Industry, Science and Technology : The Department of Industry, Science and Technology Act (assented to January 30, 1990) repealed the Department of Regional Industrial Expansion Act, and officially established the Department of Industry, Science and Technology (ISTC).
The department was organized and operating under its new name by March 1989. In 1987 and 1988, the Department of Regional Industrial Expansion (DRIE) was relieved of responsibilities for regional economic development in Atlantic Canada and Western Canada. What remained of DRIE was amalgamated with most of the Ministry of State for Science and Technology (MOSST), the Space Technology Research Branch from the Department of Communications, and the RADARSAT project office from the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources by Order in Council 1989-0306 on March 1, 1989. This amalgamation was the new Department of Industry, Science and Technology.
The Department of Industry, Science and Technology Act gave ISTC responsibility for regional economic development in Ontario and Quebec; industry and technology in Canada; trade and commerce in Canada; and science in Canada. Section 9 of the Act gave the Minister of Industry, Science and Technology, with the approval of the Governor in Council, the power to "develop and implement programs and projects of special assistance to industries, particular industrial or commercial establishments, organizations, persons who are members of a particular category of persons defined by order of the Governor in Council or particular persons to aid economic development, whether through restructuring, adjusting, rationalizing, establishing or re-establishing, modernizing, expanding or contracting of an industry or particular industrial or commercial establishment or organization in Canada, or otherwise".
The new department took over what remained of the Department of Regional Industrial Expansion (DRIE), as well as most the Ministry of State for Science and Technology (MOSST), the most notable exception being MOSST's Space Policy Sector. Responsibility for regional economic development in the Atlantic region had already been transferred to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and responsibility for economic development in the western provinces had been transferred earlier to the Department of Western Economic Diversification (WD). Transferring responsibility for regional economic development to region-specific organizations continued after ISTC was officially established in 1990. Order in Council 1991-1111 designated part of ISTC as a department for the purposes of the Financial Administration Act. This new organization, carved out of ISTC, was called the Federal Office for Regional Development (Quebec), known later as the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, more usually known as Canada Economic Development.
Just as ISTC began as an amalgamation of several other departments in 1989, in its turn, it was amalgamated with other portions of the public service to form the Department of Industry, commonly known as Industry Canada, five years later. The transition followed the same steps. First there was a public announcement of the change, followed by a transition period in which administrative reorganization was decreed by Orders in Council and then implemented by the public service, followed by a period in which the department was organized and operating under its new name, followed, finally, by passage by Parliament of legislation establishing the new department. In the case of the Department of Industry, Science and Technology, the Orders in Council decreeing administrative reorganization were passed in the summer of 1993. On June 25, 1993 Order-in-Council 1993-1487 (1) combined the Department of Industry, Science and Technology (ISTC) and the Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs (2) transferred to ISTC from Investment Canada control and supervision of the Investment Review Division and the Investment Research Policy Division, and (3) transferred to ISTC from the Department of Communications "those portions of the public service...known as Automated Applications, Telematics and New Media, Spectrum and Management Operations, Certification and Engineering Bureau, Communications Research Centre (CRC), Office of the Assistant Deputy Minister (Québec), Regional Spectrum Services Centre and Canadian Workplace Automation Research Centre". Almost two months later, the reorganization continued. On August 18, 1993
Order-in-Council 1993-1670 transferred to the department of Industry, Science and Technology the control and supervision "of those portions of the public service known as Telecommunications Policy, communications Development and Planning, Broadcasting Regulation, Radio Regulatory Branch and Engineering Programs in the Department of Communications, as amalgamated with the Department of the Secretary of State and the Department of Multiculturalism and Citizenship by Order in Council P.C. 1993-1489 of June 25, 1993."
Available evidence suggests that the department changed its name from the Department of Industry, Science and Technology to the Department of Industry (also known as Industry Canada) sometime between September 1993 and March 1994. Although it seems that the government had planned to call this new entity the Department of Industry and Science, no evidence has been found that shows that this name was ever used. (The New Face of Government: A Guide to the New Federal Government Structure, published by Communications Canada and dated September 1, 1993 refers to a new department that is to be called the Department of Industry and Science, On the other hand, InfoSource 1993-94, which covers the period April 1, 1993 to March 31, 1994, lists the department as Industry Canada.)
The Department of Industry Act, assented to March 16, 1995, repealed the Department of Industry, Science and Technology Act, and officially established the Department of Industry, also known as Industry Canada.
