Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister (Canada) hold the formal title chief of staff. Bernard Roy, Brian Mulroney's principal secretary from 1984 to 1988, was the last principal secretary to act as head of the PMO before the creation of the chief of staff position. Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister (Canada) The Chief of Staff of Canada's Prime Minister's Office is the top official of the office. The position was created in 1987 to head the PMO. Prior to the creation of the chief of staff position, the office was headed by the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, a position which is now secondary to the
Brian Mulroney in 1988. The Stanfield-led Progressive Conservatives lost the 1974 election to the Pierre Trudeau-led Liberals, leading to Stanfield's resignation as leader. Mulroney, despite never having run for elected office, entered the contest to replace him. Mulroney and provincial rival Claude Wagner were both seen as potentially able to improve the party's standing in Quebec, which had supported the federal Liberals for decades. Mulroney had played the lead role in recruiting Wagner to the PC party a few years earlier, and the two wound up as rivals for Quebec delegates, most of whom were snared by Wagner, who even blocked Mulroney