Over the nine years it has been in power, the Trudeau government has shuffled senior officials 98 times, with more than 300 specific changes – some individuals multiple times.UlyssePixel/iStockPhoto / Getty Images

David McLaughlin is a former clerk of the executive council and cabinet secretary in Manitoba, and past CEO of the Institute on Governance.

Is Canada’s public service quietly preparing for the change in government that voters are expected to deliver next year – or is the significant juggling in our bureaucracy just more of the same, in terms of senior-public-servant office churn?

Just one year into his new job as Privy Council Clerk and the federal government’s top public servant, John Hannaford has presided over 14 shuffles affecting 30 deputy-minister and associate-deputy-minister-level officials. The public service has not seen this kind of senior official churn since the first term of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.

Over the nine years it has been in power, the Trudeau government has shuffled senior officials 98 times, with more than 300 specific changes – some individuals multiple times. On average, there have been about 10 shuffles per year. Meanwhile, there are now 41 deputy ministers – more than ever before.

Changes in the deputy-minister ranks get........

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