George R. M. Anderson

Deputy Minister, Natural Resources Canada

George R.M. Anderson was appointed Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Canada in May 2002. He had been the Deputy Minister (Intergovernmental Affairs) in the Privy Council Office since August 1996.

Mr. Anderson has a B.A., Queen's University, a M. Litt. in Political Science, Oxford University, and a diploma from the École nationale d'administration in Paris, France. He joined the federal public service in 1972, starting in the Privy Council Office. He subsequently served in Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Federal-Provincial Relations Office, before going to the Department of External Affairs, where he served as Director of the Western European Division from 1980 to 1983.

He was then appointed Deputy Administrator of the Canada Oil and Gas Lands Administration, the agency responsible for managing oil and gas activities in Canada's offshore and northern territories. In January 1986, Mr. Anderson became Assistant Deputy Minister of the Energy Policy Sector of the former Energy, Mines and Resources (EMR). In December 1988, the Energy Policy Sector was combined with the Energy Commodities Sector, and Mr. Anderson was named Assistant Deputy Minister for the new Energy Sector. He left EMR to become Assistant Deputy Minister of the Economic Development Policy Branch in the Department of Finance in January 1990.

He was a fellow at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs in 1992-93. On returning to Canada, he headed the negotiations and start-up of the new government's infrastructure program, first as an Assistant Secretary in the Privy Council Office and subsequently as Executive Director with the Treasury Board Secretariat. In July 1995, he was named Head of Policy Branch at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

In February 1996, he was named the Deputy Secretary of Intergovernmental Policy and Communications at the Privy Council Office, before becoming Deputy Minister (Intergovernmental Affairs) in the Privy Council Office in August 1996.

He is married to writer and biographer Charlotte Gray. They have three sons, Alexander, Nicholas and Oliver. He is a trustee of Queen's University.