The position was largely to act as the communications channel between the Department of Militia and Defence, the British War Office, and the Canadian Corps.
To end confusion, Prime Minister Robert Borden planned to reorganize the Militia Department and establish a military council in England headed by a new ministry.
[2] The council presided by Major-General John Wallace Carson, to which Hughes appointed his own son-in-law as secretary, began meeting weekly and formulating changes in policy.
[5] Criticism from Field Marshal Douglas Haig, King George V and from within his own party gradually forced Borden to tighten control over Hughes.
With the end of conflict in Europe, the repatriation of the Canadian Expeditionary Force the final settlement of financial arrangements with the British government, the office was abolished on 8 June 1920 via Order of Council P.C.