Parliament AIIndependent · non-official

The federal government

What each department costs, and whether it delivers

Every department publishes targets each year and reports whether it met them. Set against what it spends, that record separates the departments that deliver from the ones that absorb money and miss their own marks. The targets are the departments’ own, so this is the most generous test they could face.

40%50%60%70%80%90%100%Misses more of its own targets than it meets$100 million$1.0 billion$10 billion$100 billionSpending a year, portfolio included (log scale) →Own targets met →FinanceECCCHICCNRCanDFOGACWAGECultureHealthTransportCIRNACJusticePSVACAAFCIRCCPSPCESDCISEDNorthOSFITBSCRADNDISCPCO
Each circle is a department with its agencies, sized by staff. Up is better; the red band is where a department misses more of its own targets than it meets. Hover or tap a circle for detail.

The report card

  1. 184Department of Finance CanadaDelivering on its own targets$143 billiona year99%targets met+23%real, 5 years
  2. 376Environment and Climate Change CanadaDelivering on its own targetsMeets 9 points more of its targets than it did in 2018-21$4.4 billiona year76%targets met+22%real, 5 years
  3. 276Housing, Infrastructure and CommunitiesDelivering on its own targets$13 billiona year76%targets met+2%real, 5 years
  4. 475Energy and Natural ResourcesDelivering on its own targets$4.6 billiona year82%targets met+51%real, 5 years
  5. 574Fisheries and Oceans CanadaDelivering on its own targets$5.2 billiona year76%targets met+41%real, 5 years
  6. 673Global Affairs CanadaDelivering on its own targets$9.0 billiona year75%targets met+7%real, 5 years
  7. 770Women and Gender EqualityMixed resultsReal spending up 172% since 2019, while its share of targets met fell$369 milliona year83%targets met+172%real, 5 years
  8. 1069Canadian Identity and CultureMixed results$3.6 billiona year71%targets met+9%real, 5 years
  9. 969Health CanadaMixed results$12 billiona year80%targets met+108%real, 5 years
  10. 869Transport CanadaMixed results$3.6 billiona year76%targets met+80%real, 5 years
  11. 1468Crown-Indigenous RelationsMixed resultsMeets 10 points more of its targets than it did in 2018-21$14 billiona year73%targets met+93%real, 5 years
  12. 1368Department of JusticeMixed results32% of the targets it set have no result reported$1.5 billiona year76%targets met+37%real, 5 years
  13. 1268Public Safety CanadaMixed results$14 billiona year62%targets met+12%real, 5 years
  14. 1168Veterans Affairs CanadaMixed resultsMeets 17 points more of its targets than it did in 2018-21$7.6 billiona year63%targets met+34%real, 5 years
  15. 1766Agriculture and Agri-Food CanadaMixed resultsReal spending up 29% since 2019, while its share of targets met fell$5.1 billiona year73%targets met+29%real, 5 years
  16. 1666Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship CanadaMixed results$6.9 billiona year66%targets met+78%real, 5 years
  17. 1566Government Transformation, Public Works and ProcurementMixed results$5.5 billiona year70%targets met+20%real, 5 years
  18. 1864Jobs and FamiliesMixed results$99 billiona year63%targets met+20%real, 5 years
  19. 1962Innovation, Science and Economic DevelopmentMixed resultsReal spending up 61% since 2019, while its share of targets met fell$6.2 billiona year67%targets met+61%real, 5 years
  20. 2060Northern and Arctic AffairsMixed results$81 milliona year67%targets met+2%real, 5 years
  21. 2157Office of the Superintendent of Financial InstitutionsMixed resultsReal spending up 37% since 2019, while its share of targets met fell$313 milliona year69%targets met+37%real, 5 years
  22. 2255Treasury Board SecretariatMixed resultsReal spending up 214% since 2019, while its share of targets met held flat$11 billiona year60%targets met+214%real, 5 years
  23. 2351Canada Revenue AgencyMisses more targets than it meetsMissed 51 of the 99 targets it measured in 2022-25Real spending up 160% since 2019, while its share of targets met fell$22 billiona year49%targets met+160%real, 5 years
  24. 2449Department of National DefenceMisses more targets than it meetsMissed 280 of the 497 targets it measured in 2022-25Real spending up 26% since 2019, while its share of targets met fell$34 billiona year44%targets met+26%real, 5 years
  25. 2544Indigenous Services CanadaMisses more targets than it meetsMissed 44 of the 85 targets it measured in 2022-25Real spending up 69% since 2019, while its share of targets met fell$26 billiona year48%targets met+69%real, 5 years
  26. 2640Privy Council OfficeMisses more targets than it meetsMissed 12 of the 20 targets it measured in 2022-2529% of the targets it set have no result reported$252 milliona year40%targets met+15%real, 5 years

Spending and staff for 2024-25, from GC InfoBase, with each department’s agencies included. Targets met are for the last three reported years. Real growth is over five years after inflation. Finance and Employment and Social Development spend mostly on transfers, benefits and debt interest rather than programs they run.

