Office of the Prime Minister (Canada)

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In Canada, the Office of the Prime Minister is one of the most powerful parts of the government. It is made up of the Prime Minister and his top political staff. The offices of the Prime Minister's staffers are in the Langevin Block in Ottawa.

The Office of the Prime Minister, or Prime Minister's Office (PMO) advises the Prime Minister. The PMO is wholly political with staffers appointed by the Prime Minister. It is not to be confused with the larger and, effectively, more powerful Privy Council Office (PCO).

One of the most important roles of the PMO is government appointments. The Prime Minister alone decides who is appointed to become Chairs of GIC and Ministerial Boards, Crown Corporations, Senators, Supreme Court Justices and even The Queen's Representative, the Governor General of Canada. The PMO provides advice on such appointments. The PMO also includes speechwriters, strategists, and communications staffers, who shape the Prime Minister's and government's message. It is also the PMO's job to keep the Prime Minister informed about events that take place in the government and the country. It acts as a link between the political party organization and the government.

Many provinces of Canada have similar organizations in the offices of the Premier.

1 History
2 Criticism
3 Composition
4 External links

[edit] History

The Office of the Prime Minister was a fairly weak and secondary group before Pierre Trudeau became Prime Minister. Under Trudeau, it replicated much of what the Privy Council Office did. Trudeau's PMO became central to his government and many of his economic and constitutional initiatives were launched primarily with the aid and advice of the PMO.

Brian Mulroney also had a powerful and active PMO where he could have advice that was independent from what he considered the Liberal-leaning civil service and the fractious Tory party.

Jean Chrétien at first tried to shrink the PMO, relying more on his cabinet, but as his time in government went on he came to rely more and more on the PMO. Chrétien especially relied on his Chief of Staff and longtime friend Jean Pelletier, who ran the office from 1993 to 2001, and his Senior Advisor Eddie Goldenberg, who had spent his entire career working with Mr. Chrétien in various ministries.

Prime Minister Paul Martin's PMO was structured more in the American model. For example, Martin introduced Deputy Chiefs of Staff to the PMO responsible for areas such as communications and policy and re-established the position of director in the offices of his ministers - previously, directors of communications or policy were known as special assistants. He increased the salary of political staff considerably, and within his own office he also re-established the position of principal secretary, originally introduced by Trudeau.

Current Prime Minister Stephen Harper has largely retained this model.

[edit] Criticism

Justice John Gomery recommended that the power of the PMO be reduced. This was in response to the sponsorship scandal which took place while Jean Chrétien was Prime Minister. This recommendation has been ignored to date.

[edit] Composition

The PMO is presided over by the Chief of Staff. The current Chief of Staff is Ian Brodie. The Principal Secretary has also been a significant figure in the PMO. The current PMO has no Principal Secretary.