<P> The official duties of the deputy prime minister are to answer questions pertaining to overall government policy during Question Period and to chair the Cabinet in the absence of the prime minister . The office has no standing in law and does not carry any formal duties or tasks--that is, it is without a portfolio--though, the prime minister may negotiate or assign specific tasks in conjunction with the title . With the exception of Herb Gray, all deputy prime ministers have held a portfolio alongside this title . </P> <P> One deputy prime minister, Sheila Copps, attracted controversy in 1993 after asserting that she was "in charge" of government business while the then Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien, was out of the country . After she left politics, she wrote that although the position of deputy prime minister is only ceremonial, "very often, the DPM's job was to protect the prime minister from the political damage that Question Period can inflict on a leader", further citing the experience of Erik Nielsen during the Sinclair Stevens scandal . </P> <P> Unlike the Vice President of the United States, the deputy prime minister does not automatically assume the office of prime minister if the incumbent of the latter office dies or resigns . Although he or she would become the acting prime minister on a temporary caretaker basis to ensure continuity of government function during the immediate period of transition, the deputy prime minister does not automatically become the new permanent prime minister: constitutional convention actually requires the governor general to consult the governing party regarding the permanent succession, and to call on a member of that party's caucus to assume the prime ministership . No policy or convention precludes the deputy prime minister from being chosen as the new prime minister in such a scenario, but none assures it, either--the party caucus would be free to recommend any new leader of its choice to the governor general . Barring extraordinary circumstances, the governor general is expected to follow the wishes of the party, although officially he or she retains the authority to make the final decision . That being the case, no Prime Minister has died in office or resigned suddenly (except following his or her party's electoral defeat) since the 1890s, many decades before the office of Deputy Prime Minister was created . </P> <P> In the provinces of Canada, the deputy premier also does not automatically succeed to the office of premier in the event of a sudden resignation or death . Unlike at the federal level, however, there have been instances where the governing party recommended that the deputy premier serve as premier on an interim basis until a permanent successor was chosen--most notably, Dan Miller ascended from the deputy premiership to the premiership of British Columbia in 1999, following the resignation of Glen Clark, and Kathy Dunderdale ascended from the deputy premiership to the premiership of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2010, following the resignation of Danny Williams . </P>

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