Canada. Dept. of Industry, Trade and Commerce : The Departments of Trade and Commerce and Industry were amalgamated under the Government Organization Act (17 Elizabeth II Chap. 28) in April, 1969 to form the Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce (ITC). The legislative authority for the new department was subsequently vested in the Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce Act (RSC 1970, Chap. I-11). ITC was given responsibility for furthering the growth, productivity, employment opportunities and prosperity of the Canadian economy through the development of manufacturing and processing industries, and the expansion of foreign trade and tourism.
The new department was organized into five functional groups including; Industry and Trade Development, Trade and Industrial Policy, the Office of Tourism, the Economics Office and Administration. Within Industry and Trade Development were nine operational sectors comprising the Trade Commissioner Service, the International Defence Programmes Branch, the Office of Science and Technology, the Office of Design, the Promotional Services Office, Industry and Trade Services, Publicity, Fairs and Missions and World Exhibitions. The remainder of the Department consisted of; the Office of General Relations, Area Relations and Industrial Policy; the Office of Tourism and the Economics Office. Eventually the Office of Special Import Policy and the Grains Programme Office were also added.
Throughout the history of the department the organization under went regular change to reflect the dual roles of its mandate, that of promotion of foreign trade and the attendant responsibilities coupled with the development and marketing of internal Canadian industrial sectors. Already by 1971 it was apparent that the original organization required review and restructuring. As a result the department was divided into separate Industry and International Trade groups under senior assistant deputy ministers. In 1973 a Planning, Research and Evaluation Group was added to the two previously listed. The Foreign Investment Review Agency was added to the department in 1974 under the appropriate parliamentary authority (21-22-23 Elizabeth II, Chap. 46).
With the creation of the Ministry of State for Economic Development in 1978 to oversee the advancement of policy and federal programmes related to the trade and industry sectors, the structure of IT has developed in 1971 was abolished leaving six equal sectorial groups reporting directly to the minister. These groups consisted of; International Trade Relations; the Trade Commissioner Service; the Enterprise Development Group; the Industry and Commerce Development Group; a Policy Planning Group; and the Office for the Reduction of Paper Burden. This structure was further amended in 1980 when the Enterprise Development Group and the Office for the Reduction of Paper burden were eliminated and their functions absorbed by the Finance Group and the new Energy Group. Additional Offices of Corporate Affairs, Departmental Review and Legal Services were also formed.
On September 30, 1982 the uneasy union of international trade and domestic industrial expansion were once again split into separate departments with the amalgamation of the industry, small business and tourism components of ITC with the regional development programmes of the Department of Regional Economic Expansion, which officially became the new Department of Regional Industrial Expansion in 1983 (under the authority of 29-30-31-32 Elizabeth II Chap. 167). At the same time the international trade functions of IT were transferred intact to the Department of External Affairs, eventually bringing on the renaming of that department to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
