Jim Coutts

James Allan Coutts CM (May 16, 1938 – December 31, 2013) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and advisor to two prime ministers, most notably as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's Principal Secretary from 1973 to 1981.

Born in High River, Alberta, he was raised in Nanton, Alberta. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1960 and a law degree in 1961 from the University of Alberta and an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1968. He was called to the Bar of Alberta in 1962.

From 1961 to 1963, he practiced law in Calgary, Alberta. From 1963 to 1966, he served as Appointments Secretary to Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. After receiving his MBA, he was a Consultant with McKinsey & Company from 1968 to 1970. From 1970 to 1975, he was a Partner with the Canada Consulting Group. From 1975 to 1981, he was the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

In 1981, Trudeau appointed Liberal MP Peter Stollery to the Senate so Coutts could run for the House of Commons of Canada in what was thought of as the safe Ontario riding of Spadina. The plan backfired when Coutts narrowly lost to New Democrat Dan Heap despite personal interventions from Trudeau. Coutts ran again, but lost by a heavier margin in the 1984 election.

He subsequently left politics and entered business with an international career in industrial explosives. He was a principal of Lowther Consultants Limited and the chairman and chief executive officer of CIC Canadian Investment Capital Limited.

He was also a philanthropist and a major donor to the University of Lethbridge. He was a member of the Board and Foundation of The Hospital for Sick Children and was a co-founder of the W.O. Mitchell Literary Prize.

In 2001, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.

Coutts died of cancer on December 31, 2013. His private papers were left with Trinity College at the University of Toronto and opened in January 2025, when they became the subject of a book later that year by Ron Graham titled The Coutts Diaries: Power, Politics, and Pierre Trudeau, 1973-1981, published by Sutherland House Books.

There is a James A. Coutts fonds at Library and Archives Canada.