducted a major shuffle in the ranks of top public servants, which has included placing the former foreign interference commissioner as number two to Justice Minister Sean Fraser.
The shuffle included appointing 12 individuals to new senior roles, while others were congratulated by Carney on their departure from the public service.
Marie-Josée Hogue, a judge with the Quebec Court of Appeal, has been appointed as deputy minister of justice and deputy attorney general.
Hogue said in her report that foreign states are trying to interfere, but that there’s no evidence that Canadian institutions have been “seriously affected” by these efforts.
She also said she hadn’t seen any evidence of “traitors” in Parliament, an opinion issued in relation to the June 2024 report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP). The committee wrote that some lawmakers and party candidates have been “semi-witting or witting participants in the efforts of foreign states to interfere in our politics.”
Carney also made changes around his economic and finance team.
John McArthur, who was director of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution in Washington, a liberal think tank, has been appointed as deputy secretary to the cabinet for economic policy, a post within the Privy Council Office (PCO).
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is getting a new deputy in Nick Leswick, who served as executive director for policy at the Bank of Canada. Leswick replaces Chris Forbes in the role, who in turn was appointed as a “senior official” at the PCO.
The PCO has been referred to as the prime minister’s own department. Its responsibilities include running the government machinery and doing policy work for the prime minister and his cabinet.
The Clerk of the Privy Council is the head of the public service, a position Carney filled by appointing Michael Sabia in July. Sabia was previously head of Hydro-Québec, and before that, served as deputy minister of finance and head of Quebec’s pension fund.
Sabia will receive a new deputy in the recent shuffle, with Isabelle Mondou returning to the PCO after serving as deputy minister of heritage.
With defence deputy minister Stefanie Beck leaving the public service, Christiane Fox will take the post as number two to Defence Minister David McGuinty. Fox was previously serving as deputy to Clerk Sabia.
Fox will help oversee the massive influx of fresh money into the Department of National Defence for increased spending on troop wellness and equipment.
