Policy advice from partisan ministerial staff is more appealing to cabinet ministers because it has a loyalty twist and ‘fits the political moment,’ says Professor Donald Savoie. But cabinet ministers should also be using policy advice from their deputy ministers, say governance experts.
If Prime Minister Mark Carney and his cabinet want to receive unvarnished advice on public policy issues, they should rely mainly on their deputy ministers and not their exempt policy aides, says Professor Donald Savoie, one of the country’s leading experts on the machinery of government. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade