Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has yet to issue mandate letters for his cabinet ministers, leaving those in new roles without clear marching orders two months after announcing an overhaul to his front bench.

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 do this, your government鈥檚 success is likely going to be compromised,鈥� said Sen. Tony Dean, who used to oversee Ontario鈥檚 public service.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important for everybody to be on the same page, and to understand what the desired deliverables are.鈥�

Shortly after taking office in 2015, Trudeau鈥檚 government announced it would publish the lists of tasks given to each minister, known as mandate letters. The documents lay out the priorities for each federal minister, and signal to public servants the timeline or scope of policies the government wants to advance.

The last round of mandate letters was issued in December 2021, three months after the last federal election. This summer, Trudeau shuffled most of his cabinet, giving 30 ministers updated roles or brand-new postings that never existed before.

Defence Minister Bill Blair said last week that he hasn鈥檛 received a new mandate letter since taking on the role July 26, and is acting on the list of commitments that Trudeau assigned to Blair鈥檚 predecessor.

Last month, The Canadian Press asked International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen what was in his mandate letter for his new role. Hussen listed priorities, but his office did not say whether he鈥檇 actually received a mandate letter.

In an interview last week, Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said she wasn鈥檛 expecting an updated mandate letter, because she鈥檚 held the same role since late 2021.

鈥淚t is at the prerogative of the prime minister that mandate letters change or shift,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e usually given to you when you鈥檙e appointed at the beginning of a particular term; my mandate letter hasn鈥檛 changed in two years.鈥�

Acadia University political scientist Alex Marland said mandate letters help clarify what a government wants to do outside of an election period or a new throne speech, for both the public and departmental staff.

鈥淚n absence of them, it means that it鈥檚 probably harder for the government to advance its agendas,鈥� he said.

Mandate letters can help clarify what priorities the government is introducing, and whether the government sees commitments listed in previous letters as ongoing, accomplished or abandoned.

In the case of Blair, Trudeau has assigned the military new tasks in recent months, while asking it to cut $1 billion in spending.

鈥淭he further you get away from an election, the more things happen. And so when things change, then all of a sudden as a minister, what are your marching orders?鈥� Marland said.

Dean and Marland both said they were perplexed that Citizens鈥� Services Minister Terry Beech has no public listing of responsibilities, given that his is a new role that spans multiple departments.

At his July 26 swearing-in, Beech said his job would include more than just tasks falling under Employment and Social Development Canada, adding that the top civil servant for that department had handed him 鈥渁 piece of paper with a whole bunch of bullet points on it.鈥�

Dean said mandate letters help set out priorities and identify who should be held accountable for the results.

鈥淓specially these days with complexity around policy initiatives and development, there are very few things that stay within the boundaries of one ministry or department,鈥� he said.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e hugely important,鈥� he said of mandate letters. 鈥淚 see them as a critical part of policy-making and policy-delivery implementation in government.鈥�

Dean argued that more-complex files shouldn鈥檛 be rushed, while ministers who are continuing in their roles could get an updated priority list much sooner.

鈥淚f you鈥檝e got a team and you want to have a successful project, you start by telling the team what success is going to look like,鈥� he said.

When asked to comment on mandate letters, the Conservatives instead lamented rising crime and high inflation, with spokesman Sebastian Skamski writing that Trudeau is 鈥渋gnoring the very problems he himself created.鈥�

Marland noted that ministers themselves have said they鈥檙e eager to receive their marching orders, and suggested that the Prime Minister鈥檚 Office is still sorting out priorities instead of leaving it to ministers to define what would make their tenures successful.

He questioned why Trudeau didn鈥檛 issue letters in late July, given that he has full control over when his cabinet is shuffled.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a problem, if the minister is looking for guidance,鈥� Marland said.

鈥淭he reality is that they鈥檝e obviously made a decision that getting the mandate letters together is not an urgent priority. On the other hand, the Trudeau government has never been very fast on a lot of things,鈥� he said, arguing it stems from both a bottleneck and a focus on message strategy.

The Prime Minister鈥檚 Office has been asked to comment.