Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
As the administrative arm of the Treasury
Board, the Secretariat has a dual mandate: to support the Treasury
Board as a committee of ministers, and to fulfil the statutory
responsibilities of a central government agency. It is headed by a Secretary, Wayne G. Wouters, who reports to the
President
of the Treasury Board, Vic Toews. Pierre Poilievre is the Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board.
TBS is tasked with providing advice and support to Treasury Board Ministers in their role of ensuring value for money as well as providing oversight of the financial management functions in departments and agencies.
The Secretariat makes recommendations and provides advice to the Treasury
Board on policies, directives, regulations and program expenditure
proposals with respect to the management of the government's resources. Its responsibilities for the general management of the
government affect initiatives, issues and activities that cut across all policy
sectors managed by federal departments
and organizational
entities (as reported in the Main Estimates). The Secretariat is also
responsible for the comptrollership function of government.
Under the broad authority of sections 5 to 13 of the Financial Administration
Act , the Secretariat supports the Treasury
Board in its role as the general manager and employer of the Public Service.
For more information about the Secretariat, please consult our Reports
Section.
Treasury Board
The Treasury Board is a Cabinet committee of the Queen's Privy
Council of Canada. It was established in 1867 and given statutory powers in
1869. Vic Toews is the current President.
The Treasury Board is responsible for accountability and ethics, financial, personnel and administrative management, comptrollership, approving regulations and most Orders-in-Council.
The formal role of the President is to chair the Treasury Board. He carries
out his responsibility for the management of the government by translating the
policies and programs approved by Cabinet into operational reality and by
providing departments with the resources and the administrative environment they
need to do their work. The Treasury Board has an administrative arm, the
Secretariat, which was part of the Department of Finance until it was proclaimed
a department in 1966.
Members
The current members of the Treasury Board are:
Chair: The Honourable Vic Toews, President of the Treasury
Board;
Vice-Chair: The Honourable Rona
Ambrose, President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Western Economic Diversification;
Members:
The Honourable Marjory LeBreton,
Leader of the Government in the Senate and Secretary of State (Seniors);
The Honourable Gordon O'Connor,
Minister of National Revenue;
The Honourable James Michael Flaherty,
Minister of Finance;
The Honourable Peter Van Loan,
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform
Alternates:
The Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay,
Minister of National Defence and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency;
The Honourable Jay D. Hill*,
Secretary of State and Chief Government Whip;
The Honourable Christian Paradis*,
Secretary of State (Agriculture)
*The Secretary of State and Chief Government Whip and the Secretary of State (Agriculture) will attend meetings of the Treasury Board as alternates as required.
Enabling Legislation
The Treasury Board's powers are derived from a number of statutes that provide the
framework for government management. The most important are the:
Access to Information Act, which gives Canadian
citizens and individuals and corporations present in Canada (the public) the
formal right of access to federal government records in accordance with certain
principles;
Auditor General Act, which respects the office of the Auditor General of Canada
and sustainable development monitoring and reporting;
--- Appropriation Acts
Crown Corporations Dissolution
or Transfer Authorization Act, which provides for the
dissolution or transfer of certain Crown corporations and to amend certain Acts
in consequence thereof;
Diplomatic Service (Special) Superannuation
Act, which provides
superannuation benefits for senior appointees of the Department of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade serving outside Canada;
Employment Equity Act, which assists designated
group members, women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members
of visible minorities in achieving a full and equitable representation within
the federal public service;
Federal Real Property and Federal Immovables Act, which deals with the acquisition,
administration, and disposition of real property by the Government of Canada;
Financial Administration Act, which establishes the
Board itself and gives it powers with respect to the financial, personnel and
administrative management of the Public Service, employment equity in the Public
Service, and the financial requirements of Crown corporations;
Governor General's Act, which respects the Governor General;
Lieutenant Governors Superannuation
Act, which provides for the payment of
superannuation benefits to Lieutenant Governors;
Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances
Act, which provides retiring
allowances on a contributory basis to persons who have served as Members of
Parliament;
Official Languages Act, which makes the Treasury
Board responsible for coordinating the official languages programs of federal
institutions;
Privacy Act, which gives Canadian citizens and anyone
present in Canada access to federal information about themselves and which
specifies how federal organizations are to collect, use, disclose, and retain
personal information;
Public Pensions Reporting
Act, which imposes reporting requirements with
respect to public pension plans and to amend certain Acts in consequence
thereof;
Public Sector Compensation
Act, which respects compensation in the public
sector of Canada and to amend another Act in relation thereto;
Public Sector Pension Investment Board
Act, which establishes the Public
Sector Pension Investment Board and amends other acts;
Public Service Employment
Act, which respects employment in the Public
Service of Canada;
Public Service Pension Adjustment Act, which respects the adjustment of certain
public service pensions;
Public Service Staff Relations Act, which creates
the system of collective bargaining between the Treasury Board, as the employer,
and the Public Service unions, which are organized into occupationally defined
bargaining units;
Public Service Superannuation Act, which is the most
extensive of several laws that cover the management of public-sector pensions;
--- Special Retirement Arrangements
Act,
Supplementary Retirement Benefits
Act, which provides supplementary
retirement benefits for certain persons in receipt of pensions payable out of
the Consolidated Revenue Fund;
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