Matching Acts and Responsible Ministries

Last revised September 06, 2022

Federal Acts

The Table of Public Statutes and Responsible Ministers can be found online, as well as in print up to 2012. Please note: The Table only shows all chapters of the Revised Statutes of 1985 and other public acts brought into force since then, and their amendments. The titles of repealed Acts have been removed from this Table.

The name of the minister who has responsibility for the administration of the Act is listed under the title of the Act.

Where a minister is expressly designated in an Act as the minister responsible, that minister’s name is given. If a minister is designated by order in council, the registration number of the designation order (SI) is included. Where no minister has been specifically designated, either in the Act or by order in council, the name of the minister who introduced the bill in Parliament is given. It should also be noted that this Table does not necessarily reflect changes in ministerial responsibilities resulting from orders made under the Public Service Rearrangement and Transfer of Duties Act, RSC 1985, c. P-34.

BC Acts

BC Act/Ministry Responsibilities can be found online, as well as in print in the Tables and Index volume of the Consolidated Regulations of BC.  Please note: The Act/Ministry Responsibilities are only the most current version.  The library does not keep past versions of this table.

The alphabetical lists and those under the individual ministry headings contain Acts classed as public statutes.

In most cases an entire Act is assigned to one minister, but in some cases the responsibility is shared (see the Details column). The lists set out the assignment of current public Acts (and some private or local Acts) to the various ministers by orders in council passed under the Constitution Act. The lists do not name responsible agencies that may handle day-to-day administration of some Acts under the authority of a ministry (for example: the Public Service Agency is responsible for the Public Service Act, the Public Service Benefit Plan Act and the Public Service Labour Relations Act).

For private or local statutes that have been assigned to a particular minister, see Private and Local Acts. The exception is the Vancouver Charter, which is a local Act that affects such a large area that it is included with the Public Acts for convenience.