Privy Council Office’s 2026-2027 Departmental plan

• Description
• Indicators, results and targets
• Plans to achieve results
• Gender-based Analysis Plus
• Planned resources to achieve results
• Program inventory
• Summary of changes to reporting framework since last year

• PCO’s advice and support to the Prime Minister will help advance the effective development and implementation of the Government's agenda and priorities. PCO will provide timely, comprehensive and expert analysis and advice to support these priorities and enable the Government to deliver its mandate to Canadians in a coordinated and coherent manner.
• Facilitate the implementation of responses to review bodies and recommendations by Commissions of Inquiry to address issues of national importance and inform enhancements to public programs and policies that better support Canadians.
• The department is committed to ensuring the Prime Minister and Cabinet are informed and supported on all security and intelligence policy and operational issues, through the careful monitoring of intelligence, development of strategic advice and intelligence assessments, and coordination with operational agencies and departments. PCO also supports national security and intelligence functions by ensuring secure and accredited physical spaces are available and maintained to conduct business across Canada.
• Deliver advice and analysis to the Prime Minister to advance Canada’s international engagements and collaborate with other federal departments and agencies to develop and provide strategic foreign and defence policy advice to advance Canada’s interests at home and abroad.

Mandate Letter Priority 1: Establishing a new economic and security relationship with the United States and strengthening our collaboration with reliable trading partners and allies around the world.  

• Deliver advice and analysis to the Prime Minister and the Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs, Internal Trade and One Canadian Economy to advance Canada’s international engagements, with respect to foreign and defence policy, peace and security, as well as international trade and foreign investment attraction.
• Work with international security and intelligence partners, including the United States and other allies, on common threats and challenges. Through bilateral and multilateral engagement, PCO plays a role in building trust and common understanding with both new and traditional partners.
• Inform and provide strategic advice and intelligence on issues that impact Canada’s security and national interest, with a particular focus on reinforcing Canada’s reputation as a key investment destination and keeping Canadians safe by strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces, securing borders, and reinforcing law enforcement.
• Coordinate with responsible departments and agencies to propose a vision, principles, and priorities for the development of new foreign, defence, and economic security, as well as diversification of Canada’s international trade, building the strongest economy in the G7.
• Support bilateral and multilateral relationships among federal, provincial and territorial governments as well as the Prime Minister’s engagement with First Ministers, including at First Ministers’ Meetings to address shared issues and build one Canadian economy.
• Canada’s fight against fentanyl continues to be a priority in 2026-27. To accelerate Canada’s ongoing work to detect, disrupt, and dismantle the illegal trade in fentanyl and synthetic drugs, PCO will coordinate federal, provincial, territorial and municipal enforcement and public health efforts; support intelligence-driven operations; apply data-driven performance indicators; work with the U.S., Mexico, China, and India to stop the global fentanyl trade, including precursor chemicals and to dismantle transnational criminal networks and money-laundering operations that fuel this crisis.

Mandate Letter Priority 2: Building one Canadian economy by removing barriers to interprovincial trade and identifying and expediting nation-building projects that will connect and transform our country.

• PCO will continue to coordinate efforts with other federal departments and with provinces and territories to remove barriers to internal trade, including in the housing and construction and labour mobility sectors. This will include supporting engagement through the Committee on Internal Trade; activating a network of domestic trade contacts; finding innovative approaches to support internal trade in the food sector; and developing strategies to measure and communicate results to Canadians.
• Advance shared priorities with provincial and territorial governments by maintaining effective relations and coordinating with key federal partners, including the newly established MPO.
• MPO’s vision is to support the Government’s efforts to expand and diversify domestic and international trade, build trade-enabling infrastructure such as ports, large infrastructure projects such as railways and responsibly develop untapped energy and natural resources.
• The MPO will drive transformative change in Canada’s regulatory and decision-making processes by streamlining approvals and committing to a two-year timeline for major project decisions. It will provide a single point of contact and leadership for major projects referred to the Office. The MPO will work with federal departments, provinces and territories, Indigenous Peoples, and private-sector partners to help move projects forward faster, with greater clarity, and in alignment with Canada’s economic, environmental, and reconciliation goals.
• Support efforts to increase Canada’s industrial competitiveness by providing strategic advice to advance major economic priorities, such as the Climate Competitiveness Strategy, Buy Canadian initiative, and Automotive Strategy, while ensuring policy coherence across portfolios and alignment with long-term competitiveness goals.

