2110-7-8-1

[J.B. Bickersteth]

Confidential

Hart House University of Toronto

4 January 1936

My dear Lord Tweedsmuir

I send your Excellency as requested this memorandum which I wrote in August 1927 after spending some time in London and studying at close quarters the whole machinery of the Cabinet office.

It was in May of that year that M^c-King approached me with the proposal that I should go to Ottawa and begin the work of slowly building up a Cabinet office there. He also proposed that I should be secretary of the Cabinet. From the first I saw great difficulties, not the least being the fact that I am English. The P.M. refused to look upon this as a drawback, though I am convinced he was wrong. There were the further difficulties that the P.M. had not consulted the opposition nor had he discussed the matter, except very cursorily, with the French Canadians in his own Government. Robb (at that time Minister of Finance), Dunning and others in his Cabinet were favorable and we had talks together at Kingsmere. Lapointe was more doubtful. Knowing all this, I had long conversations with Hankey, Tom Jones, & with S.B. & other members of the Cabinet

in London. It was just before the Prince of Wales & Mr. Baldwin came to this country and they all felt the need of a Cabinet Office in Canada, or (as they put it) of somebody with whom they could deal. When, however, I had put the whole matter before them and among other things had explained that Mackenzie King had definitely said to me he wished me to be with him, to travel with him and so forth, Hankey became very doubtful about the whole proposal which seemed to have been very hurriedly & lightly thought out. After several weeks of careful thought I refused the offer and had a charming cable and subsequently several delightful interviews with the P.M. who I think entirely understood my motives. I did however think the whole idea was basically so sound & encouraging I prepared this memorandum. I sent one to Lord Willingdon (then Gov^r General) who throughout the negociations had been most helpful & understanding and one to the P.M. himself.

Since then nothing has been done with respect to the establishment of a Cabinet Office (or anything approaching it) in Canada. A year or two ago I discussed the question with Mr Bennett who was not really interested and said he thought the time had not yet come for such an experiment.

The P.M. now has a marvellous opportunity of gradually building up some organisation adapted from Hankey's system and the latter part of my memorandum deals with this. As I have said there, the possibility of having a man in Hankey's position as secretary of the Cabinet is hardly feasible but there is much an Executive Assistant could do in establishing the Cabinet Committees branch.

The fact that the P.M., 3 months after taking office, should have as his assistants merely Pickering & HRL Henry seems pathetic. Both these men are good in their own particular line, but neither is of the type to control the P.M.'s office still less to undertake the work of a cabinet office. The failure of our public men in Canada to surround

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themselves with really able assistants is notorious. It would almost seem as if the P.M. & Cabinet Ministers were suspicious of brains in this capacity.

Norman Rogers became a sort of super-secretary to M^cKing in 1927 or early in 1928 but it did not work & Rogers left partly, it is true, because of his health but more, I think, because King did not know how to use him.

I cannot help feeling that Your Excellency could do much to encourage the P.M. to think out this problem, which is of vital importance if only to prevent the P.M. from overwork. It really all goes back to the unsatisfactory system of recruiting suitable men for our Civil Service. I have got many lads here, who have recently graduated and would love to go into the Civil service but are unwilling to do so, when they must start at the bottom in what in England would be Grade B. Until we can get a Grade A or a Grade B in this country, there seems little hope of improvement. The brilliant Report of Sir George Murray on "The organisation of the public service of Canada" published in 1912 still remains the ideal - but it is pigeon-holed & nothing is done.

I know that Your Excellency will treat this letter in strict confidence, though I do hope that some time you may be able to draw the P.M. out on this whole question and, as you so wisely said to me at G.H., make him think it is his

own idea. The burden which the P.M. of this or any country has to carry is immense, one would have thought he would have clutched at any proposal to assist him in his work. In actual fact I did discuss the Cabinet Office with M^cKing, when I spent a day with him last March, and he certainly then led me to think that if he came into power he would do something. Incidentally of course I told him I was still firmly convinced I was not the man to come to him for that purpose.

I have just returned from 2 days in Washington. Everybody there wishes that Hume Wrong could be made Minister. I was, as always, profoundly impressed with his ability and with the amazing grasp he possesses of all the complications of the American scene. His account of his relationship with the Depart^t of External Affairs in Ottawa was, to say the least of it, interesting and I should much like to talk this over with you some time.

I wonder whether there will be any chance of seeing Your Excellency at lunch in the Great Hall during your coming visit to Toronto. If it is not possible on this occasion, then we must hope to have that pleasure on some subsequent occasion.

I went on to New York & the Millers were very kind. They have a charming flat overlooking the Hudson & he put me up for The Knickerbocker Club.

Yours sincerely

J. Burgon Bickersteth

CONFIDENTIAL

MEMORANDUM

on

THE INTRODUCTION OF CERTAIN FEATURES OF THE BRITISH CABINET OFFICE INTO CANADA

1. Organisation of the British Cabinet Office In England the British Cabinet Office or Secretariat is divided into four main branches:

(i) A small private office which deals with the secretarial work of the Cabinet itself.

(ii) The provision of secretarial service for the Cabinet Committees branch, under which heading come the Committee of Home Affairs (usually set up on the formation of each government) and the numerous sub-committees of the Cabinet.

(iii) The provision of secretarial service for the Committee of Imperial Defence and its sub-committees .

(iv) The provision of secretarial service for the Committee of Civil Research and its sub-committees.

2. The Committee of Imperial Defence This Cabinet organisation has grown up over a period of years and has developed out of the Committee of Imperial Defence. The Committee of Imperial Defence came into existence in 1904 and was provided with a permanent secretarial staff. When the War broke out in August 1914 it had already established a valuable tradition of co-ordination thus providing a useful precedent and an actual framework for expansion.

3. Origin of the Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is presided over by one official, Sir Maurice Hankey, whose position has evolved side by side with the organisation he now controls. Hankey was appointed Assistant Secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence in 1908 and Secretary in 1912. It was natural that he should become the first Secretary of the War Committee early in the War and equally natural that he should become Secretary of the War Cabinet which, on Lloyd George becoming Prime Minister in December 1916, superseded the War Committee and the large peace-time Cabinet. In December 1916 each member of the War Cabinet personally appointed an Assistant Secretary to Sir Maurice Hankey and in this way the Cabinet Office grew up round one person. When the War ended, a normal pre-War Cabinet was again established, but Hankey remained as its Secretary, the assistant secretaries was kept on and the system of minutes begun in December 1916 were continued. Hankey also retained his position as Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence.

The Cabinet is constitutionally a Standing Committee of the Privy Council and it was a logical step to make Hankey (in 1923 ) Clerk of the Privy Council.