Minister of Industry (Canada)

Minister of Industry
Ministre de l’Industrie
Incumbent Mélanie Joly since May 13, 2025
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Style	The Honourable
Member of	House of Commons Privy Council Cabinet
Reports to	Parliament Prime minister
Appointer	Monarch (represented by the governor general); on the advice of the prime minister
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holder	John Manley
Formation	29 March 1995
Salary	CA$299,900 (2024)
Website	www.ic.gc.ca

The minister of industry (French: ministre de l’industrie) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet responsible for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and several other agencies. The incumbent also serves as the registrar general of Canada

Mélanie Joly has been the minister of industry since May 13, 2025.

Portfolio organizations

In addition to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, the minister of industry is responsible for:

• Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC)
• Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
• Canadian Space Agency (CSA)
• Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC)
• Competition Bureau (COBU)
• Copyright Board of Canada (CB)
• Destination Canada (DC)
• Measurement Canada (MC)
• National Research Council Canada (NRC)
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
• Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA)
• Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy (OSB)
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
• Standards Council of Canada (SCC)
• Statistics Canada (StatCan)

History

First century of Canada

The office of the registrar general of Canada has traditionally been associated with the responsibility of overseeing corporate affairs, by virtue of its function in registering all letters patent. From Confederation to 1966, the secretary of state for Canada was the registrar general. Between 1966 and 1995, the office was held by the minister of consumer and corporate affairs.

The National Research Council of Canada was established in 1916, under the pressure of World War I, to advise the government on matters of science and industrial research. In 1932, laboratories were built on Sussex Drive in Ottawa.

The economic development function of the portfolio can be traced from the office of the minister of trade and commerce, which was created in 1892. The post of minister of industry briefly existed, between 1963 and 1969, as a successor to the post of minister of defence production. It was merged with the trade and commerce portfolio in 1969. The post of minister of industry, trade and commerce existed between 1969 and 1983. During that time, separate posts of minister of regional economic expansion (1969 to 1983) and minister of regional industrial expansion (1983–1990) also existed. In 1990, the post of minister of industry, science and technology was created.

University funding was a problem for the government of Canada over the first three-quarters of the 20th century. In 1967 the passage of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act (FPFAA) replaced the policy of direct federal grants to the universities with a system of transfers to the provincial governments to support the operating costs of universities, which are a provincial responsibility under the 1867 British North America Act.

Over the course of seven years, from 1970, the so-called Lamontagne Report on A Science Policy for Canada detailed the work of the Senate Special Committee on Science Policy. Several avenues were investigated by the Canadian Cabinet, including the nomination of the Royal Society of Canada as the exclusive distributor of federal "governmental science and technology contract services" funds for post-secondary education, in a "national academy of science" type arrangement but this avenue was rejected because of the provincial responsibility factor.

1977 GOSA Act

In 1977 the funding of university research in Canada was formally separated from the NRC, under the Established Programs Financing Act and the Government Organization (Scientific Activities) Act, 1976 (GOSA Act). Several legally-distinct bodies were created to disburse federal government monies: the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canada Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the National Research Council, the Defence Research Board, the Medical Research Council (latterly renamed to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) and the National Library of Canada each nurture the related trade. Of these bodies, the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth report to the minister of innovation. The government provides subsidy (the major source of federal government funding to post-secondary research) and the scientists look after the details. The first, third and sixth bodies are sometimes collectively referred to as the "Tri-Council" or "Tri-Agency". The effect of the GOSA Act was dramatic, as reported by Rogers and McLean: "since 1979-80, federal support for self-initiated, non-contractual research in education has increased from C$126,000 to more than C$1.7 million" in 1986.

The present system grants directly to faculty members for research projects under such policies as the Canada Research Chair programme, and provides capital funds on a "shared-cost basis" for large infrastructure projects, such as buildings or laboratories. Fisher and Rubenson write that "both types of funding are disbursed by federal granting agencies [such as the Tri-Council bodies] on a competitive basis and awarded in accordance with federal criteria, which includes merit and national interests", observance of human rights and the general direction of state. "Furthermore, these policy decisions are set within a science and technology policy that emerged from competing definitions of science, utility, and the "public good". At the policy level, the interests of capital are privileged under the guise of serving the national interest."

