Cabinet of Canada

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The Cabinet of Canada (French: Cabinet du Canada) is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the prime minister, the Cabinet is a committee of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and the senior echelon of the Ministry, the membership of the Cabinet and ministry often being co-terminal; as of November 2015 there are no members of the latter who are not also members of the former.

For practical reasons, the Cabinet is informally referred to either in relation to the prime minister in charge of it or the number of ministries since Confederation. The current cabinet is the Cabinet of Justin Trudeau, which is part of the 29th Ministry. The interchangeable use of the terms cabinet and ministry is a subtle inaccuracy that can cause confusion.

Composition[]

Queen-in-Council[]

The Government of Canada, formally referred to as Her Majesty's Government,^[1][2] is defined by the constitution as the Queen acting on the advice of her Privy Council;^[3][4] what is technically known as the Queen-in-Council,^[5] or sometimes the Governor-in-Council,^[6] referring to the governor general as the Queen's stand-in. However, the Privy Council—composed mostly of former members of parliament, current and former chief justices of Canada, and other elder statesmen—rarely meets in full; as the stipulations of responsible government require that those who directly advise the monarch and governor general on how to exercise the Royal Prerogative be accountable to the elected House of Commons of Canada, the day-to-day operation of government is guided only by a sub-group of the Privy Council made up of individuals who hold seats in parliament.^[4] This body of ministers of the Crown is the Cabinet, which has come to be the council in the phrase Queen-in-Council.

One of the main duties of the Crown is to appoint as prime minister the individual most likely to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons; this is usually the leader of the political party with a majority in that house, but when no party or coalition holds a majority (referred to as a hung parliament), or similar scenario, the governor general's judgement about the most suitable candidate for prime minister must be brought into play.^[7] The prime minister thereafter heads the Cabinet. The Queen is informed by her viceroy of the acceptance of the resignation of a prime minister and the swearing-in of a new ministry,^[7] and she remains fully briefed through regular communications from her Canadian ministers and holds audience with them whenever possible.^[8]

Selection and structure[]

The governor-general appoints to the Cabinet persons chosen by the prime minister—John A. Macdonald once half-jokingly listed his occupation as cabinet maker; while there are no legal qualifications of the potential ministers, there are a number of conventions that are expected be followed. For instance, there is typically a minister from each province in Canada, ministers from visible minority groups, female ministers and, while the majority of those chosen to serve as ministers of the Crown are Members of Parliament, a Cabinet sometimes includes a senator, especially as a representative of a province or region where the governing party won few or no ridings. Efforts are further made to indulge interest groups that support the incumbent government and the party's internal politics must be appeased, with Cabinet positions sometimes being a reward for loyal party members.^{[citation needed]}

A meeting of the Cabinet of William Lyon Mackenzie King in 1930

It is not legally necessary for Cabinet members to have a position in parliament although they are almost always selected from the House of Commons. From time to time, a senator may be included.^[9]

As with other Westminster derived governments, but unlike the United States Cabinet, the size and structure of the Canadian Cabinet is relatively malleable, the slate of Cabinet positions tending to be substantially restructured periodically, the last major period of realignment occurring between 1993 and 1996. Throughout the 20th century, Cabinets had been expanding in size until the Cabinet chaired by Brian Mulroney, with a population of 40 ministers. Mulroney's successor, Kim Campbell, reduced this number, and Jean Chrétien eliminated approximately 10 members of the ministry from the Cabinet, so that by 1994 there were a total of 23 persons in Cabinet. Under the chairmanship of Paul Martin, the number increased again to 39, in the vicinity of which it has remained; the Cabinet proper currently comprises 31 ministers, with another 7 members of the ministry who are not of the cabinet.^[10]

Cabinet itself—or full Cabinet—is further divided into committees. The Treasury Board, overseeing the expenditure of the sovereign's state funds within every department, is one of the most important of these, as is the Priorities and Planning Committee, often referred to as the inner Cabinet, which is the body that sets the strategic directions for the government, approves key appointments and ratifies committee memberships. Other Cabinet committees include Operations, Social Affairs, Economic Growth and Long-Term Prosperity, Foreign Affairs and Security, Environment and Energy Security.^[11] Each committee is chaired by a senior minister whose own portfolio normally intersects with the mandate of the committee he or she is chairing.^{[citation needed]}

