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Savoie argues the concentration of power in the “centre” is — in part — a consequence of the spread of government. Central agencies such as the Privy Council Office and Treasury Board were meant to co-ordinate government business across the growing panoply of post-war departments, but instead telescoped power away from departments to the centre. And that telescoping has now continued to the point we have today, where the unelected and short-panted call all of the shots.

Of course, the people in short pants (hey, Trudeau runs a gender-neutral shop) don’t really call all of the shots, but they do call enough of them to anger the nether regions of government. All big decision roads still lead to the PMO, despite the change from Harper to Trudeau.

Photo by PATRICK DOYLE / REUTERS

The reasons this concentration of power remains are many, but I’ll pick out two: a government’s first function is to get re-elected; and the news cycle now moves too fast for bureaucracy. These two factors favour the political staff and place an inordinate amount of power with the prime minister and his advisers. The broader narrative and daily spin you need to cut through in a busy information environment just doesn’t get entrusted to the plebs.

And that goes double when the prime minister is a narrative juggernaut, as Trudeau was in his victory over Harper. God love the humble backbench MP, but the Liberals elected in 2015 did so on Trudeau’s coattails, and most of them know it.

But the Trudeau government’s fresh face was also its Achilles heel; there were few experienced hands elected and few experienced staffers on hand to guide them. And when you add in Trudeau’s crippling reliance on his senior staff, none of whom have changed from opposition to government, or in government over nearly four years, you create the perfect storm.

Harper could change staff like crazy because he was the driving force. I’ll leave it to you to figure out why Trudeau hasn’t changed his political mandarins.

That’s why Gerry Butts or Katie Telford will not be sacrificed, no matter how Duffy-esque the Norman or SNC-Lavalin episodes get. This PMO will battle through, just as the previous PMO did before them.

They have to. Justin Trudeau just wouldn’t function without them.

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Andrew MacDougall is a London-based communications consultant and ex-director of communications to former prime minister Stephen Harper.