Fewer Voices, Faster Decisions: Carney’s Inner Cabinet Reflects a Proven Model
“You cannot fight a war on a committee of twenty.”
That was the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Lloyd George’s blunt assessment in 1916. Faced with a divided and sluggish Cabinet during the First World War, he created a five-member War Cabinet to bypass bottlenecks and focus Britain’s war effort. It worked. And it helped win the war.
This morning, a new Canadian Cabinet was sworn in. It includes 29 ministers, including the Prime Minister, supported by 10 Secretaries of State. These Secretaries of State will attend some Cabinet meetings, not all, and carry focused responsibilities ranging from rural development and defence procurement to seniors, crime, sport, and international development.
Early signs suggest this is a government determined to move quickly. Reports indicate the full Cabinet will actually convene less often, with more coordination happening at the cabinet committee level. Whether by design or instinct, Prime Minister Carney is now implementing a model that closely mirrors the one Lloyd George introduced more than a century ago.
What is emerging is an Inner Cabinet approach. A small, empowered group of senior ministers will lead on top-level priorities, while junior ministers and Secretaries of State take on narrower files. It is a structure long used in the United Kingdom to good effect. It delivers faster decisions, clearer accountability, and stronger alignment across departments.
No successful organization operates with every senior official weighing in on every decision. Effective leadership teams concentrate authority, clarify roles, and focus their energy on outcomes. Governments should function the same way. Structure matters, especially when speed and coordination are critical.
For Carney, this model fits. His strengths lie in economic management and institutional reform. He has led large and complex organizations where clarity, delegation, and pace matter. That same logic is now shaping the federal government.
This approach also reflects a basic truth about governing. Busy ministers do not need two to four extra hours of meetings every week. Cabinet committees are better suited to detailed work. Smaller leadership groups are better suited to crisis response and coordination.
There are risks. Ministers outside the core group may feel sidelined. But that can be addressed through clear mandates, transparent communication, and a functional structure. Participation in the inner group should be based on role and file, not on hierarchy or permanence.
Canada has seen parts of this structure before. Previous governments appointed junior ministers and Ministers of State to support full ministers. But those roles were often poorly defined and politically symbolic. What is different now is intent. Carney is organizing government with purpose, not ceremony.
The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Lloyd George created his War Cabinet to act faster and govern better. Carney may not be consciously drawing from that history, but the parallels are unmistakable. Faced with complex and urgent challenges, he is making similar choices.
This is not about shrinking democracy. It is about building a government that moves at the speed of the moment.
Fewer voices, chosen well and used effectively, can lead to better decisions and a stronger, more focused Canada.