From 1993 to 1995, a single minister was styled as minister of industry while concurrently holding the posts of industry, science and technology, and of consumer and corporate affairs, pending a government restructuring. The post of minister of industry was formally created in 1995 under the direction of John Manley.

Since 2000

On 4 November 2015 the office was renamed in the 29th Canadian Ministry of Justin Trudeau. The name of the office was changed back with the swearing-in of the cabinet of Mark Carney on 13 May 2025 after the 2025 Canadian federal election.

List of ministers

Preceding offices

Economic development, industry, science

• Minister of Trade and Commerce (1892–1969)
• Minister of Industry (1963–1969)
• Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce (1969–1983)
• Minister of Regional Economic Expansion (1969–1983)
• Minister of Regional Industrial Expansion (1983–1990)
• Minister of Industry, Science and Technology (1990–1993) (legally merged in 1995)
• Minister of Science (2015-2019)

Corporate affairs

• Secretary of State for Canada (1867–1967)
• Minister of Consumer and Corporate affairs (1967–1993) (legally merged in 1995)

Ministers

Key

  Liberal Party of Canada

  Conservative Party of Canada

  Historical conservative parties: Progressive Conservative

Minister of Industry, Science and Technology (1990–1993)
No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Political party	Ministry
1		Benoît Bouchard	23 February 1990	21 April 1991	Progressive Conservative	24 (Mulroney)
2		Michael Wilson	21 April 1991	25 June 1993	Progressive Conservative	24 (Mulroney)
Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs and Minister of Industry, Science and Technology (1993–1995)
No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Political party	Ministry
*	File:Jean Charest de face (Novembre 2010).png	Jean Charest styled as minister of industry	June 25, 1993	November 3, 1993	Progressive Conservative	25 (Campbell)
*	File:John Manley IMF.jpg	John Manley styled as minister of industry	November 4, 1993	March 28, 1995	Liberal	26 (Chrétien)
Minister of Industry (1995–2015)
No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Political party	Ministry
1	File:John Manley IMF.jpg	John Manley	March 29, 1995	October 16, 2000	Liberal	26 (Chrétien)
2	File:Briantobin.jpg	Brian Tobin	October 17, 2000	January 14, 2002	Liberal
3	File:Allan-rock-wLKc.jpg	Allan Rock	January 15, 2002	December 11, 2003	Liberal
4	File:No image.svg	Lucienne Robillard	December 12, 2003	July 19, 2004	Liberal	27 (Martin)
5	File:No image.svg	David Emerson	July 20, 2004	February 5, 2006	Liberal
6	File:Maxime Bernier.jpg	Maxime Bernier	February 6, 2006	August 13, 2007	Conservative	28 (Harper)
7	File:Jim Prentice.jpg	Jim Prentice	August 14, 2007	October 29, 2008	Conservative
8	File:Tony Clement 2012 B.jpg	Tony Clement	October 30, 2008	May 18, 2011	Conservative
9	File:No image.svg	Christian Paradis	May 18, 2011	July 15, 2013	Conservative
10	File:James Moore 2014.jpg	James Moore	July 15, 2013	November 4, 2015	Conservative
Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development
No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Political party	Ministry
11	File:Navdeep Bains3 (cropped).jpg	Navdeep Bains	November 4, 2015	November 20, 2019	Liberal	29 (J. Trudeau)
Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry
No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Political party	Ministry
(11)	File:Navdeep Bains3 (cropped).jpg	Navdeep Bains	November 20, 2019	January 12, 2021	Liberal	29 (J. Trudeau)
12	File:François-Philippe Champagne - July 2024 - P064113-99350 (cropped).jpg	François-Philippe Champagne	January 12, 2021	March 14, 2025	Liberal
13	File:US Secretary of Defense hosts world leaders during UDCG 001 - Anita Anand (cropped).jpg	Anita Anand	March 14, 2025	May 13, 2025	Liberal	30 (Carney)
Minister of Industry
No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Political party	Ministry
14	File:Mélanie Joly - UNGA 2023 (53203204441) (cropped).jpg	Melanie Joly	May 13, 2025	Incumbent	Liberal	30 (Carney)

Critics

• Scott Brison March 2008 – November 2015