(OTTAWA) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named a new federal public service boss on Tuesday.
John Hannaford, who is currently Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, will become Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet next month.
The current clerk, Janice Charette, is scheduled to retire on June 24 after 40 years of public service.
Mme Charette was first appointed Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet in 2014 by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, before being appointed in 2016 by Mr. Trudeau High Commissioner of Canada to the United Kingdom.
PHOTO MIKE SUDOMA, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
The current clerk, Janice Charette
Mr. Trudeau subsequently reappointed her as Acting Clerk of the Privy Council in 2021, then permanently a year ago.
Mr. Hannaford, a senior civil servant since 2001, was notably Deputy Minister of International Trade and foreign and defense policy advisor to Mr. Trudeau. He was also Canada’s ambassador to Norway from 2009 to 2012.
The Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet is responsible for advising the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on the management of the country “in an objective and non-partisan manner”. He is the highest ranking official of the Canadian state, often nicknamed in Ottawa “the great mandarin”.