Any substantive changes in this Legislative Summary that have been made since the preceding issue are indicated in bold print.
Bill C-24, An Act to amend the Salaries Act and to make a consequential amendment to the Financial Administration Act,1 was introduced in the House of Commons by the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons on 27 September 2016.
The bill has five objectives.
The first is to amend the Salaries Act 2 so that five ministerial positions, created last year, receive a salary equivalent to those of other ministerial positions, paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The second objective is to provide a legislative framework so that those positions can receive support from existing departments in the exercise of their mandates.
The third objective is to remove from the Salaries Act references to a number of ministers that no longer exist.
The fourth objective is to transfer the powers and duties of the Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.
The fifth objective is to replace any reference to the Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs in the Salaries Act and the Financial Administration Act 3 with a reference to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.
The Salaries Act sets the salary for lieutenant governors, ministers and the prime minister and requires that those salaries be paid out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund. Section 4.1(3) of the Salaries Act sets the annual salary for ministers at $67,800.4 Section 4.1(5) sets out the same figure for “each minister of State, being a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, who presides over a ministry of State.” This figure is adjusted on the same yearly basis as salaries for ministers.5
Under the Ministries and Ministers of State Act,6 the Governor in Council may create ministries of State where
the requirements for formulating and developing new and comprehensive policies in relation to any matter or matters coming within the responsibility of the Government of Canada warrant the establishment of a special portion of the federal public administration presided over by a minister charged with responsibility for the formulation and development of such policies.7
The Ministries and Ministers of State Act also permits the Governor in Council to appoint ministers of State. In addition, it makes a distinction between a minister of State who presides over a ministry of State - appointed under section 7 - and a minister of State “other than a minister who presides over a ministry of State” 8 - appointed under section 11. A minister of State appointed under section 11, who is without an accompanying ministry of State, exists “to assist any minister or ministers having responsibilities for any department or other portion of the federal public administration in the carrying out of those responsibilities.” 9
As mentioned above, section 4.1(5) of the Salaries Act sets out the salary specifically of a minister of State “who presides over a ministry of State.” No provision in the Act addresses the salary of a minister of State who does not preside over a ministry of State. This means that while a minister of State appointed under section 7 must be paid according to the figure set out in the Act (which is identical to the salary that a minister must receive), there is no requirement that a minister of State appointed under section 11 be paid the same amount. Nor is there any stipulation that he or she be paid from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. Instead, ministers of State appointed under section 11 are paid out of the budgets allotted to the departments of the ministers they are appointed to assist.10
On 4 November 2015, the Governor in Council appointed five ministers of State under section 11 of the Ministries and Ministers of State Act:
Members of the media were quick to note that these five appointees, all women, were ministers of State, rather than “full” ministers.12 In response, representatives of the Government stressed that every minister - including each minister of State - had “full standing and authority,” 13 had an “equal voice [and] an equal capacity to perform his or her duties and functions,” 14 and had received “the same salary since day one.” 15
The stated purpose of Bill C-24 is to “formalize what has been the practice of the past year,” 16 both in terms of salary - it places these ministers of State under the aegis of the Salaries Act, despite their being appointed under section 11 of the Ministries and Ministers of State Act - and in terms of departmental support.
Clauses 1 to 3 of Bill C-24 amend the structure and content of the Salaries Act to specify a salary and outline support for the new ministerial positions, remove several obsolete ministerial positions, and replace any reference to the Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs therein with reference to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.
Clause 1 makes a cosmetic amendment to the Salaries Act, clarifying that sections 2 to 4.2 fall under “Part 1: Salaries.”
Clause 2 amends section 4.1(3) of the Salaries Act, which sets the annual salary for listed ministers, in the following ways:
Clause 3 amends the Salaries Act by adding section 5 under the heading “Part 2: Support for Ministers Referred to in Paragraphs 4.1(3)(z.4) to (z.9)” (these are the five named ministers and three additional unnamed ministers described above). The section contains the following subsections:
Clause 4 of Bill C-24 transfers the powers, duties or functions of the Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs as laid out in any statute, regulation, contract or otherwise to the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.
Clause 5 of Bill C-24 replaces the reference to “the Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs” in column II of Schedule I.1 to the Financial Administration Act with “the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.”
Clause 6 offers a series of coordinating amendments so that if certain provisions of An Act to amend certain Acts 21 that have not yet come into force do so before, after, or at the same time as Bill C-24, the amendments to the Salaries Act in that Act and the bill can coexist without issue.
Section 25 of An Act to amend certain Acts amends the Salaries Act to provide disability allowances and other benefits to former lieutenant governors. If that provision is in force, the provisions added under clause 3 of Bill C-24 would shift from section 5 to section 7 of the Salaries Act. Sections 5 and 6 would then contain the amendments from An Act to amend certain Acts.
* Notice: For clarity of exposition, the legislative proposals set out in the bill described in this Legislative Summary are stated as if they had already been adopted or were in force. It is important to note, however, that bills may be amended during their consideration by the House of Commons and Senate, and have no force or effect unless and until they are passed by both houses of Parliament, receive Royal Assent, and come into force. [ Return to text ]
the payment to each member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada who is a Minister without Portfolio or a Minister of State who does not preside over a Ministry of State of a salary not to exceed the salary paid to Ministers of State who preside over Ministries of State under the Salaries Act, as adjusted pursuant to the Parliament of Canada Act and pro rata for any period of less than a year.(Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, “Annex - Items for inclusion in the Proposed Schedules to the Appropriation Bill,” Supplementary Estimates (A), 2016-17 (612 kB, 94 pages), p. A-2.) [ Return to text ]
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