Public Safety Canada
What Public Safety Canada spent in fiscal year 2020-21: 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, 2020-21
Net spending, 2020-21
$777M
spent by Public Safety Canada, less revenues it kept
Share, 2020-21
0.2%
of the net spending of every federal organization
How did Public Safety Canada spend its budget in 2020-21?
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, 2020-21
Transfer payments
Personnel
Professional and special services
Rentals
Information
Acquisition of machinery and equipment
Other subsidies and payments
Repair and maintenance
Utilities, materials and supplies
Transportation and communications
Acquisition of land, buildings and works
External revenues
Internal revenues
$602M
$137M
$22.6M
$6.3M
$6M
$3.5M
$1.2M
$536K
$350K
$276K
$207K
-$582K
-$1.9M
Total: $777M.
Spending by program, 2020-21
The same net spending by program, as GC InfoBase reports program actuals: $777M in all. Select a program for its history, plans and results.
$321M
$144M
$95.9M
$43.2M
$26.9M
$23.4M
$18.4M
$15.9M
$15.3M
$11.7M
$9.6M
$8.8M
$8M
$5.9M
$5.4M
$5.3M
$5.1M
$4.8M
$3.5M
$3M
$2M
Workforce, 2020-21
Full-time equivalents
1,186
the actual FTEs of its programs, as GC InfoBase reports them
Personnel spending
$137M
salaries, wages and benefits (the personnel standard object)
Personnel spending per FTE
$115K
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, 2020-21
The grants, contributions and other transfers Public Safety Canada paid, program by program: $602M in all, against $602M 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 | $205,000,000 |
| 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 | $125,254,244 |
| Contributions for supporting the Canadian Red Cross's urgent relief efforts related to COVID-19, floods and wildfiresPayments | Contribution | $59,885,206 |
| Gun and Gang Violence Action FundPayments | Contribution | $44,553,273 |
| Contributions for supporting the Readiness of the Canadian Red Cross for Urgent Relief Efforts Related to COVID-19Payments | Contribution | $39,459,600 |
| Contributions in support of the Safer Communities InitiativePayments | Contribution | $37,747,548 |
| Memorial Grant Program for First RespondersPayments | Grant | $21,600,000 |
| Contribution Program to Combat Serious and Organized CrimePayments | Contribution | $14,849,301 |
| Funding for First Nation and Inuit policing facilitiesPayments | Contribution | $11,923,152 |
| Biology Casework Analysis Contribution ProgramPayments | Contribution | $6,900,000 |
| Community Resilience FundPayments | Contribution | $5,661,382 |
| 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 | $4,916,843 |
| Contribution Program in support of the Search and Rescue New Initiatives FundPayments | Contribution | $3,218,912 |
| Contribution Program to Combat Child Sexual Exploitation and Human TraffickingPayments | Contribution | $2,757,000 |
| Heavy Urban Search and Rescue ProgramPayments | Grant | $2,709,249 |
| 30 programs | $601,940,082 | |
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
Other organizations in Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Sources
- Public Accounts of Canada 2021, Volume II: Ministerial expenditures by standard object (Table 3)
- Public Accounts of Canada, Volume II: Transfer payments (multi-year open data)
- GC InfoBase – Federal Programs – Actual and Planned Spending (programs_spending.csv)
- GC InfoBase – Federal Programs – Actual and Planned Employees (programs_ftes.csv)
- Proactive Publication - Contracts: Aggregated Total - Contracts $10K and under
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.