Who runs them

department

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Farm programs, supply management’s federal machinery, trade exposure for food, and the research the department funds.

department

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation

The current ministry’s dedicated AI and digital file. It does not replace ISED. It is the political centre of that part of the industry portfolio.

central-bank

Bank of Canada

The Bank of Canada is the central bank. Its governing council sets the policy rate to hit the inflation target agreed with the government. It does not supervise the banks. That is OSFI.

agency

Canada Revenue Agency

The CRA administers federal tax law. Policy sits with Finance. Collection and audit sit here.

department

Canadian Identity and Culture

The heritage, official-languages, and cultural institutions file under its current ministerial title.

department

Crown-Indigenous Relations

Treaties, land claims, and the relationship file. Split from Indigenous Services so that negotiation and day-to-day services are different ministers.

department

Department of Finance Canada

Finance prepares the budget and the tax statutes, and the Minister of Finance is responsible for the federal financial-sector framework, including OSFI.

department

Department of Justice

The Attorney General and the criminal-law statutes. Independent prosecutors are not the minister’s staff, and the line is easy to blur in public debate.

department

Department of National Defence

The civilian department and the Canadian Armed Forces. The Minister of National Defence answers to the House for the military.

department

Emergency Management and Community Resilience

Federal emergency coordination. Provinces and municipalities still run the response on the ground.

department

Energy and Natural Resources

Federal responsibility for energy, mining, forests, and major project science. Provinces own most of the resources. Ottawa holds the trade, impact-assessment, and some regulatory levers.

department

Environment and Climate Change Canada

Federal environmental statutes, the emissions inventory, and the climate programs the minister must defend in the House.

department

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Ocean fisheries, the Coast Guard, and habitat rules. Stocks and access are the permanent fight.

department

Global Affairs Canada

Diplomacy, sanctions, consular cases, and development. The foreign minister speaks for the country. Cabinet sets the line.

department

Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement

The buyer and landlord of the government, plus the current transformation mandate. Defence procurement runs through this machinery as well as through National Defence.

department

Health Canada

Federal health regulation, the Canada Health Act, and the money Ottawa transfers for provincial systems it does not run.

department

Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

Federal housing money and infrastructure programs. Zoning remains mostly municipal and provincial. The gap between the announcement and the permit is the file.

department

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Permanent residents, temporary residents, asylum, and citizenship. Levels plans are a cabinet decision the minister tables.

department

Indigenous Services Canada

Services for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis where federal programs still deliver them. Not the same office as Crown-Indigenous Relations.

department

Innovation, Science and Economic Development

Industry, competition, telecom, science funding, and regional development agencies parked in this orbit.

department

International Trade

Treaties, market access, and the Canada-U.S. commercial relationship when it is split from the foreign minister’s daily file.

department

Jobs and Families

Employment insurance, labour standards in the federal sector, skills, seniors’ benefits machinery, and family policy the current ministry has bundled together.

department

Northern and Arctic Affairs

The territorial and Arctic file, including the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.

regulator

Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions

OSFI supervises federally regulated banks, insurers, and private pension plans. Under the OSFI Act the Minister presides over the Office and is responsible for it. The Governor in Council appoints the Superintendent. OSFI is not the Bank of Canada and it does not set the policy interest rate.

central

Prime Minister’s Office

The Prime Minister chooses the ministry, sets the government’s agenda, and is the head of the cabinet that answers to the House.

central

Privy Council Office

The public-service department that supports the Prime Minister and cabinet, and the machinery of intergovernmental files.

department

Public Safety Canada

The portfolio over the RCMP, CSIS, CBSA, and Correctional Service, plus the criminal-law bills the minister shares with Justice.

department

Transport Canada

Aviation, rail, marine safety, and the transportation rules that sit in federal jurisdiction.

central

Treasury Board Secretariat

The management board of the government: spending rules, the public-service employer, and the estimates the House votes.

department

Veterans Affairs Canada

Benefits and services for veterans. The associate defence role sits beside this portfolio in the current ministry.

department

Women and Gender Equality

The status-of-women department, currently bundled with a secretary-of-state role for small business and tourism.