Minister of Energy and Natural Resources

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).

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
Ministre de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles
Incumbent Jonathan Wilkinson since October 26, 2021
Natural Resources Canada
Style	The Honourable
Member of	House of Commons Privy Council Cabinet[1]
Reports to	Parliament Prime Minister[2]
Appointer	Monarch (represented by the governor general);[3] on the advice of the prime minister[4]
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holder	Anne McLellan
Formation	12 January 1995
Salary	CA$299,900 (2024)[5]
Website	www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca

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]

History

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]

Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources

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:

• Minister of the Interior (1873–1936)
• Minister of Mines (1907–36)
• Minister of Mines and Resources (1936–50)
• Minister of Resources and Development (1950–53)
• Minister of Mines and Technical Surveys (1950–66)
• Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources (1953–62)

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]

Minister of Forestry

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:

• Minister of the Interior (1873–1936)
• Minister of Mines and Resources (1936–50)
• Minister of Resources and Development (1950–53)
• Minister of Northern Affairs and National Resources (1953–62)

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.

List of ministers

Key:

  Liberal Party of Canada

  Conservative Party of Canada

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office		Political party	Ministry
1		Anne McLellan	January 12, 1995	June 10, 1997	Liberal	26 (Chrétien)
2		Ralph Goodale	June 11, 1997	January 14, 2002	Liberal
3		Herb Dhaliwal	January 15, 2002	December 11, 2003	Liberal
4		John Efford	December 12, 2003	September 25, 2005	Liberal	27 (Martin)
5		John McCallum	September 26, 2005	February 3, 2006	Liberal
6		Gary Lunn	January 6, 2006	October 29, 2008	Conservative	28 (Harper)
7		Lisa Raitt	October 30, 2008	January 19, 2010	Conservative
8		Christian Paradis	January 19, 2010	May 18, 2011	Conservative
9		Joe Oliver	May 18, 2011	March 19, 2014	Conservative
10		Greg Rickford	March 19, 2014	November 4, 2015	Conservative
11		Jim Carr	November 4, 2015 [12]	July 17, 2018	Liberal	29 (J. Trudeau)
12		Amarjeet Sohi	July 17, 2018[13]	November 20, 2019	Liberal
13		Seamus O'Regan	November 20, 2019[14]	October 26, 2021	Liberal
14		Jonathan Wilkinson	October 26, 2021	Incumbent	Liberal

Ministers of Energy, Mines, and Resources

No.	Minister	Term	Ministry
1.	Jean-Luc Pépin	October 1, 1966 – April 20, 1968	under Pearson
	Jean-Luc Pépin (cont'd)	April 20, 1968 – July 5, 1968	under Trudeau Sr.
2.	John James Greene	July 6, 1968 – January 27, 1972
3.	Donald Stovel Macdonald	January 28, 1972 – September 25, 1975
4.	Alastair Gillespie	September 26, 1975 – June 3, 1979
5.	Ramon John Hnatyshyn	June 4, 1979 – March 2, 1980	under Clark
6.	Marc Lalonde	March 3, 1980 – September 9, 1982	under Trudeau Sr.
7.	Jean Chrétien	September 10, 1982 – June 29, 1984
8.	Gerald A. Regan	June 30, 1984 – September 16, 1984	under Turner
9.	Patricia Carney	September 17, 1984 – June 29, 1986	under Mulroney
10.	Marcel Masse	June 30, 1986 – January 29, 1989
11.	Arthur Jacob Epp	January 30, 1989 – January 3, 1993
12.	William Hunter McKnight	January 4, 1993 – June 24, 1993
13.	Barbara Jane Sparrow	June 25, 1993 – November 3, 1993	under Campbell
14.	Anne McLellan	November 4, 1993 – January 11, 1995	under Chrétien

No.	Minister	Term	Ministry
Minister of Forestry (1960–66)
1.	Hugh John Flemming	1962 – 1963[15]	under Diefenbaker
2.	Martial Asselin	1963[16]
3.	John Robert Nicholson	April 22, 1963 – 1964[17]	under Pearson
4.	Maurice Sauvé	1964 – 1966
Minister of Forestry and Rural Development
1.	Maurice Sauvé	1966 – 1968
	Jean Marchand	1968 – 1969
Minister of Fisheries and Forests
1.	Jack Davis	1969 – 1971	under Trudeau Sr.
Minister of Forestry (1990–95)
1.	Frank Oberle, Sr.	February 23, 1990 – June 24, 1993	under Brian Mulroney
2.	Bobbie Sparrow	June 25, 1993 – November 3, 1993	under Kim Campbell
3.	Anne McLellan	November 4, 1993 – January 11, 1995	under Jean Chrétien

See also

• Natural Resources Canada
• List of forestry ministries