Mandate Letter Priority 3: Bringing down costs for Canadians and helping them to get ahead.

• Work with Finance Canada to deliver the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit to help more than 12 million low- and modest-income Canadians afford day-to-day essentials.
• Bring together departments and agencies to develop a National Food Security Strategy that strengthens domestic food production and improves access to affordable, nutritious food for all Canadians.
• Collaborate with departments to renew the Canada Strong Pass in Summer 2026 to make domestic travel and cultural experiences more affordable, while also encouraging Canadians to “choose Canada” and support local tourism and cultural institutions.
• Work with Employment and Social Development Canada to chart a sustainable path forward for the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care System.

Mandate Letter Priority 4: Making housing more affordable by unleashing the power of public-private cooperation and creating new careers in the skilled trades.

• Collaborate with departments and agencies to advance Build Canada Homes as a new federal entity that will build affordable homes, leverage federal lands for housing, support builders with financing, and encourage innovative building methods – using Canadian technology, workers and lumber, and sustainable building practices.
• Help enable Build Canada Homes to work with provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous communities to help fight homelessness by building transitional and supportive housing.
• Work with departments and agencies to ensure effective and efficient implementation of measures to create new careers in the skilled trades, such as investments in the Union Training and Innovation Program to support union-led apprenticeship training in Red Seal trades.

Mandate Letter Priority 6: Attracting the best talent in the world to help build the economy and returning overall immigration rates to sustainable levels.

• PCO will continue to inform and provide strategic advice on advancing the government’s immigration commitments by: 1) stabilize permanent resident (PR) admissions at less than 1% of Canada’s population annually beyond 2027; 2) reduce the number of temporary workers and international students to less than 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2027; 3) establish a 12% target for Francophone immigration outside Quebec by 2029.
• In collaboration with departments and agencies, PCO will pursue measures to restore control, clarity, and consistency to Canada’s immigration system, while maintaining compassion in choices and driving competitiveness in our economy. This will include implementing enhancements to the asylum system to better manage intake volumes and processing backlogs, as well as improvements to immigration processing for permanent resident streams to address the growing backlogs and lengthy processing times.
• Work with responsible departments to implement the permanent resident and temporary resident admission targets in the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan, as well as one-time initiatives to transition up to 115,000 Protected Persons and 33,000 work permit holders to permanent residency in 2026 and 2027. 
• To advance the government’s International Talent Attraction Strategy, PCO will work with responsible departments to accelerate immigration pathways for top international talent and recruit over one thousand highly qualified international researchers to Canada, as well as other highly-skilled workers.

Mandate Letter Priority 7: Spending less on government operations so that Canadians can invest more in the people and businesses that will build the strongest economy in the G7.

• PCO will drive a coordinated approach to reducing government operating costs by providing timely, integrated and evidence-based advice to the Prime Minister and Cabinet. To achieve this, PCO will play a challenge function role to ensure smooth implementation of mission-related priorities, including files such as the use of AI in government and the streamlining of procurement processes, while strengthening its capacity to assess trade-offs between operation savings and long-term economic performance.
• Continue to provide central strategic coordination for major government investments and economic initiatives outlined in Budget 2025, ensuring policy coherence across ministerial portfolios, and identifying trade-offs across short-term support and long-term competitiveness goals. PCO will ensure that fiscal planning measures, including the Comprehensive Expenditure Review, are integrated into the government’s long-term economic priorities to promote efficient use of resources for key investments and economic initiatives.
• Serve as the central challenge function that supports departments and agencies in developing streamlined program architectures and governance models that reduce administrative burden and improve service delivery to businesses and communities.

