An Act to amend the Salaries Act and to make a consequential amendment to the Financial Administration Act

How it changed on the way

21% of the text as introduced was changed or removed by the time it became law (1,772 words introduced, 1,611 passed).

moderate changeintent mostly kept

The bill kept its core purpose of authorizing salaries for eight new ministers and related delegation powers but removed outdated salary references from earlier fiscal years and updated enactment dates from 2016 to 2018. A transitional provision on transferring infrastructure minister powers was retained with minor wording adjustments.

• Removed specific salary amounts and minister titles tied to the 2004 fiscal year.

  Before: “(3) Despite subsection 4(2), for the fiscal year commencing on April 1, 2004 the annual salary of the following ministers, being members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, is $67,800:”

• Updated the bill's royal assent and session years in the header.

  Before: “C-24 1 42 64-65 Elizabeth II 2015-2016”

  After: “C-24 1 42 64-65-66-67 Elizabeth II 2015-2016-2017-2018”

• Retained the infrastructure minister transitional provision with updated context.

  Before: “Transitional Provision Transfer of powers, duties or functions 4 If, under any Act of Parliament, any instrument made under an Act of Parliament or any order, contract, lease, licence or other document, any power, duty or function is vested in or may be exercised or performed by the Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs, that power, duty or function is vested in or may be exercised or performed by the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.”

  After: “Transitional Provision Transfer of powers, duties or functions 4 If, under any Act of Parliament, any instrument made under an Act of Parliament or any order, contract, lease, licence or other document, any power, duty or function is vested in or may be exercised or performed by the Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs, that power, duty or function is vested in or may be exercised or performed by the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.”

How precisely it is written

mixedChallenging the law: HardDisputing a charge: Hard

The bill relies on defined terms and exact cross-references to existing statutes and schedules for departments and ministers. It nevertheless leaves broad unfettered power to the Governor in Council to designate departments and to ministers to delegate any functions.

Open to argument

• “The Governor in Council may, by order, designate a department to provide support to a minister referred to in any of paragraphs 4.1(3)(z.4) to (z.9) in the carrying out of his or her responsibilities.”

  No objective criteria, limits or tests govern when or which departments may be designated.

Clear-cut

• “appropriate Minister has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Financial Administration Act .”

  Uses an existing statutory definition instead of an open-ended phrase.

• “department means a department named in Schedule I to the Financial Administration Act , a division or branch of the federal public administration set out in column I of Schedule I.1 to that Act and a corporation named in Schedule II to that Act.”

  Ties the term directly to fixed statutory schedules.

Discretion. The Governor in Council decides all designations by order and ministers decide which of their powers to delegate to departmental staff, with no further statutory constraints.

Challenging the law itself. The text addresses only internal ministerial support structures and does not engage Charter rights in a manner that would readily support a vagueness or overbreadth claim.

Disputing a charge under it. Compliance turns on whether a formal order or delegation instrument exists, which can be verified from government records rather than subjective judgment.

Read by a language model from the royal assent text; every quoted phrase appears in the bill. A reading of the drafting, not legal advice.