Canada. Dept. of Defence Production : Just before the Second World War, on 14 July 1939, the Defence Purchasing Board, (DPB), was created by the Defence Purchases Profits Control, and Financing Act, (3 Geo.VI, c.42; PC 1793), with the authority to purchase munitions, materiel and stores; and negotiate contracts for construction and repair of defence buildings, bases and projects costing more than ,000 (See RG25 Vol 1979, file 971). The DPB's authority was not sufficiently powerful to meet wartime needs, and so the Department of Munitions and Supply, (DMS), was established on 13 September 1939 under the Department of Munitions and Supply Act. (3 Geo.VI, C.3; proclaimed April 9, 1940, PC 1435) This act, which was to last three years, authorised the Minister to purchase `ammunition, vehicles, clothing and other supplies required by the three services'; to administer defence projects and organise Canadian resources and industries for war (See RG2 Vol 149, file D35.1, `Resolutions'). To do this, the Minister, acting for both the Canadian or Allied governments, could compel the services of any board, agency or association deemed essential to the war effort, or appoint `controllers' with the power to supervise vital businesses. Contractors with the DMS were paid for their products and services, but were fined for non-compliance with ministerial directives.
On 15 September 1939, the War Supply Board, (WSB), wielding wider powers than the DPB had, succeeded the latter agency. The WSB began work on 1 November 1939, (PC 2696), (For organizational charts of the Department of Munitions and Supply and the Department of Defence Production see, 21 March 1945, also description of the duties of the publicity branch of the ministry see RG28 vol 179). The government then created the Canadian Export Board on 31 January 1940, within the Department of Trade and Commerce, to procure non-military supplies for allied governments. (PC 70)
Anticipating a four year long post-war `period of reconstruction,' during which Canada's economy would be reorganised for peace, the government created a Department of Reconstruction on 30 July 1944 under the Department of Reconstruction Act,(8 Geo.VI, c.18). The Department determined the extent to which Canada's economy had been devoted to war production, before coordinating its reconversion, alongside public works, housing and community planning projects which facilitated the readjustment to civilian life of demobilised men and women (See RG28, Vol 179, Memorandum, R.A.C. Henry to C.D. Howe, 28 October 1944. This file also includes organizational charts of the department. See also `Department of Reconstruction" in the same file for information on its early mandate).
Military and civilian planning and production were combined on 18 December 1945 when the departments of Munitions and Supply, and Reconstruction were amalgamated as the Department of Reconstruction and Supply under The Department of Reconstruction and Supply Act. (9-10 Geo VI, c. 16; PC 7510).The new ministry assumed the duties of its predecessors -which ceased to exist on 31 December 1945- to construct and maintain buildings and bases, and acquire anything deemed necessary for war or reconstruction, while retaining investigative and enforcement powers to ensure compliance with contracts. This new authority affirmed the government's `principle of non-military procurement of the requirements of the Armed Services' (See RG2 Vol 149, D-35.1, `Notes on the resolution introducing an act to establish the Department of Defence Production.' undated).
To facilitate international trade, the Canadian Commercial Corporation, (CCC), a crown corporation, was created on 31 August 311946 through the Canadian Commercial Corporation Act. (10 Geo. VI, c.40) The CCC assumed the role which the Canadian Export Board had had in assisting Canadian companies wishing to import or export goods and commodities. Six months later, in February 1947, the defence procurement functions of the Department of Reconstruction and Supply were transferred to the Department of Trade and Commerce, which made its purchases through the CCC.
The government once again widened the Department of Reconstruction and Supply's duties by passing two Orders-in-Council in November 1948, (PC 5305; PC 5307), that transferred to it the Canadian Government Travel Bureau, Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation and National Film Board. The following month another Order-in-Council, (PC 5700), transferred Trans-Canada Air Lines, Canadian Arsenals Ltd - which was the `nucleus of a production organization' (See RG2 Vol 149, D-35.1, `Notes on the resolution introducing an act to establish the Department of Defence Production.' undated). Polymer Corporation, Eldorado Mining and Refining(1944) Ltd, along with its subsidiary Northern Transportation Company (1947) Ltd, War Assets Corporation and the Dominion Coal Board from Supply and Reconstruction to the Department of Trade and Commerce.
