The minister of energy and natural resources (French: ministre de l’énergie et des ressources naturelles) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).
In addition to NRCan, the minister oversees the federal government's natural resources portfolio, which includes Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, the Canada Energy Regulator, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, as well as the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore and the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Boards. The Energy Supplies Allocation Board and the Northern Pipeline Agency also report to the Minister as required.[6]
The current minister of energy and natural resources is Jonathan Wilkinson, since October 26, 2021.[7] This position was established in 1995 under the Department of Natural Resources Act, S.C. 1994, c. 41, which merged the positions of the minister of energy, mines and resources and minister of forestry.[8]
Prior to 1995, the responsibilities of the current natural resources portfolio were divided between the minister of energy, mines and resources and the minister of forestry, both posts which are now defunct.[8]
With the transfer of the Canadian Forest Service from the Department of Forestry to the Department of Agriculture, the forestry portfolio came under the minister of agriculture between 1984 and 1985, then back to the minister of the environment from 1985. It became a single department in 1989 and then designated to the minister of energy, mines and resources in 1990.
In 1994, the Department of Natural Resources Act, S.C. 1994, c. 41, provided for the creation of the minister of natural resources, with authority to carry out matters previously undertaken by the minister of forestry and the minister of energy, mines and resources.[8]
The minister of energy, mines, and resources (French: ministre de l'énergie, des mines et des ressources) was a member of the Cabinet from 1966 to 1995.
Prior to 1966, the responsibility related to Canadian mines and natural resources resided in various ministers:
The emerging role of energy development in federal policy would become more prominent in 1966, when that responsibility was adopted by the natural resources portfolio,[9] whereupon the minister of mines and technical surveys was abolished and the minister of energy, mines and resources was established in its place by Statute 14-15 Eliz. II, c. 25—which received royal assent on 16 June 1966 and proclaimed in-force on October 1 later that year.
Three decades later, in 1995, the energy, mines and resources portfolio merged with that of forestry to form the current minister of natural resources, under the Department of Natural Resources Act, S.C. 1994, c. 41—which received royal assent on December 15, 1994.[8]
The minister of forestry was an office in the Cabinet from 1962 to 1966 and again from 1990 to 1995. Between 1966 and 1990, the holder was known as the minister of forestry and rural development.
Prior to 1962, the responsibility for forestry resided in various ministers:
The position of minister of forestry was first created in 1962, late in John Diefenbaker's premiership. It lasted into the government of Lester B. Pearson.
In 1971, during the first mandate of Pierre Trudeau's government, responsibility for forestry along with fisheries merged into the minister of the environment, briefly renamed as minister of fisheries and the environment from 1976 to 1979, minister of state (environment) from 1977 to 1979, and then minister of the environment again from 1979 to 1984.
In 1989, during the second mandate of Brian Mulroney's government, the second incarnation of the Department of Forestry was established under the Department of Forestry Act (assented to 21 December 1989).[10][11] In 1995, during the first mandate of Jean Chrétien's government, the forestry portfolio was merged with that of the minister of energy, mines, and resources to create the post of minister of natural resources. During the cabinet shuffle of July 26, 2023, this title was expanded to become the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.
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