Siobhan Harty

Since June 2026, Siobhan Harty has been the Slater Family Visiting Scholar at McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on defense cooperation between Canada and the United States, including defense procurement and Canada’s diversification of partnerships.

Siobhan worked in the Canadian public service for 24 years. Her most recent position was Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Maritime and Defense Procurement, at Public Services and Procurement Canada. She also worked at the newly established Defense Investment Agency.

Previously, she led a government-wide review of defense procurement. She has also held other positions in which she exercised leadership in defense procurement, such as Assistant Secretary, Government Operations, at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, and Director of Operations, Economic and Regional Development Policy, at the Privy Council Office. She also served as Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Priorities and Planning, and Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, Parliamentary Affairs, both at the Privy Council Office.

Before joining the federal public service in 2002, Siobhan was a full professor of international politics at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from McGill University, a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Oxford—where she was a Rhodes Scholar—and a Bachelor of Arts with a major in political science from Concordia University.