Prime Minister Carney’s appointment of Janice Charette as Chief Trade Negotiator to the United States was generally welcomed given her long history service in the Public Service of Canada. I did see some grumbling that she has no history with trade negotiations and that perhaps someone more qualified in that regard would have been a better choice.
The following article offers a rare glimpse into the experience she is bringing to the table and the type of individual she is. It seems to me that we are solid hands with her on the file.
In The Logic’s latest The Big Read, Marci Surkes reflects on what sets Janice Charette apart after decades at the centre of Canada’s most complex moments.
That kind of experience isn’t theoretical. It’s built over years of navigating pressure, personalities, and high-stakes decisions at the centre of government.‘There’s very little over the course of decades of service that she has not experienced in terms of bombast’
March 18, 2026 OTTAWA — Janice Charette likes to hear from others before she makes an important judgment call, inviting the views of colleagues as though seated around a family dinner table. But these days, fewer and fewer decisions can wait. Shortly before retiring as Canada’s top bureaucrat in June 2023, Charette described the current era of political and economic upheaval as one of permanent “polycrisis,” a relentless series of interconnected global events that often demand fast action from those at the highest levels of government.
When she needs to move quickly, Charette goes on instinct. “You spend your whole life refining your gut,” she told a Global Affairs Canada podcast in 2018, “to actually be what gets you through the tough spots.” So far, she said, her gut has served her well.
Charette, 63, will now help guide Canada through one of its toughest spots yet. Last month, Prime Minister Mark Carney named the veteran public servant as chief trade negotiator to the United States just as the North American trade agreement comes up for review. She is working closely with Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Mark Wiseman, Canada’s ambassador in Washington, D.C. Charette, who declined to be interviewed for this story, led Carney’s transition team after he won the 2025 Liberal leadership race and replaced Justin Trudeau as prime minister.
She is no stranger to turbulent times. Her nearly four decades in the federal civil service included two stints as clerk of the Privy Council, leading the administrative nerve centre that supports the cabinet and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). She began in 2014 when Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper was in power, and was just over two weeks into the job when a gunman stormed Parliament Hill. Charette continued in the role through the transition to the Liberal government led by Trudeau, who later named her Canada’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom shortly after the country voted to leave the European Union. In 2021, Trudeau asked her to return as interim clerk during the COVID-19 pandemic, when then-clerk Ian Shugart went on medical leave. She was in the role permanently the next year…
Source: Compass Rose
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