Minister of Public Works (Canada)

The Minister of Public Works was a position in the Cabinet of Canada who oversaw the public works portfolio of the federal government.

The office was established upon Confederation (1 July 1867) by Order-in-Council, and was given statutory basis later that year on December 21, through Statute 31 Victoria, c. 12.^[1] On 12 July 1996, as part of substantial governmental reorganization under the leadership of Jean Chrétien, the position was merged with that of the Minister of Supply and Services to create the office of Minister of Public Works and Government Services.^[2]

Ministers

No.	Name	Period in office	Ministry
1.	William McDougall	July 1, 1867 – September 27, 1869	1st (Macdonald)
*	Hector-Louis Langevin (acting)	September 28, 1869 – December 7, 1869
2.	Hector-Louis Langevin	December 8, 1869 – November 5, 1873
3.	Alexander Mackenzie	November 7, 1873 – October 8, 1878	2nd (himself)
4	Sir Charles Tupper	October 19, 1878 – May 19, 1879	3rd (Macdonald)
–	Hector-Louis Langevin (second time)	May 20, 1879 – June 6, 1891
		June 16, 1891 – August 11, 1891	4th (Abbott)
5.	Frank Smith	August 14, 1891 – January 10, 1892
6.	Joseph-Aldric Ouimet	January 11, 1892 – November 24, 1892
		December 5, 1892 – December 12, 1894	5th (Thompson)
		December 21, 1894 – April 27, 1896	6th (Bowell)
7.	Alphonse Desjardins	May 1, 1896 – July 8, 1896	7th (Tupper)
8.	Joseph-Israël Tarte	July 13, 1896 – October 21, 1902	8th (Laurier)
9.	James Sutherland	November 11, 1902 – May 3, 1905
10.	Charles Smith Hyman	May 22, 1905 – August 29, 1907
11.	William Pugsley	August 30, 1907 – October 6, 1911
12.	Frederick Debartzch Monk	October 10, 1911 – October 28, 1912	9th (Borden)
13.	Robert Rogers	October 29, 191 – August 22, 1917
14.	Charles Colquhoun Ballantyne	October 3, 1917 – October 12, 1917
15.	Frank Broadstreet Carvell	October 13, 1917 – August 1, 1919		10th (Borden)
*	John Dowsley Reid (acting)	August 6, 1919 – September 2, 1919
16.	Arthur Lewis Sifton	September 3, 1919 – December 30, 1919
*	John Dowsley Reid (acting)	December 31, 1919 – July 10, 1920
*		July 10, 1920 – July 12, 1920	11th (Meighen)
17.	Fleming Blanchard McCurdy	July 13, 1920 – December 29, 1921
18.	Hewitt Bostock	December 29, 1921 – February 2, 1922	12th (King)
19.	James Horace King	February 3, 1922 – June 28, 1926
*	Sir George Halsey Perley (acting)	June 29, 1926 – July 12, 1926	13th (Meighen)
20.	Edmond Baird Ryckman	July 13, 1926 – September 25, 1926
21.	John Campbell Elliott	September 25, 1926 – August 7, 1930	14th (King)
22.	Hugh Alexander Stewart	August 7, 1930 – October 23, 1935	15th (Bennett)
23.	Pierre Joseph Arthur Cardin	October 23, 1935 – May 12, 1942	16th (King)
*	Joseph-Enoil Michaud (acting)	May 13, 1942 – October 6, 1942
25.	Alphonse Fournier	October 7, 1942 – November 15, 1948
		November 15, 1948 – June 11, 1953	17th (St. Laurent)
*	Walter Edward Harris	June 12, 1953 – September 16, 1953
24.	Robert Henry Winters	September 17, 1953 – June 21, 1957
25.	Howard Charles Green	June 21, 1957 – August 19, 1959	18th (Diefenbaker)
26.	David James Walker	August 20, 1959 – July 12, 1962
*	Howard Charles Green (acting)	July 18, 1962 – August 8, 1962
27.	Edmund Davie Fulton	August 9, 1962 – April 22, 1963
28.	Jean-Paul Deschatelets	April 22, 1963 – February 11, 1965	19th (Pearson)
29.	Louis Joseph Lucien Cardin	February 15, 1965 – July 6, 1965
32.	George James McIlraith	July 7, 1965 – April 20, 1968
		April 20, 1968 – July 5, 1968	20th (Trudeau, Sr.)
30.	Arthur Laing	July 5, 1968 – January 27, 1972
31.	Jean-Eudes Dubé	January 28, 1972 – August 7, 1974
32.	Charles Mills Drury	August 8, 1974 – September 13, 1976
33.	J. Judd Buchanan	September 14, 1976 – November 23, 1978
34.	André Ouellet	November 24, 1978 – June 3, 1979
35.	Erik Nielsen	June 4, 1979 – March 2, 1980	21st (Clark)
36.	Paul James Cosgrove	March 3, 1980 – September 29, 1982	22nd (Trudeau, Sr.)
37.	Roméo LeBlanc	September 30, 1982 – June 29, 1984
38.	Charles Lapointe	June 30, 1984 – September 16, 1984	23rd (Turner)
39.	Roch La Salle	September 17, 1984 – June 29, 1986	24th (Mulroney)
40.	Stewart McInnes	June 30, 1986 – December 7, 1988
*	Otto Jelinek	December 8, 1988 – January 29, 1989
41.	Elmer MacIntosh MacKay	January 30, 1989 – June 24, 1993
42.	Paul Wyatt Dick	June 24, 1993 – November 3, 1993	25th (Campbell)
43.	David Charles Dingwall	November 4, 1993 – January 24, 1996	26th (Chrétien)
44.	Diane Marleau	January 25, 1996 – July 11, 1996
After 1996, see Minister of Public Works and Government Services.

References

1. "Profile - Public Works". lop.parl.ca. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
2. "Government Departments and Their Representatives: A History". Retrieved 16 June 2017.