Bryan Brulotte: Carney’s deputy minister shuffle could show that he's serious

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Friday decision to reshuffle the senior ranks of the federal public service is both welcome and overdue. For too long, Ottawa’s machinery of government has operated on inertia rather than intention, insulated from accountability and resistant to course correction. A prime minister serious about governing cannot allow that to continue. In that sense, these changes were a necessary first step.

But it must be understood for what it is: a signal, not a solution.

Deputy ministers sit at the apex of Canada’s permanent bureaucracy. They shape advice, set internal priorities, and determine whether ministerial direction is executed with urgency or quietly diluted through process. When governments stagnate, it is rarely because of a lack of policy ambition alone. More often, it is because execution has been delegated to a system optimized for risk avoidance, not results.

Carney clearly understands this. The appointment of Michael Sabia as Clerk of the Privy Council earlier this year was an unmistakable assertion of authority over the public service because Sabia is not a process manager or a consensus broker. He is an execution driven institutional reformer with a record of imposing discipline, demanding results, and aligning large bureaucracies with clear political direction. His selection signaled that the prime minister intended to move beyond coordination and messaging toward control and delivery. This latest shuffle builds on that move. By repositioning a dozen senior officials and bringing in figures with strong economic and institutional credentials, the prime minister is putting his stamp on the administrative state in a way few recent leaders have attempted.

There are notable strengths in the choices announced. Nick Leswick’s move from the Bank of Canada to the Department of Finance signals a renewed seriousness about macroeconomic discipline and policy coherence. John McArthur’s appointment to the Privy Council Office brings an external perspective that Ottawa often lacks. Marie Josée Hogue’s transition from the bench to the Department of Justice underscores the gravity with which the government claims to take legal integrity and public trust.

The appointment of Christiane Fox as deputy minister of defence is particularly consequential. She brings limited experience in national security, and her most recent senior role on the immigration file was itself controversial, unfolding amid a period of unprecedented and poorly managed inflows. National defence is not suffering from a lack of white papers or strategic rhetoric. It is suffering from procurement paralysis, cultural fragmentation and an inability to translate political direction into operational capability. Whether this appointment leads to real reform will be an early test of whether the shuffle represents genuine renewal or merely reorganization. Interestingly, the five most senior roles at National Defence are occupied by women.

Canada does not suffer from a shortage of talented public servants. It suffers from a system that rewards process compliance over outcomes, caution over leadership, and consensus over clarity. Too often, senior officials have been encouraged to manage optics rather than risk, to defer decisions upward rather than drive them forward, and to treat ministers as obstacles rather than principals.

If Carney intends to change that culture, personnel changes alone will not suffice.

Deputy ministers must understand that their role is not to moderate elected authority but to serve it. They are stewards, not policymakers in waiting. They exist to provide candid advice, yes, but once direction is set, execution must be disciplined and decisive. Anything less erodes democratic accountability and public confidence.

This is particularly urgent in areas where Canada has lost credibility. Defence, infrastructure delivery, major project approvals, productivity policy and regulatory reform all require a public service willing to move at the speed of relevance. A reshuffle that merely rearranges titles without altering incentives will change little.

There is also a broader test ahead. The Prime Minister’s Office has indicated further changes are coming in the new year. That suggests that Carney recognizes the depth of the challenge. The question is whether he will match structural reform with sustained political will.

Canadians are not asking for perfection. They are asking for competence, seriousness and momentum. They want a government that can decide, implement and deliver. They want a public service that understands urgency is not recklessness and is accountable. This shuffle creates an opening. Whether it becomes a turning point depends on what follows.

National Post