Minister of Finance (Canada)

Minister of Finance
Ministry
Federal
Incumbent Jim Flaherty PC, MP since 6 February 2006
Style	The Honourable
Appointed by	Michaëlle Jean as Governor General of Canada
First	Alexander Galt
Formation	1 July 1867
Term length	At Her Majesty's pleasure
Website	www.fin.gc.ca

Canada

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The Minister of Finance (French: Ministre des Finances) is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible each year for presenting the federal government's budget. It is one of the most important positions in the Cabinet, and the Finance Minister must deal with all the other departments and plays an important role in deciding the funding levels for each.

The Minister of Finance is often one of the most unpopular positions in the government, being responsible at times for program cuts and tax increases. Paul Martin, however, seems to have overcome this and his long tenure as minister helped elevate him to the national popularity that allowed him to become Prime Minister. Martin was the fifth Prime Minister who was previously the finance minister; the others were Sir Charles Tupper, R.B. Bennett, John Turner, and Jean Chrétien.

The current Minister of Finance is Jim Flaherty.

Responsibilities

In addition to being the head of the Department of Finance, the Minister is also the government’s lead in overseeing the:

• Bank of Canada
• Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
• Canada Development Investment Corporation
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
• Canadian International Trade Tribunal
• Superintendent of Financial Institutions
• Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada

Ministers

Key:

  Liberal Party of Canada

  Historical conservative parties: Liberal-Conservative, Conservative (historical), Unionist, National Liberal and Conservative, Progressive Conservative

  Conservative Party of Canada

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Political party	Ministry
1		Alexander Galt	July 1, 1867	November 7, 1867	Liberal-Conservative	1 (Macdonald)
2		Sir John Rose	November 18, 1867	September 30, 1869	Liberal-Conservative
3		Sir Francis Hincks	October 9, 1869	February 21, 1873	Liberal-Conservative
4		Samuel Leonard Tilley (1st time)	February 22, 1873	November 5, 1873	Liberal-Conservative
5		Richard John Cartwright	November 7, 1873	October 16, 1878	Liberal	2 (Mackenzie)
(4)		Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley (2nd time)	October 17, 1878	November 11, 1885	Liberal-Conservative	3 (Macdonald)
–		VACANT	November 11, 1885	December 10, 1885	—
6		Archibald McLelan	December 10, 1885	January 27, 1887	Conservative (historical)
7		Sir Charles Tupper	January 27, 1887	May 22, 1888	Conservative (historical)
8		George Foster (1st time)	May 29, 1888	June 6, 1891	Conservative (historical)
			June 16, 1891	November 24, 1892		4 (Abbott)
			December 5, 1892	December 12, 1894		5 (Thompson)
			December 21, 1894	January 6, 1896		6 (Bowell)
–		Sir Mackenzie Bowell (Acting)	January 6, 1896	January 15, 1896	Conservative (historical)
(8)		George Foster (2nd time)	January 15, 1896	April 27, 1896	Conservative (historical)
			May 1, 1896	July 8, 1896		7 (Tupper)
–		VACANT	July 8, 1896	July 20, 1896	—	8 (Laurier)
9		William Stevens Fielding (1st time)	July 20, 1896	October 6, 1911	Liberal
10		Sir Thomas White	October 10, 1911	August 2, 1919	Conservative (historical)	9•10 (Borden)
11		Sir Henry Drayton (1st time)	August 2, 1919	July 10, 1920	Conservative (historical)
			July 10, 1920	December 29, 1921		11 (Meighen)
(9)		William Stevens Fielding (2nd time)	December 29, 1921	September 5, 1925	Liberal	12 (King)
12		James Robb (1st time)	September 5, 1925	June 29, 1926	Liberal
–		Sir Henry Drayton (2nd time; Acting)	June 29, 1926	July 13, 1926	Conservative (historical)	13 (Meighen)
13		Richard Bedford Bennett (1st time)	July 13, 1926	September 25, 1926	Conservative (historical)
(12)		James Robb (2nd time)	September 25, 1926	November 11, 1929	Liberal	14 (King)
14		Charles Avery Dunning	November 26, 1929	August 7, 1930	Liberal
(13)		Richard Bedford Bennett (2nd time)	August 7, 1930	February 2, 1932	Conservative (historical)	15 (Bennett)
15		Edgar Nelson Rhodes	February 3, 1932	October 24, 1935	Conservative (historical)
(14)		Charles Avery Dunning (2nd time)	October 24, 1935	September 6, 1939	Liberal	16 (King)
16		James Ralston	September 6, 1939	July 4, 1940	Liberal
17		James Lorimer Ilsley	July 8, 1940	December 10, 1946	Liberal
18		Douglas Abbott	December 10, 1946	November 15, 1948	Liberal
			November 15, 1948	June 30, 1954		17 (St. Laurent)
19		Walter Harris	July 1, 1954	June 21, 1957	Liberal
20		Donald Fleming	June 21, 1957	August 9, 1962	Progressive Conservative	18 (Diefenbaker)
21		George Nowlan	August 9, 1962	April 22, 1963	Progressive Conservative
22		Walter L. Gordon	April 22, 1963	November 11, 1965	Liberal	19 (Pearson)
23		Mitchell Sharp	November 11, 1965 (Acting until Dec.18)	April 20, 1968	Liberal
24		Edgar Benson	April 20, 1968	January 28, 1972	Liberal	20 (Trudeau)
25		John Turner	January 28, 1972	September 10, 1975	Liberal
–		Bud Drury (Acting)	September 10, 1975	September 26, 1975	Liberal
26		Donald Stovel Macdonald	September 26, 1975	September 16, 1977	Liberal
27		Jean Chrétien	September 16, 1977	June 4, 1979	Liberal
28		John Crosbie	June 4, 1979	March 3, 1980	Progressive Conservative	21 (Clark)
29		Allan MacEachen	March 3, 1980	September 10, 1982	Liberal	22 (Trudeau)
30		Marc Lalonde	September 10, 1982	June 30, 1984	Liberal
			June 30, 1984	September 17, 1984		23 (Turner)
31		Michael Wilson	September 17, 1984	April 21, 1991	Progressive Conservative	24 (Mulroney)
32		Don Mazankowski	April 21, 1991	June 25, 1993	Progressive Conservative
33		Gilles Loiselle	June 25, 1993	November 4, 1993	Progressive Conservative	25 (Campbell)
34		Paul Martin	November 4, 1993	June 2, 2002	Liberal	26 (Chrétien)
35		John Manley	June 2, 2002	December 12, 2003	Liberal
36		Ralph Goodale	December 12, 2003	February 6, 2006	Liberal	27 (Martin)
37		Jim Flaherty	February 6, 2006	Incumbent	Conservative	28 (Harper)

Critics

• John McCallum 2006-present

See also

• Department of Finance
• New shoes on budget day (An unusual tradition among Ministers of Finance)

External links

• Department of Finance Canada