• PCO will deliver an effective and efficient Cabinet business system by supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers with Cabinet and Cabinet committee meetings. This includes coordinating Cabinet priorities through managing the Cabinet forward agenda, planning meeting agendas, and operating the official submission and distribution systems for Cabinet material.
• Help ensure that Cabinet decision-making proceeds smoothly and supports the Government’s agenda. This involves working with departments and agencies to strengthen proposals and advice, highlight cross-government linkages, and integrate a range of perspectives, including those of impacted communities, other jurisdictions, and service delivery partners.
• Work to modernize, streamline, and digitize Cabinet business, with a view to improve the provision of timely advice and information.
• The Governor (General) in Council (GIC) refers to the Governor General of Canada acting by and with the advice and consent of Cabinet. PCO will continue to support Cabinet in its GIC role and to support the Prime Minister and the Clerk of the Privy Council as they use and manage Orders in Council (OICs), regulations, and other statutory instruments.
• Continue to modernize GIC appointments and OIC processes to eliminate legacy processes and update systems, making them faster and more digital. PCO will update its OIC website to facilitate public access to OICs and other GIC decisions.

Mandate Letter Priority 5: Protecting Canadian sovereignty and keeping Canadians safe by strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces, securing our borders, and reinforcing law enforcement.

• PCO will support the Prime Minister, Cabinet Committees, and Cabinet on matters of security and the national interest, monitor evolving threats and opportunities for Canada, and coordinate integrated advice and intelligence briefings to Cabinet. PCO will continuously identify opportunities to review and improve the support provided to the Prime Minister and National Security Council in responding to strategic, long-term issues impacting Canada’s security or national interest.
• The new, PCO-led National Security Strategy will act as a strategic vision for national security work by the Government of Canada and will aid in identifying priorities and provide appropriate advice for the Government over the coming years. PCO will develop new ways to turn national security priorities into clear goals and actions for the security community.
• Continue to play a convening role, share information, and collaborate with security and intelligence departments across the Government of Canada to provide timely and quality advice to the Prime Minister, portfolio ministers, Cabinet and Cabinet Committees, including on developing national security threats and events.
• Continue to play a coordination function for the Canadian intelligence community, including by developing Joint Intelligence Assessments on issues of national interest for the Prime Minister, National Security Council, and Cabinet. PCO will continue to develop intelligence assessment capacity in targeted geographic and thematic areas. PCO will also work with security partners to maximize resources dedicated to analysing intelligence information within government.
• Continue to coordinate, develop and implement government-wide measures designed to protect and strengthen Canada’s democratic institutions and processes.
• Continue to convene and track the implementation and progress of Canada’s increased defence investments to build a stronger Canadian Armed Forces to protect Canadians, defend our sovereignty, and support our allies, including by meeting the NATO 2% defence spending commitment. This includes through supporting routine updates to Cabinet on this issue. In collaboration with responsible departments and agencies, PCO will continue to provide advice to the Prime Minister on work and initiatives that contribute to safeguarding Arctic sovereignty.
• Facilitate optimal decisions to support federal policing progression and reinforce the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s capacity to tackle serious and organized crime by growing its qualified and expertly trained staff of federal policing personnel. This will enhance Canada’s capacity to combat serious and organized crime, contributing to safer and more secure communities for all Canadians.
• PCO will support an ambitious legislative agenda to make communities safer and work closely with partner departments to align border security enhancements with broader criminal justice and immigration reforms.

• PCO will continue to design outcomes-based solutions by engaging with other federal departments and agencies to apply advanced data analytics, evidence-based behavioural and social science methods, and impact measurement and partnership brokering strategies in key priority areas such as trust in government and society, public safety and security, AI, and government operations.
• Support renewal efforts to build a public service that focuses on delivery, simplifies internal processes, ensures accountabilities are clear, and advances a values-based culture grounded in reconciliation, anti-racism, accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion.
• Continue to support the Government in its commitment to an open, competency-based process for GIC appointments that reflect Canada’s diversity.