The secretariat was created by order in council. It has the status of a department within the Prime Minister's portfolio. This is similar to other examples elsewhere in the Government of Canada where a minister will have a number of responsibilities in her or his portfolio. So the secretariat was the department of which I was the deputy head, and I was accountable, therefore, to the Prime Minister as my minister. In reality the deputy head to the Prime Minister is the Clerk of the Privy Council. The Clerk of the Privy Council, who is also secretary to cabinet, plays the role of head of the Public Service of Canada, as you know. So my dealings with the Prime Minister's Office and with the Prime Minister, therefore, were through the Privy Council Office, as I think is appropriate.
That having been said, there were occasional meetings I had with the Prime Minister's director of appointments simply to keep him apprised as to what we were doing, or what I was doing in terms of my accountability as a deputy head.