Canadian civil service

The Public Service of Canada (known as the Civil Service of Canada prior to 1967) is the civil service of the Government of Canada. Its function is to serve as the staff of the Canadian Crown. The head of the Public Service of Canada is the Clerk of the Privy Council and he or she is Canada's senior serving civil servant.

The Public Service is divided into various subsidiary administrative units such as departments, agencies, commissions, Crown corporations, and other federal organizations. Over 40% of the Public Service of Canada is located in the National Capital Region, although there are employees working at approximately 1,600 locations across Canada. The Public Service of Canada is the country's single largest employer.

The purpose of the Public Service of Canada is to serve the constitutional democratic Canadian state. As is suggested by referring to the Public Service of Canada as part of the "executive branch", its fundamental purpose is to execute or carry out state decisions.

The decisions of the state take various forms and are taken in various ways. The most fundamental decisions of the state are those expressed in the constitution. Altering these decisions often requires the participation of multiple Canadian legislative assemblies (i.e. federal and provincial). It is the duty of the executive branch, including the public service, to execute or carry out the constitution—that is, to act in ways that are consistent with it.

The state also takes decisions through its legislatures, federal and provincial. The federal legislature of the Canadian state is Parliament, consisting of the Senate, the House of Commons and Her Majesty the Queen as head of state. When Parliament takes a decision, the result is generally a statute (though a particular house may also take lesser decisions such as resolutions of the house). The duty of the executive branch of the state, including the public service, is to execute or carry out the decisions that the state has taken by way of statutes.

A third way the state takes decisions is through the enactment of subordinate or delegated legislation. Statutes can and often do delegate to someone other than Parliament (often to the executive of the state) the power to make a subordinate form of legislation, generally referred to as regulations. The public service, as the administrative arm of the state, also has the duty to execute or carry out any regulations so enacted.

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