How is Carney’s government filling high-level jobs?

Interesting change. The test will come when we see the annual reports on GiC and judicial appointments that have included diversity data under the Trudeau government. While presented as “transparent and merit-based,” considerable latitude for the government to develop and encourage nominations and thus influence results:

…Since March 2025, only one position — parliamentary budget officer — has been advertised on the government’s appointments website or in the Canada Gazette. For months, the website said it was not accepting applications for any positions. Currently, it says “appointment opportunities will be posted in due course.”

At the same time, the Carney government has made 122 governor-in-council appointments. Some of the openings filled were last advertised years ago. Government insiders say previous postings resulted in pools of qualified applicants that can still be tapped for positions.

Some openings, like chief public health officer and official languages commissioner, were publicly advertised before Trudeau left power. The government has still not named a permanent successor to former public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam, who retired in June. Officials won’t say if Canada’s new official languages commissioner Kelly Burke, who was named last week, was selected through the 2024 open application process.

On March 19, 2025, the governor-in-council (GIC) appointment website advertised 23 job opportunities — some to fill multiple positions.

Ten months later, many are still vacant.

Last week, cabinet approved nine appointments to the new Employment Insurance Board of Appeals. While openings were advertised, they were posted on the board’s own website — not the government’s GIC appointments page.

While the number can fluctuate from day to day as appointments are made and mandates expire, currently, there are around 251 vacant GIC positions.

In the Senate, seven of 105 seats are vacant and eight more senators are scheduled to retire over the course of 2026. However, the website set up under the Trudeau government to open up Senate appointments and allow Canadians to apply to be a senator has said for months that “new applications, nominations or the creation of new profiles for Senate appointments are not being accepted at this time.”

By Tuesday, 24 of the 29 seats on the board Trudeau set up to advise the prime minister on potential senator appointments will be vacant. Only three federal representatives and the two representatives for Nova Scotia will remain.

‘Transparent and merit-based’ process

Carney’s office says that the government is using a “transparent and merit-based selection process” to make appointments….

Source: How is Carney’s government filling high-level jobs?