About Us

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.

• Former Presidents of the Treasury Board

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:

*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;