Cabinet (Plain-Language Summary)

The Cabinet is a committee of ministers. It holds executive power in government. This means it has the power to execute, or carry out, the government’s plans. Cabinets are chaired by the prime minister. In the provinces, they are chaired by the premier. Ministers typically come from the party with the most seats. They oversee major departments, such as finance, health, natural resources, etc. Cabinets are usually strong and driven by agreement. But some believe they have grown weaker as the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has grown stronger.

This article is a plain-language summary of Cabinet. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Cabinet.

How Cabinets Work

The Cabinet is also known as the “government-of-the-day.” It introduces and passes laws. It manages policies and goals. It also oversees government finances. The federal Cabinet gets its legal powers from the Privy Council. Cabinet acts in the name of the Crown. It consists of Members of Parliament (MPs). They are appointed by the prime minister to head departments. The Treasury Board is the only Cabinet committee formed by Parliament.

Cabinets have grown from 12 members to around 40. Various “junior ministers” are appointed to help ministers. The junior ministers are also called Secretaries of State. The Privy Council Office (PCO) provides the secretariat for Cabinet and its committees. Senior public servants also work in Cabinet. They are, however, excluded from Cabinet meetings.

Provincial Cabinets are formally known as executive councils. They follow the federal model except for some powers of appointment.

How Cabinets Are Made

Choosing a Cabinet is highly political. A PM tries to ensure that it represents the country’s different regions, languages and ethnic groups. If a ruling party fails to elect MPs in certain regions, the PM can appoint members of the Senate. A PM is also sure to include women, francophones, and Indigenous people. Major figures within the governing party are given high-profile roles in Cabinet. The PM seeks to maintain power by sharing it. They seek consensus within their party.

Current Federal Cabinet

Ministry	Minister
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Finance and Deputy Prime Minister	Chrystia Freeland
Emergency Preparedness and President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada	Bill Blair
Agriculture and Agri-Food	Marie-Claude Bibeau
Crown-Indigenous Relations	Marc Miller
Treasury Board President	Mona Fortier
Northern Affairs, Prairies Economic Development Canada, and Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency	Dan Vandal
Innovation, Science and Industry	François-Philippe Champagne
Justice and Attorney General of Canada	David Lametti
Foreign Affairs	Mélanie Joly
Indigenous Services and Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario	Patty Hajdu
Families, Children and Social Development	Karina Gould
Transport	Omar Alghabra
International Development and Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada	Harjit Sajjan
National Revenue	Diane Lebouthillier
Environment and Climate Change	Steven Guilbeault
National Defence	Anita Anand
Natural Resources	Jonathan Wilkinson
Women and Gender Equality and Youth	Marci Ien
Public Services and Procurement	Filomena Tassi
Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion	Carla Qualtrough
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons	MarK Holland
Health	Jean-Yves Duclos
Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health	Carolyn Bennett
Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence	Lawrence MacAulay
Canadian Heritage and Quebec Lieutenant	Pablo Rodriguez
International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development	Mary Ng
Labour	Seamus O'Regan Jr.
Seniors	Kamal Khera
Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard	Joyce Murray
Housing and Diversity and Inclusion	Ahmed Hussen
Official Languages and Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency	Ginette Petitpas Taylor
Public Safety	Marco E. L. Mendicino
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship	Sean Fraser
Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance	Randy Boissonnault
Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities	Dominic LeBlanc
Rural Economic Development	Gudie Hutchings
Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario	Helena Jaczek
Sport and Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec	Pascale St-Onge

Secrecy

All Cabinet members are bound for life by the Privy Council oath of secrecy. Public statements by a minister are those of Cabinet. Ministers may disagree in public only after resigning from Cabinet.

The Official Secrets Act makes it illegal for public employees, opposition critics and journalists to go public with information seen as harmful to the state. The Act has also been used to protect Cabinet members.

Cabinet Power on the Rise

A Cabinet relies on its control over the governing party. Prime ministers often use patronage to ensure party loyalty. This includes appointment to Cabinet and committees.

The Cabinet has the power, through its majority in the House, to prevent votes to bring down the government. But the House’s ability to hold the executive to account is the basis of responsible government. The Cabinet can also govern by order-in-council. This began under Pierre Trudeau. It has only gained strength since then.

A large reason for such changes is the growing size of government. The idea that ministers are responsible for every facet of their department has come to be seen as unreasonable. As a result, some of that power is now given to unelected public servants. They do not sit in the House and cannot be held to account by its members.

Steps have been taken to address the power imbalance between Cabinet and Parliament. Committees have been given more power to track government activity. Freedom of Information laws have been passed. And in 2006, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) was created. The PBO gives Parliament oversight on government spending.

Privy Council Office on Metcalfe Street in Ottawa.

Cabinet Power in Decline

Some fear that Cabinet has grown too powerful. But others believe that Cabinet is too heavily controlled by the PM and his office. Critics argue that plans and priorities are set in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) by the leader and his unelected staff. They are then given to Cabinet members for rubber-stamping.

Stephen Harper was often criticized for keeping too much power in the PMO. His Cabinet ministers and their staffs could not speak to the media without approval from the PMO. The power balance between Cabinet and the PMO also came under scrutiny under PM Justin Trudeau. This was most true during the SNC-Lavalin affair. In February 2019, Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott resigned from Cabinet. Wilson-Raybould claimed the PMO and other staff pressured her to work out a deal with SNC-Lavalin. The ethics commissioner found that Trudeau had breached conflict of interest law.