{"id":270064,"date":"2022-02-15T11:30:32","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T16:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/ministerial-mandate-letters-another-nail-in-the-coffin-of-cabinet-government\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T23:49:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T03:49:33","slug":"ministerial-mandate-letters-another-nail-in-the-coffin-of-cabinet-government","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2022\/02\/ministerial-mandate-letters-another-nail-in-the-coffin-of-cabinet-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Ministerial mandate letters: Another nail in the coffin of cabinet government"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe new phone book\u2019s here, the new phone book\u2019s here!\u201d<\/p>\n

Those of a certain generation might recall this scene from the movie The Jerk<\/em>, in which the main character, Navin Johnson (played by Steve Martin), excitedly rifles through the newly published white pages to find his name in print for the first time. \u201cThings are going to start happening to me now,\u201d Navin exclaims.<\/p>\n

A similar spectacle plays out in Ottawa among interest groups every time Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publishes mandate letters to his ministers. These missives are combed through carefully in search of any hint that there might be something on the prime minister\u2019s radar that relates to what the organization desires from the government. If the reference can be found, those concerned are secure in the knowledge that their issue is a prime ministerial priority that will be executed. Some may think things are going to start happening now. It\u2019s more likely the gallery got excited about nothing.<\/p>\n

A tranche of some 38 mandate letters<\/a> was dropped in mid- December by the Prime Minister\u2019s Office (PMO). The spectacle then began once again.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t ignore democracy\u2019s flaws<\/a><\/p>\n

Sweeping deputy minister shuffle raises the question: What took so long?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ministers receive mandate letters following a general election, a throne speech or a cabinet shuffle. They are written by the PMO and the Privy Council Office (the prime minister\u2019s department) to identify the files to which the prime minister attaches priority within the minister\u2019s portfolio.<\/p>\n

Publicly released mandate letters are a Trudeau government innovation. Previously, federal mandate letters were classified documents that only ministers, their chief of staff and a handful of senior civil servants saw (deputy ministers received a copy, and assistant deputy ministers would receive excerpts on priorities in their specific domain).<\/p>\n

The concept of published mandate letters is in theory an exercise in transparency \u2013 the public can see what the prime minister\u2019s priorities are for his cabinet and can hold ministers accountable for them. In practice, they have degenerated into little more than manipulation of the public and further weakening of ministers \u2014 yet another nail in the coffin of cabinet government.<\/p>\n

The first secret mandate letter I saw was about 20 years ago. It was concise and precise, containing a handful of files within the minister\u2019s portfolio that were important to the prime minister. There was no spin. No superfluities. The letter wasn\u2019t intended to impress \u2013 or get press \u2014 or convince anyone of anything. It was clear, confidential direction from the PM to the minister.<\/p>\n

There were two important subtexts to that economical approach that are fundamental to cabinet government.<\/p>\n

First, it was understood that ministers might and should have some priorities of their own. In other words, ministers — not the prime minister or the PMO — were expected to be or to become the authority on the minister\u2019s portfolio and that ministers would make judgments accordingly on what to focus.<\/p>\n

Second and related, it assumed that the prime minister and the PM\u2019s advisors could not foresee most of the issues that would occupy ministers throughout their time in office. Former British prime minister Harold Macmillan\u2019s dictum<\/a> that \u201cevents, dear boy, events\u201d drive government agendas was implicit.<\/p>\n

All that is out the window with the Trudeau government\u2019s approach to mandate letters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trudeau\u2019s dispatches contain a litany of specific and general directives to ministers in an approach that seems to be aimed as much as anything else at convincing interest groups and the media that the government is on top of all these many files. In other words, the letters are largely an exercise in public relations and stakeholder management, rather than serious statements of priorities or plans for governing.<\/p>\n

The finance minister\u2019s new mandate letter, for example, contains 51 items she is expected to deliver in a minority government that likely won\u2019t last more than two or three years if history is any guide.<\/a> The minister of health\u2019s mandate letter contains 30 decrees from the prime minster; the minister of foreign affairs, 26; the minister of Canadian heritage, 33, etc.<\/p>\n

In addition to the PR value of covering the policy waterfront, the voluminous content is indicative of a prime minister who seems to see himself and his office as the experts on every department and agency of government, with little trust in the judgment of ministers to run those portfolios. Ministers, it seems, are not to have ideas of their own about what they might consider important issues within their area. Ministerial time and effort are to be consumed on the hundreds of \u201cpriorities\u201d assigned to them by the prime minister and his office.<\/p>\n

But it is all a bit of a ruse.<\/p>\n

Most of the bullet points in the mandate letters will not be delivered during this government, and Trudeau and his team know this. They know perhaps better than any recent government \u2013 given their experience through two years of pandemic that knocked them completely off their agenda \u2013 that Macmillan\u2019s wisdom of 60 years ago is even more relevant today. Namely, events drive government agendas more than carefully constructed priority lists.<\/p>\n

In other words, things are not going to start happening on most of the commitments in those 38 mandate letters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe new phone book\u2019s here, the new phone book\u2019s here!\u201d Those of a certain generation might recall this scene from the movie The Jerk, in which the main character, Navin Johnson (played by Steve Martin), excitedly rifles through the newly published white pages to find his name in print for the first time. \u201cThings are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":280280,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T03:49:35Z","apple_news_api_id":"2fa68b03-9de3-41af-9f08-f32cf0c8621e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T03:49:36Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AL6aLA53jQa-fCPMs8MhiHg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9399,9358,9372],"tags":[8623,8315],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4250,4295],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[7010],"class_list":["post-270064","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democratie","category-politique","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-political-branding-fr","tag-justin-trudeau","irpp-category-democratie","irpp-category-politique","irpp-tag-justin-trudeau"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nMinisterial 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