The escalating Cold War forced the government to again prepare for defence emergencies, and so the 1950 Throne Speech announced a commitment `to establish a Department of Defence Production, (DDP), to act as a procurement agency for the defence forces of Canada and also for such defence requirements of our allies as may be met from Canadian production' (See RG2 Vol 149, D-35.1, `Notes on the resolution introducing an act to establish the Department of Defence Production.' undated). The DDP replaced the Department of Reconstruction and Supply on 1 April 1951 with passage of the Defence Production Act. (PC 1475-1479, 1951) The DDP's powers were very similar to those which had been held by the Minister of Munitions and Supply, while the Governor-in-Council now controlled essential materials in substantially the same way as the Essential Materials Act had done (See RG28, Vol 179). The DDP inspected, constructed and acquired defence projects and supplies on behalf of the Department of National Defence, while mobilizing, conserving and coordinating all economic and industrial facilities necessary for military and civil defence.
Five Crown Corporations were immediately transferred to the DDP; Canadian Arsenals Ltd, Crown Assets Disposal Corporation, Defence Construction Ltd, Polymer Corporation Ltd, Eldorado Mining and Refining (1944) Ltd, Northern Transportation Company (1947) Ltd and the Canadian Commercial Corporation. By these means the government again supervised the manufacture and sale of essential commodities such as steel and uranium (See RG2 Vol 149, D-35.1, `Notes on the resolution introducing an act to establish the Department of Defence Production.' undated. For uranium see RG2 D-14, Vol, 216, 1952, Press Release, 25 July 1952).
The DDP's birth coincided with a substantial increase in defence spending by the Canadian government which mirrored heightening world tension. In fiscal year 1949-1950 the government had spent 45m on defence, rising the following year to 00m (See RG 49 Vol 53, file 200-1-4, vol 3, Press release, 18 April 1951). In order to achieve his mandate, the Minister of Defence Production retained the right to create crown corporations, fix prices, limit profits and compel services which had been deemed essential for Canada's defence. Acting as the CCC's agent, the Ministry purchased defence supplies from Canadian companies on behalf of foreign governments.
From it inception in 1951, the DDP employed a part-time representative in London, England, as well as a full-time representative in Washington. This American liaison was expanded in early 1959, with the Canada-United States Defence Production Sharing Agreement and the appointment of a Canadian Co-ordinator of Production Sharing (See RG28 Vol 179, 2 April 1951,`Department of Defence Production,' For the Washington Office see RG 2 vol 149, file 1, Letter 21 March 1951, TN Beaupre to J W Pickersgill). As part of a government-wide initiative, in May 1960 the DDP established an Emergency Supply Planning Branch to plan for the immediate creation of a War Supplies Agency in the event of a nuclear attack (See Annual Report, 1960, p. 33).
The Liberal government of Lester B. Pearson reformed the federal civil service. On 25 July 1963, The Department of Industry Act, (12 Eliz. II, c.3), transferred the DDP's duties to the Department of Industry, (DOI). On 4 September 1963, following the Glassco Royal Commission on Government Organization, a central purchasing and supply agency for all civilian departments and agencies other than commercially oriented crown corporations was formed when the DOI established Canadian Government Purchasing, Supply, and Repair Services, which were intended to form the basis for a future Department of Supply (See Annual Report, 1965, p. 9). That same year an International Programs Branch was established to `guide and co-ordinate all aspects of the Department's international defence cooperation and export programs,' including marketing, and production sharing with England, Europe, NATO and the US (See RG 49, IPB. 1000-01 Vol 3, undated memo). These DOI branches administered the Canada-United States Defence Production Sharing Agreement and appointed overseas attachés to coordinate NATO defence production.
The DOI retained these powers until 12 July 1968 when the government announced its intension of creating a Department of Supply and Services, to be comprised of the DDP -with the exception of the International Programs Branch (which was transferred to the Department of Trade and Industry)- the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury of the Department of Finance, the Department of Public Printing and Stationery, the Shipbuilding Branch of the Department of Transport, the Central Data Processing Bureau of the Treasury Board, and the Public Service Commission's Bureau of Management Consulting Services (See DDP Annual Report, 1968, p. 7). As Cold War tensions abated, the DDP was replaced by the Ministry of Supply and Services on 1 April 1969 under terms of the Government Organisation Act. (17-18 Eliz. II, c. 28).