Ministers, secretaries, and deputies[]

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The 16th Canadian Ministry, headed by William Lyon Mackenzie King, on the grounds of Rideau Hall, 19 June 1945

Each minister of the Crown is responsible for the general administration of at least one government portfolio and heads a corresponding ministry or ministries, known in Canada as departments or agencies. The most important minister, following the first minister, is the Minister of Finance, while other high-profile ministries include foreign affairs, industry, justice, and health. The official order of precedence does not follow the same pattern, however, with ministers being listed in the order of their appointment to the Privy Councillor, if appointed to the Privy Council on the same day, in order of election or appointment to parliament.^[12]

Unique positions in Cabinet are those such as Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and President of the Queen's Privy Council, who have no corresponding department, and some ministers (such as the Minister for International Cooperation) head agencies under the umbrella of a department run by another minister. Further, the prime minister may recommend the governor-general appoint to Cabinet some ministers without portfolio, though this has not been done since 1978, and, unlike in many other Westminster model governments, ministers of state in Canada are considered full members of Cabinet, rather than of the ministry outside it, which has the effect of making the Canadian Cabinet much larger than its foreign counterparts. These individuals are assigned specific, but temporary, responsibilities on a more ad hoc basis, fulfilling tasks created and dissolved to suit short-term government priorities from within a department under a full minister of the Crown. Ministers of state may also be named but not specified any particular responsibilities, thus giving them the effective appearance of ministers without portfolio, or be delegated problems or initiatives that cut across departmental boundaries, a situation usually described as having the [situation] file.

Members of the Cabinet receive assistance from both parliamentary secretaries—who will usually answer, on behalf of a minister, questions in the House of Commons—and deputy ministers—senior civil servants assigned to each ministry in order to tender non-partisan advice.

Responsibilities[]

Under the Constitution, all legislation involving the raising or spending of public revenue must originate from the Cabinet.^[13]

In the context of constitutional monarchy and responsible government, the ministerial advice tendered is typically binding, though it is important to note that formally the Royal Prerogative belongs to the Crown, not to any of the ministers,^[14][15] and the royal and viceregal figures may unilaterally use these powers in exceptional constitutional crisis situations.^{[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][note 1]} There are also a few duties which must be specifically performed by, or bills that require assent by, the Queen. Royal assent has never been denied to a law passed by Parliament.^[28]

As advisors to the sovereign, the Cabinet has significant power in the Canadian system and, as the governing party usually holds a majority of seats in the legislature, almost all bills proposed by the Cabinet are enacted. Combined with a comparatively small proportion of bills originating with individual Members of Parliament, this leads to Cabinet having almost total control over the legislative agenda of the House of Commons. Further, members of various executive agencies, heads of Crown corporations, and other officials are appointed by the Crown-in-Council, though some of these may be made only by the Governor General-in-Council specifically. Public inquiries and Royal Commissions are also called through a Royal Warrant issued by the Queen or Governor-in-Council. All Cabinet meetings are held behind closed doors and the minutes are kept confidential for thirty years, Cabinet members being forbidden from discussing what transpires. Decisions made must be unanimous, though this often occurs at the prime minister's direction, and once a decision has been reached, all Cabinet members must publicly support it. If any of these rules are violated, the offending minister is usually removed by the prime minister and, if the disagreement within the Cabinet is strong, a minister may resign, as did John Turner in 1975, over the subject of wage and price controls, and Michael Chong in 2006, over a parliamentary motion recognizing "the Québécois" as a nation within Canada.

