Treasury Board
The Treasury Board is the Government of Canada's only statutory Cabinet committee and is responsible for the federal civil service and much of the operation of the Canadian government. Among its specific duties are negotiating labour agreements with the public service unions and serving as Comptroller General. It is headed by the President of the Treasury Board and assisted by the Treasury Board Secretariat.
In early 2011, the Treasury Board suffered cyber attacks from foreign hackers, along with two other federal government departments.
Role
The Canadian Cabinet is arranged into several committees with varying responsibilities, but all other ones are informal structures and frequently change. The Treasury Board is the only one created by law (currently organised under the Financial Administration Act[1]), and is officially a committee of the Privy Council. Its role in government makes it far more powerful than most Cabinet committees as it is responsible for "accountability and ethics, financial, personnel and administrative management, comptrollership, approving regulations and most Orders-in-Council".[2] It is also unique in that its committee chair, the President of the Treasury Board, is a member of cabinet by virtue of holding that office—other cabinet committees are chaired by minister holding seats in cabinet by virtue of some other office. The Treasury Board is supported by the Treasury Board Secretariat.
Membership
The committee is composed of six cabinet ministers, always including its President and the Minister of Finance. The current members are as follows:[3]
- Chair: Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board
- Vice-Chair: Julian Fantino, Minister of Veterans Affairs
- Joe Oliver, Minister of Finance
- Peter Van Loan, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons
- Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Minister of National Revenue
- Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister responsible for the Status of Women (Canada)
There are also five "alternate members", who attend Treasury Board meetings in the event of conflicts of interest; these are currently the following:
- Maxime Bernier, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism, and Agriculture)
- Rob Moore, Minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency)
- Lynne Yelich, Minister of State (Western Economic Diversification)
- Steven Fletcher, Minister of State (Minister of Transport)
- Kevin Sorenson, Minister of State (Finance)
See also
Related legislation
- Access to Information Act
- Auditor General Act
- Official Languages Act
- Privacy Act, 1983
- Security of Information Act
References
- ↑ "Financial Administration Act. Part I: Organization. Treasury Board". Department of Justice (Canada). 1985. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
- ↑ "About the Treasury Board". Treasury Board Secretariat. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
- ↑ "Treasury Board Members". Treasury Board Secretariat. Retrieved March 28, 2014.