Minister of Finance (Canada)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Contents |
[edit] 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 Center of Canada
[edit] Ministers
[edit] See also
- Department of Finance
- New shoes on budget day (An unusual tradition among Ministers of Finance)
