Treasury Board Secretariat (Ontario)

Treasury Board Secretariat

Ministry overview
Formed	1962 (first established) 2014 (re-established)
Jurisdiction	Government of Ontario
Headquarters	99 Wellesley Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Minister responsible	Caroline Mulroney, President of the Treasury Board
Deputy Minister responsible	Deborah Richardson

The Treasury Board Secretariat is the ministry of the Government of Ontario that is charged with supporting the work of the Treasury Board/Management Board of Cabinet, a joint sub-committee of cabinet that manages the fiscal plan of the government including controlling all government spending, approving labour agreements and workforce planning, manage the provincial contingency fund and oversee the procedures and directives that guide the operation of the Ontario Public Service.

In 2022, the mandate of the ministry expanded to include the overseeing of Supply Ontario and Emergency Management Ontario.

The current president of the Treasury Board is Caroline Mulroney.

History

The Treasury Board was originally established in 1886 as a committee of the Cabinet of Ontario. Prior to 1950, the board met infrequently and had no permanent staff. Its primary role during this period was to review and approve Special Warrants and Treasury Board Orders to meet shortfalls in departmental estimates.

The development of the government in the wake of the depression and war, however, quickly overwhelmed the ability of the existing system to deal with demands on government revenues. A private firm of auditors, Woods, Gordon and Company, recommended a complete revision of the functions of the Treasury Board to deal with the new situation. The Financial Administration Act of 1954, formalized the board's role as the committee of the cabinet on all matters relating to finance, revenues, estimates, expenditures and any other matter concerning general administrative policy of the government. The board was also given the power to call witnesses and compel the production of documents from the public service relating to financial administration and to make regulations relating to the administration of public money and the efficient administration of the public service.

Although the Treasury Board possessed a secretary as early as 1956, a permanent Treasury Board Secretariat was not established until 1962. Initially, the secretariat only has two broad functions: to support the Treasury Board as a committee of cabinet, and to provide management and budgetary advisory to ministries and agencies of government. Throughout 1960s, it assumed other government-wide management functions such as records management and the development of automated information systems within the public service.

In 1971, the Treasury Board was renamed the Management Board of Cabinet with expanded responsibilities for the management of the public service, and the secretariat was renamed the Management Board Secretariat. Over time, the functions of the Management Board Secretariat expanded to include coordination and providing corporate administrative and resources management services for the government, in areas that included information and information technology, human resources, procurement, accommodation, assets management, and administrative support, as well as the management of record retention.

In 1991, a new Treasury Board was established within the Ministry of Treasury and Economics to assume the financial management functions of the Management Board of Cabinet and the Management Board Secretariat. However, in 1995, this board was dissolved. Its fiscal planning and controllership functions were transferred to the Fiscal and Financial Policy Division of the Ministry of Finance, while responsibility for the estimates and expenditure process were returned to Management Board.

Also in 1991, the staff and responsibilities of the Human Resources Secretariat were absorbed by the Management Board Secretariat.

In early 1993, the Management Board Secretariat absorbed the existing Ministry of Government Services. In 2000, the Archives of Ontario was transferred from the Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation.

In 2005, the Management Board Secretariat ceased to exist, and most of its corporate management functions were reverted to a newly re-established Ministry of Government Services, while responsibilities for the provincial estimates and expenditure monitoring were transferred to the Ministry of Finance.

In 2014, the Treasury Board and a corresponding Treasury Board Secretariat were re-established. Treasury Board and Management Board, while legislatively two separate cabinet committees, became a joint sub-committee of cabinet.

Board chairs and presidents

	Name	Term of office		Political party (Ministry)	Note
	Chair of the Treasury Board
	James Allan	December 15, 1961	November 24, 1966	PC (Robarts)	While Treasurer
	Charles MacNaughton	November 24, 1966	March 1, 1971	While Treasurer
	Darcy McKeough	March 1, 1971	April 7, 1972	PC (Davis)	While Treasurer
	Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet (I)			Between 1972 and 2005, the Chair headed a corresponding ministry.
	Charles MacNaughton	February 2, 1972	September 28, 1972
	Eric Winkler	September 28, 1972	October 7, 1975
	James Auld	October 7, 1975	August 18, 1978	While Minister of Government Services (June 23, 1977 – September 21, 1977)
	George McCague	August 18, 1978	February 8, 1985
	Bette Stephenson	February 8, 1985	May 17, 1985	PC (Miller)	While Deputy Premier (April 8, 1985 – June 26, 1985)
	George Ashe	May 17, 1985	June 26, 1985
	Elinor Caplan	June 26, 1985	June 16, 1986	Liberal (Peterson)	While Minister of Government Services
	Robert Nixon	June 17, 1986	September 29, 1987	Interim Chair, while Treasurer
	Murray Elston	September 29, 1987	October 1, 1990	Concurrently Minister of Financial Institutions (August 16, 1988 – October 1, 1990)
	Frances Lankin	October 1, 1990	July 31, 1991	NDP (Rae)	While Minister of Government Services (October 1, 1990 – April 22, 1991) and Minister of Health (April 22, 1991 – February 3, 1993)
	Tony Silipo	July 31, 1991	September 23, 1992		While Minister of Education (October 15, 1991 – February 3, 1993)
	Dave Cooke	September 23, 1992	February 3, 1993		While Minister of Municipal Affairs (July 31, 1991 – February 3, 1993)
	Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet (II)				In 1993, most of the functions performed by the Ministry of Government Services were transferred to the Secretariat of the Management Board of Cabinet.
	Brian Charlton	February 3, 1993	June 26, 1995
	David Johnson	June 26, 1995	October 10, 1997	PC (Harris)
	Chris Hodgson	October 10, 1997	February 8, 2001		Concurrently Minister of Northern Development and Mines (October 10, 1997 – June 17, 1999)
	David Tsubouchi	February 8, 2001	April 15, 2002
		April 15, 2002	October 22, 2003	PC (Eves)
	Gerry Phillips	October 22, 2003	June 29, 2005	Liberal (McGuinty)
	Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet (III)			Between 2005 and 2014, the chair presides over the board as a committee of cabinet but did not head a corresponding ministry.
	Greg Sorbara	June 29, 2005	October 11, 2005	While Minister of Finance
	Dwight Duncan	October 11, 2005	May 23, 2006	Interim, while interim Minister of Finance
	Greg Sorbara	May 23, 2006	October 30, 2007	While Minister of Finance
	Dwight Duncan	October 30, 2007	February 11, 2013	While Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance
	Harinder Takhar	February 11, 2013	May 8, 2013	Liberal (Wynne)	While Minister of Government Services
	Charles Sousa	May 8, 2013	June 24, 2014	While Minister of Finance
	President of the Treasury Board			Since 2014, the President headed a corresponding ministry.
	Deb Matthews	June 24, 2014	June 13, 2016	While Deputy Premier
	Liz Sandals	June 13, 2016	January 17, 2018
	Eleanor McMahon	January 17, 2018	June 26, 2018
	Peter Bethlenfalvy	June 29, 2018	Present	PC (Ford)
	Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria	June 18, 2021	Present	MPP for Brampton South

External links

• Official website