Public Safety Canada

What Public Safety Canada spent in fiscal year 2019-20: its net expenditure by standard object, from the Public Accounts of Canada, Volume II.

Reports through Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness; the overview shows it in that ministry.

What Public Safety Canada does

Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Canada (Public Safety Canada) is the federal department responsible for national security, emergency preparedness, and community safety. Established in 2003, it consolidates security, law enforcement, and emergency management functions, coordinating federal responses to threats and developing policies on crime prevention, cyber resilience, and disaster preparedness while overseeing intelligence-sharing with domestic and international partners.

Federal spending on public safety fluctuates with evolving security threats, emergency events, and changes in government policy, and has reflected heightened investment over time in counterterrorism, cyber defence, and disaster response.

Major policy shifts, unforeseen events such as natural disasters, and global security concerns can significantly affect the department's annual spending. The COVID-19 pandemic, for example, led to a sharp increase in federal emergency response funding in 2020.

Spending, 2019-20

Net spending, 2019-20

$919M

spent by Public Safety Canada, less revenues it kept

Share, 2019-20

0.3%

of the net spending of every federal organization

How did Public Safety Canada spend its budget in 2019-20?

By standard object. Revenues it kept are negative and netted against its spending. Transfer payments are broken into their largest named programs.

Spending by standard object, 2019-20

Transfer payments

Personnel

Professional and special services

Rentals

Other subsidies and payments

Acquisition of machinery and equipment

Transportation and communications

Information

Repair and maintenance

Utilities, materials and supplies

External revenues

Internal revenues

$752M

$125M

$21.6M

$5.4M

$5.1M

$3.7M

$3.6M

$3.5M

$2M

$570K

-$576K

-$1.8M

Total: $919M.

Spending by program, 2019-20

The same net spending by program, as GC InfoBase reports program actuals: $919M in all. Select a program for its history, plans and results.

$436M

$126M

$103M

$84.6M

$27.6M

$21.5M

$15.7M

$13.5M

$12.8M

$12.7M

$11.3M

$8.4M

$8M

$7.5M

$7.2M

$5.8M

$5.3M

$4M

$3.7M

$3M

$1.8M

Workforce, 2019-20

Full-time equivalents

1,205

the actual FTEs of its programs, as GC InfoBase reports them

Personnel spending

$125M

salaries, wages and benefits (the personnel standard object)

Personnel spending per FTE

$103K

personnel spending divided by full-time equivalents

A full-time equivalent is a measure of employment, not a headcount: two half-time employees are one FTE. Personnel spending includes benefits and pension contributions, so per FTE it is not an average salary.

Transfer payment programs, 2019-20

The grants, contributions and other transfers Public Safety Canada paid, program by program: $752M in all, against $752M for the transfer payments object above (the Public Accounts publish the two tables separately).


Contributions to the provinces for assistance related to natural disastersPayments	Contribution	$353,350,206
Payments to the provinces, territories, municipalities, Indian band councils and recognized authorities representing Indians on reserve, Indian communities on Crown land and Inuit communities, for the First Nations Policing ProgramPayments	Contribution	$112,913,126
National Investment to support Shock Trauma Air Rescue ServicePayments	Contribution	$65,000,000
National Disaster Mitigation ProgramPayments	Contribution	$41,303,751
Contributions in support of the Safer Communities InitiativePayments	Contribution	$40,745,650
Gun and Gang Violence Action FundPayments	Contribution	$28,480,779
Grant to the Avalanche Canada FoundationPayments	Grant	$25,000,000
Contribution Program to Combat Serious and Organized CrimePayments	Contribution	$18,504,623
Memorial Grant Program for First RespondersPayments	Grant	$13,500,000
Funding for First Nation and Inuit policing facilitiesPayments	Contribution	$6,948,422
Biology Casework Analysis Contribution ProgramPayments	Contribution	$6,900,000
Community Resilience FundPayments	Contribution	$5,878,768
Contribution Program in support of the Search and Rescue New Initiatives FundPayments	Contribution	$5,710,734
Payments to the provinces, territories, and public and private bodies in support of activities complementary to those of the Department of Public Safety and Emergency PreparednessPayments	Contribution	$4,593,410
Aboriginal Community Safety Development Contribution ProgramPayments	Contribution	$3,903,450
28 programs		$751,678,690

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Contracts of $10,000 and under

Contracts this small are not published one by one: Treasury Board publishes each organization's totals, by calendar year, for contracts of $10,000 and under (their original value and their amendments) and for acquisition card purchases. They are the value of contracts entered into, not what was paid in a fiscal year, so they are not part of the net expenditure above, and the years are calendar years.

Calendar year	Goods	Services	Construction	Acquisition cards	Total
2024	$75,604	$358,222	$0	$2,527,234	$2,961,060
2023	$112,234	$462,155	$0	$2,271,260	$2,845,648
2022	$72,803	$527,126	$0	$1,715,857	$2,315,786
2021	$71,805	$585,769	$0	$1,151,665	$1,809,239
2020	$57,211	$472,609	$0	$1,544,091	$2,073,910
2019	$149,052	$630,434	$0	$2,663,095	$3,442,581
2018	$157,329	$579,130	$0	$2,300,740	$3,037,199
2017	$282,664	$1,062,751	$0	$1,805,763	$3,151,179

Public Safety Canada’s share of federal net spending

How Public Safety Canada’s programs performed

Other organizations in Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Sources

Department figures are net expenditure (Public Accounts, Volume II), which doesn’t add up to the accrual expenses of the overview’s headline. See the methodology.