Maia Johnson will become chief operating officer in Prime Minister Mark Carney's Office while keeping her current job as senior adviser for Canada-U.S. relations, The Globe and Mail reported. Johnson has worked with Carney since his days managing climate finance for the United Nations, before he entered politics.

This appointment is part of a broader reshuffle of senior staff. Scott Gilmore, who oversees foreign, defence and security policy, will move up to principal secretary later this month, according to three sources who spoke to The Globe and Mail. Tim Krupa, the director of policy, takes on the role of deputy chief of staff and chief economist. Jennifer McIntyre, recently an assistant deputy minister for international affairs at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, joins the PMO as deputy chief of staff focused on international affairs.

Andrée-Lyne Hallé remains as deputy chief of staff. Chief of staff Marc-André Blanchard and Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Sabia stay in place, providing continuity at the top even as other positions shift.

Two departures prompted these moves. Carney appointed his previous principal secretary, Tom Pitfield, to the Senate. Separately, deputy chief of staff Braeden Caley announced on Sunday that he is leaving to pursue the Liberal nomination in North Vancouver–Capilano. The Prime Minister's Office declined to comment on the new roles when asked by the Globe.

The creation of a chief operating officer position in the PMO is itself noteworthy. This title hasn't traditionally sat in the standard Canadian PMO organizational structure, which usually relies on the hierarchy of chief of staff, principal secretary, and deputy chief of staff. Adding a COO function—while keeping Johnson focused on the Canada-U.S. file—suggests Carney wants someone managing internal operations without losing expertise on the U.S. relationship, which remains the PMO's top priority amid the current trade and tariff dispute with Washington.

Gilmore's promotion to principal secretary makes sense given that Pitfield's Senate appointment opened the top job. It also keeps foreign, defence and security expertise at the centre of the office at a moment when Canada must manage NATO commitments, Arctic security, and the U.S. relationship all at once. Folding fiscal and policy analysis into the chief-of-staff structure through Krupa's new dual role as deputy chief of staff and chief economist tightens policy work closer to the centre of decision-making—a formal pairing that past PMOs haven't always maintained.

Caley's departure follows the familiar pattern of PMO staff stepping down to run for nomination, though it does cost the office a deputy chief of staff mid-mandate. McIntyre's arrival from the federal public service—bringing crisis-response and international-affairs experience into a political staff role—is less common than the usual flow of political staffers moving into government bureaucracy.

None of these changes have been announced formally by the Prime Minister's Office. The Globe's reporting relies on named sources rather than an official PMO statement, leaving some effective dates uncertain and the details of whether Caley's deputy chief of staff position will be filled or absorbed among remaining deputies still unclear.