Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Act.

Establishment of the Department

Marginal note:Department established

• 2 (1) There is established a department of the Government of Canada, called the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, over which the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, appointed by commission under the Great Seal, presides.

• Marginal note:Minister

  (2) The Minister holds office during pleasure and has the management and direction of the Department.

Marginal note:Deputy head

3 The Governor in Council may appoint a Deputy Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to hold office during pleasure and to be the deputy head of the Department.

Powers, Duties and Functions of the Minister

Marginal note:Powers, duties and functions

• 4 (1) The powers, duties and functions of the Minister extend to and include all matters over which Parliament has jurisdiction — and that have not been assigned by law to another department, board or agency of the Government of Canada — relating to public safety and emergency preparedness.

• Marginal note:National leadership

  (2) The Minister is responsible for exercising leadership at the national level relating to public safety and emergency preparedness.

Marginal note:Portfolio coordination and leadership

5 The Minister shall coordinate the activities of the entities for which the Minister is responsible, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Firearms Centre, the Correctional Service of Canada and the Parole Board of Canada, and establish strategic priorities for those entities relating to public safety and emergency preparedness.

Marginal note:Functions

• 6 (1) In exercising his or her powers and in performing his or her duties and functions and with due regard to the powers conferred on the provinces and territories, the Minister may

  • (a) initiate, recommend, coordinate, implement or promote policies, programs or projects relating to public safety and emergency preparedness;

  • (b) cooperate with any province, foreign state, international organization or any other entity;

  • (c) make grants or contributions; and

  • (d) facilitate the sharing of information, where authorized, to promote public safety objectives.

• Marginal note:Committees

  (2) The Minister may establish advisory and other committees and provide for their membership, duties, functions and operation.

• Marginal note:Remuneration

  (3) Members of a committee shall be paid, in connection with their work for the committee, the remuneration that may be fixed by the Governor in Council.

• Marginal note:Travel, living and other expenses

  (4) Members of a committee are entitled to be reimbursed, in accordance with Treasury Board directives, the travel, living and other expenses incurred in connection with their work for the committee while absent, in the case of full-time members, from their ordinary place of work or, in the case of part-time members, from their ordinary place of residence.

Transitional Provisions

Marginal note:Appointments

• 7 (1) Any person who holds the office of Solicitor General of Canada or Deputy Solicitor General of Canada on the day on which this section comes into force is deemed to have been appointed under this Act as Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness or Deputy Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness respectively from and after that day.

• Marginal note:Employees

  (2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting the status of an employee who, immediately before the coming into force of this section, occupied a position in the Department of the Solicitor General, except that the employee, on the coming into force of this section, occupies that position in the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

• Meaning of employee

  (3) In subsection (2), employee has the same meaning as in subsection 2(1) of the Public Service Employment Act.

Marginal note:Transfer of powers, duties and functions

• 8 (1) Any power, duty or function that, immediately before the coming into force of this section, was vested in or exercisable by the Solicitor General of Canada, the Deputy Solicitor General of Canada or any officer of the Department of the Solicitor General under any Act, order, rule or regulation, or any contract, lease, licence or other document, is, on the coming into force of this section, vested in and exercisable by the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Deputy Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness or the appropriate officer of the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, as the case may be, unless the Governor in Council by order designates another Minister, Deputy Minister or officer of the federal public administration to exercise that power, duty or function.

• Marginal note:Transfer of appropriations

  (2) Any amount appropriated, for the fiscal year in which this section comes into force, by an appropriation Act based on the Estimates for that year for defraying the charges and expenses of the federal public administration within the Department of the Solicitor General and that, on the day on which this section comes into force, is unexpended, is deemed, on that day, to be an amount appropriated for defraying the charges and expenses of the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

Consequential Amendments

Access to Information Act

9 [Amendment]

10 [Amendment]

Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse Act

11 [Amendment]

Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal Act

12 [Amendment]

Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act

13 [Amendment]

Citizenship Act

14 [Amendment]

Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

15 [Amendments]

16 [Amendment]

Corrections and Conditional Release Act

17 [Amendment]

Criminal Code

18 [Amendments]

19 [Amendment]

20 [Amendment]

21 [Amendment]

22 [Amendment]

23 [Amendment]

24 [Amendment]

25 [Amendment]

DNA Identification Act

26 [Amendment]

Financial Administration Act

27 [Amendment]

28 [Amendment]

Firearms Act

29 [Amendment]

Privacy Act

30 [Amendment]

31 [Amendment]

Public Sector Compensation Act

32 [Amendment]

33 [Amendment]

Terminology Changes

34 [Amendments]

Coordinating Amendments

35 [Amendments]

36 [Amendment]

Repeal

37 [Repeal]

Coming into Force

Marginal note:Order in council

Footnote ^*38 This Act, other than sections 35 and 36, comes into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.

• Return to footnote ^*[Note: Sections 35 and 36 in force on assent March 23, 2005; Act, other than sections 35 and 36, in force April 4, 2005, see SI/2005-29.]