Skip to main content
streetwise

File photo: Wayne Wouters, the Clerk of the Privy Council, is retiring after 37 years working for federal and provincial governments.

The federal government's former top civil servant, Wayne Wouters, is joining McCarthy Tétrault LLP as a part-time strategic and policy adviser, the firm is to announce on Monday.

The long-time federal bureaucrat retired last summer after five years as clerk of the privy council of Canada, the head of the federal civil service who reported directly to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Mr. Wouters, 64, spent 37 years in the federal civil service, including a stint as secretary to the Treasury Board, where he was said to have impressed Mr. Harper by quickly organizing approval of the government's stimulus spending in 2009.

He introduced the so-called Blueprint 2020 plan last year aimed at renewing the federal public service, and played significant roles in recent trade deals with the European Union and South Korea, as well as advancing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks.

Mr. Wouters now joins a law firm that is home to former Quebec premiers Jean Charest and Daniel Johnson and led by Marc-André Blanchard, a former president the Quebec Liberal Party.

In an interview, the former civil servant said he will not lobby the government on behalf of McCarthys clients.

He is barred by federal rules from lobbying the government for five years and said he has no interest in lobbying.

But he said he will offer the large companies that McCarthys counts as clients advice based on his experience leading the civil service: "I will be providing overall strategic and policy advice to the various clients of the firm, based on my broad experience related to the economy, the business environment, the working of government, all of that."

Mr. Wouters also said his experience trying to streamline the civil service could help large companies trying to do the same thing, or those seeking to integrate a newly merged company into their own.

Mr. Blanchard said the type of advice Mr. Wouters – who was trained as an economist, not a lawyer – can give clients fits well with his firm's vision to become a trusted adviser on a wide range of issues: "Our clients come to us more and more with very complex problems that command a holistic approach, that is beyond legal expertise."

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe