About
Tony Dean was appointed to the Senate of Canada on November 10th, 2016. Prior to his appointment, Senator Dean was a professor at the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto and continues his association with the School as a Distinguished Senior Fellow. He has advised governments and international organizations on public service reform and building capacity for policy-making and delivery.
From 2002 to 2008, Senator Dean was Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Ontario Public Service. He also served as Deputy Minister of Labour, and as the Deputy Minister in the Cabinet Office responsible for cross-government policy coordination. In his role as a public servant, he provided non-partisan advice to NDP, Progressive Conservative and Liberal governments in Ontario.
Senator Dean has written on public sector leadership and co-authored a Mowat Centre report on pathways to fiscal sustainability in Canada. In 2012 he authored a report on integrated public service delivery in Commonwealth countries. Dean has chaired expert advisory panels on teachers’ benefit plans (2014), Occupational Health and Safety in Ontario (2010), and Business and Human Resource Planning in Canada’s public service (2008). He has also acted as an independent expert advisor on public sector pension plan governance. Dean has written for the Toronto Star and the UK-based Guardian newspaper. His book, Building Better Public Services, was published in 2015.
Senator Dean currently sits on the Social Affairs, Science and Technology committee and the Senate Modernization committee. In the past, he has sponsored Bill C-26, An Act to amend the Canada Pension Plan, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act and the Income Tax Act. He is currently the sponsor of C-45, the Cannabis Act.
