Trudeau government made dozens of appointments after announcing he'd resign

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has stacked agencies and Crown corporations with dozens of future appointments and early appointment renewals, many of which would only go into effect weeks and months after the next election.

A CBC News analysis of order-in-council appointments made since Jan. 6, when Trudeau announced he would step down as prime minister, found 88 future appointments — some scheduled to go into effect as late as November.

Orders in council do not require parliamentary approval.

Some are for part-time positions that pay modest per diems, but others are for senior executives or advisers making more than $200,000 a year.

While a handful of the future appointments are only scheduled to last a few months, most would last years — with two set to last seven years. Most have been appointed "on good behaviour," which means a future government would have to prove that they were guilty of bad behaviour in order to remove them before the expiry date of their appointment.

While some of those benefiting from the future appointments have ties to the Liberal Party, many others do not.

Overall, Trudeau's government made far more appointments during this period than it has in past years. According to the government's order-in-council database, between Jan. 6 and March 11, Trudeau's government made 231 appointments, compared with only 123 for the same period in 2024.

Every single vacant Senate seat has also been filled. Barring resignations, the next vacancy will occur on May 14 when Conservative Senator Don Plett is scheduled to retire.

In 2015, when it was revealed that Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government made 49 controversial future appointments and reappointments in its dying days, newly appointed Liberal House Leader Dominic LeBlanc described them as "an abuse of process."

He sent a letter on behalf of Trudeau, calling on 33 of the 49 who received appointments that went into effect after the election to decline the role.

Thursday, LeBlanc's office referred all questions about the Trudeau government's future appointments to the Prime Minister's Office.

Trudeau's office has not yet responded to questions from CBC News.

Prime minister-designate Mark Carney's office has not responded either to questions about whether they were consulted about the Trudeau government's last-minute future appointments or whether they have agreed to make any appointments on the Trudeau government's behalf once Carney is sworn into office.

Pace of appointments quickened after resignation

In 1984, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau recommended more than 200 patronage appointments be made. His successor, John Turner, not only didn't cancel the appointments but made 70 of his own — decisions that dogged him during the election campaign that brought Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives to power.

The flurry of last-minute appointments by Trudeau's government is in sharp contrast with the problems it has had over the years filling vacancies — often leaving large numbers of vacant order-in-council positions or appointees continuing in their positions long after the end dates of their mandates.

For example, in August 2023, 416 positions — nearly a quarter of order in council appointments — were vacant or occupied by someone whose mandate was past its end date.

Those appointments are sometimes made a few days or even a few weeks in advance. Between Jan. 6 and March 12, many were made several weeks or months in advance.

For example, Donald Obonsawin still had two years in his mandate as a trustee of the Canadian Museum of Nature. He was promoted to vice-chair of the board of trustees, effective May 18, for four years.

Jonathan Goldbloom's previous appointment as a member of the board of Via Rail was set to expire on March 24, 2026. On March 7, he was given a new appointment to chairman, effective April 12, for five years.

Former Liberal cabinet minister Pierre Pettigrew's appointment as chair of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada was set to expire on July 1. On Feb. 17, he was handed his third appointment to the position, for three years effective July 1.

The same day, Pettigrew's fellow board member, Lisa De Wilde, was given an early reappointment, effective July 4 for three years.

Two members of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's board of directors, Sandra Mason and William Tam, were also given future appointments on Feb. 17 for five-year terms, effective June 1.

The longest future appointments — seven years — were both made by Justice Minister Arif Virani who appointed Carol Shirtliff-Hinds as deputy director of public prosecutions, effective April 14, and Christopher Sutton as accessibility commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, effective May 5.

The minister who made the largest number of future appointments was Steven MacKinnon, minister of employment, workforce development and labour. During the period analyzed, MacKinnon made 26 future appointments, many of them to the Social Security Tribunal (SST) or the Employment Insurance Board of Appeals.

MacKinnon's office defended the appointments, saying they are a "standard and necessary practice to ensure stability" and are "open, transparent and merit-based."

"Most of the reappointments and appointments are for the Social Security Tribunal, an independent body, which plays a crucial role in ensuring that Canadians have access to fair and timely decisions on matters like employment insurance, the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security," his office said in a statement.

"All appointments and reappointments to the SST are made upon the recommendation of the chair who is responsible for the operations of the tribunal."

The minister with the second-largest number of future appointments was David McGuinty with 14, many of them to the Parole Board of Canada. Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge was third with 11 future appointments.

Overall, 18 of the 37 members of Trudeau's cabinet made future appointments, including Trudeau who made five appointments to positions that take effect in the future, including two that take effect in November.

Conservative Opposition House leader Andrew Scheer was quick to criticize the Trudeau government's future appointments.

"It comes as no surprise that in the dying days of the prime minister holding office, Liberals have been caught helping their Liberal insider friends with plush posts and appointments," Scheer wrote in a statement.

"Even as the Carney-Trudeau Liberals kept Parliament shuttered during a crisis to focus on their internal struggles for power, they still managed to help their friends and put themselves first."

Scheer's statement was silent on the future appointments made in the dying days of the Harper government. 

Scheer also questioned Trudeau's commitment to make the Senate independent and non-partisan, saying most senators appointed by Trudeau have been Liberals.