However, the Cabinet's collective influence has been seen to be eclipsed by that of the prime minister alone. Former prime minister Pierre Trudeau is credited with consolidating power in the Office of the Prime Minister (PMO)^[29] and, at the end of the 20th century and into the 21st, analysts—such as Jeffrey Simpson, Donald Savoie, and John Gomery—argued that both parliament and the Cabinet had become eclipsed by prime ministerial power.^[30] Savoie quoted an anonymous minister from the Liberal Party as saying Cabinet had become "a kind of focus group for the Prime Minister,"^[31][32] while Simpson called cabinet a "mini-sounding board".^{[note 2][34]} Coyne wrote in 2015: "Cabinet does not matter... It does not govern: that is the job of the prime minister, and of the group of political staff he has around him, and of the bureaucracy beyond them."^[35] John Robson criticised the use of the prime minister's name to identify the Cabinet, calling it a "bad habit" that "endorses while concealing the swollen pretension of the executive branch."^[36]

Shadow cabinets[]

Each party in Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition creates a shadow cabinet, with each member thereof observing and critiquing one or more actual Cabinet portfolios and offering alternative policies. The Official Opposition's shadow cabinet comprises members of the party not in government holding the largest number of seats and is appointed by the Leader of the Opposition; it is generally regarded as a "government in waiting". Its members are often, but not always, appointed to a Cabinet post should the leader of their party be called to form a government.

List of cabinets[]

Current cabinet[]

The Liberal Party of Canada won the federal election of October 19, 2015 with a majority of seats in the House of Commons. The Cabinet was sworn-in on November 4, with Justin Trudeau appointed as prime minister.

The swearing-in of the new Cabinet also marked the first gender-balanced cabinet in Canada's history, where an equal number of female and male Ministers were appointed.^[37] This was reflected in the fifteen women and fifteen men who were sworn into Cabinet on November 4, for a total of thirty-one members, including the Prime Minister himself. Trudeau has continued to maintain a gender-balanced cabinet throughout several cabinet shuffles in his mandate, and the addition of five new ministerial positions.

Initially, five members of Cabinet were appointed by orders-in-council on November 4 as ministers of state, but styled without the traditional of state in their titles. These were the Ministers of Science,^[38] Small Business and Tourism,^[39] Sport and Persons with Disabilities,^[40] Status of Women,^[41] and La Francophonie.^[42] (However, the new Minister of La Francophonie was, at the same time, appointed Minister of International Development.) Ministers of state had previously represented a second order within the Cabinet (determined by a lower salary as defined by the Salaries Act,^[43] despite the Ministries and Ministers of State Act giving them full authority for any government function delegated to them.^[44] However, after details of the aforementioned orders-in-council were published, the new cabinet stated its intent for there to "be no levels of cabinet members" and it would table in parliament amendments to the salary statutes, but also that the new ministers would continue to work with the existing departments rather than forming new ones.^[45]

On July 18, 2018 Trudeau reshuffled his cabinet. This included adding 5 new ministry positions expanding the previous size of cabinet from 30 to 35.^[46]

Ministers are listed according to the Canadian order of precedence:^[47]

Cabinet ministers
29th Canadian Ministry
Ministry	Date of creation	Incumbent	Province	Minister since	Precedence date[a]
Prime Minister of Canada	1 July 1867	Justin Trudeau	QC	4 November 2015	4 November 2015[b]
Deputy Prime Minister of Canada	16 September 1977	Chrystia Freeland	ON	20 November 2019	4 November 2015
Minister of Finance	1 July 1867			18 August 2020
Minister of Veterans Affairs	18 October 1944	Lawrence MacAulay	PE	1 March 2019	4 November 1993
Associate Minister of National Defence	12 July 1940
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations	15 July 2019	Carolyn Bennett	ON	4 November 2015	12 December 2003
President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada	1 July 1867	Dominic LeBlanc	NB	18 July 2018	20 July 2004
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs	14 November 1993
Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry	29 March 1995	François-Philippe Champagne	QC	12 January 2021	7 October 2005
President of the Treasury Board	1 October 1966	Jean-Yves Duclos	QC	20 November 2019	4 November 2015
Minister of Transport	2 November 1936	Omar Alghabra	ON	12 January 2021	4 November 2015
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food	12 January 1995	Marie-Claude Bibeau	QC	1 March 2019	4 November 2015
Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages	20 November 2019	Mélanie Joly	QC	18 July 2018	4 November 2015
Minister of National Revenue	21 March 1927	Diane Lebouthillier	QC	4 November 2015	4 November 2015
Minister of Infrastructure and Communities	4 November 2015	Catherine McKenna	ON	20 November 2019	4 November 2015
Minister of National Defence	1 January 1923	Harjit Sajjan	BC	4 November 2015	4 November 2015
Minister of Women and Gender Equality	13 December 2018	Maryam Monsef	ON	10 January 2017	4 November 2015
Minister of Rural Economic Development	14 January 2019			20 November 2019
Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion	2 June 1909	Carla Qualtrough	BC	20 November 2019	4 November 2015
Minister of Health	12 July 1996	Patty Hajdu	ON	20 November 2019	4 November 2015
Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth	20 November 2019	Bardish Chagger	ON	20 November 2019	4 November 2015
Minister of Foreign Affairs	4 November 1993	Marc Garneau	QC	12 January 2021	10 January 2017
Minister of International Development	25 January 1996	Karina Gould	ON	20 November 2019	10 January 2017
Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development	12 December 2003	Ahmed Hussen	ON	20 November 2019	10 January 2017
Minister of Natural Resources	12 January 1995	Seamus O'Regan	NL	20 November 2019	28 August 2017
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons	14 October 1944	Pablo Rodriguez	QC	20 November 2019	30 January 2017
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness	12 December 2003	Bill Blair	ON	20 November 2019	18 July 2018
Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion	30 September 1976	Mary Ng	ON	20 November 2019	18 July 2018
Minister of International Trade	20 November 2019
Minister of Labour	2 June 1909	Filomena Tassi	ON	20 November 2019	18 July 2018
Minister of Environment and Climate Change	11 June 1971	Jonathan Wilkinson	BC	20 November 2019	18 July 2018
Minister of Justice and Attorney General	1 July 1867	David Lametti	QC	14 January 2019	14 January 2019
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard	2 April 1979	Bernadette Jordan	NS	20 November 2019	14 January 2019
Minister of Digital Government	18 March 2019	Joyce Murray	BC	18 March 2019	18 March 2019
Minister of Public Services and Procurement	12 July 1996	Anita Anand	ON	20 November 2019	20 November 2019
Minister of Middle Class Prosperity	20 November 2019	Mona Fortier	ON	20 November 2019	20 November 2019
Associate Minister of Finance
Minister of Canadian Heritage	12 July 1996	Steven Guilbeault	QC	20 November 2019	20 November 2019
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship	30 June 1994	Marco Mendicino	ON	20 November 2019	20 November 2019
Minister of Indigenous Services	28 August 2017	Marc Miller	QC	20 November 2019	20 November 2019
Minister of Seniors	18 July 2018	Deb Schulte	ON	20 November 2019	20 November 2019
Minister of Northern Affairs	20 November 2019	Dan Vandal	MB	20 November 2019	20 November 2019
Minister without Portfolio	12 January 2021	Jim Carr	MB	12 January 2021	12 January 2021
Special Representative to the Prairies

Notes

Former portfolios[]

See also[]

• Queen's Privy Council for Canada
• Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (Canada)
• Structure of the Canadian federal government

Notes[]

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Brooks, Stephen (2009). Canadian democracy (6th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195431032.
• Dawson, R. MacGregor; Dawson, W.F. (1989). Democratic Government in Canada (5th ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-6703-4.
• Forsey, Eugene (2005). How Canadians Govern Themselves (PDF) (6th ed.). Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Canada. ISBN 0-662-39689-8. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2009.
• MacLeod, Kevin S. (2008). A Crown of Maples (PDF) (1 ed.). Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Canada. ISBN 978-0-662-46012-1. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
• McWhinney, Edward (2005). The Governor General and the Prime Ministers. Vancouver: Ronsdale Press. ISBN 1-55380-031-1.
• Savoie, Donald (1999). Governing from the Centre: The Concentration of Power in Canadian Politics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-8252-7.
• Simpson, Jeffrey (2001). The Friendly Dictatorship. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 978-0-7710-8079-1.
• Tidridge, Nathan (2011). Canada's Constitutional Monarchy: An Introduction to Our Form of Government. Toronto: Dundurn Press. ISBN 9781459700840.

External links[]

• Reference to current cabinet ministers
• Cabinet Minister responsibilities